To peak or not to peak? Is it more valuable for you to achieve your absolute peak fitness for about two weeks or to sustain a high level of fitness (e.g., 90% of absolute peak) for a longer portion of the season? I wrote previously about “How Long Can You Hold Peak Form?”, but …
Climbing through the Alps and Pyrenees with my Trek Factory Racing teammates during the 2014 Tour de France was one of the highlights of my professional cycling career, and one of the things I love most about cycling is that we can all visit and experience the sport’s most famous and storied climbs. And …
One of the most common questions cyclists ask me is: What’s the shortest Zone 2 ride I can do and still see results? The answer depends on your fitness level, training history, and overall goals. Based on how I’ve worked with cyclists, from beginners to pros, over the past two decades, I’ll break down …
Peak form is that magic stretch when an athlete’s body feels strong and their mind is sharp. Everything just clicks. You’re able to ride hard, recover fast, crush Strava segments, and win races or the local group ride. But just like a perfectly ripe piece of fruit, form takes time to grow and the …
Combining Zone 2 endurance rides with intervals is a powerful strategy, but timing matters. Should you incorporate high-intensity efforts right after warming up, schedule them mid-ride, or save them for the end when you’re already fatigued? It all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If watching or listening is more your speed, there …
Interval training is a cornerstone of endurance training programs. But have you ever wondered if you actually need to do intervals to get faster or perform at your best? I dove into this topic in Episode 245 of “The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast”, but if you don’t have 30 minutes to watch the video or …
In recent weeks I’ve heard variations on the questions: “How do I get faster on the bike?” or “Why am I not getting faster at cycling?” When the question comes from more experienced athletes, it’s sometimes: “Why am I not getting faster anymore?” As the spring heats up, events ramp up, and you pile on …
Training Stress Score, or TSS, is commonly used to describe how “hard” a ride was, but that’s only part of the story. Although it is valuable, some important aspects of training are not reflected by TSS. So, as you are scanning through your workout data and planning your upcoming cycling training, here’s a guide …
Once the excitement of registering for a great new gravel race has subsided, the reality sets in that you have committed to a major challenge. Riders should prepare for long hours on the bike because most gravel races are 100-200 miles long, with lower average speeds than road events. Training for a gravel race …
There is an entire generation of cyclists that views VO2 max as a genetically pre-determined performance ceiling. A more modern and nuanced take shows it to be quite responsive to training. With different types of workouts we can increase VO2 max itself, as well as peak power, fractional utilization, and power duration at VO2 max. That’s …