Endurance athletes are a stoic bunch. Unfortunately, your ability and willingness to absorb hours of training, strenuous workouts, and the fatigue that comes with them can make endurance athletes less likely to recognize (and slower to accept) the symptoms of overtraining. Here’s what you need to look for and what you need to know about …
In recent weeks I’ve heard variations on the question: How do I get faster on the bike?” 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 the miles, you may notice performance stagnate. You’re training …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS Many of the most popular events and iconic cycling destinations feature a lot of climbing, whether it comes in the form of mountain passes, endless rollers, or punchy power hills. If you live in an area with easy access to short and long climbs, you’re in …
By Reid Beloni, CTS Senior Coach We are about 12 weeks from SBT GRVL, which might be your first gravel race ever, or after last year, it might just seem like your first. In fact, it will be the first big event on my calendar since SBT GRVL in 2019! To help you (and me) …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS Power meters are everywhere, and now with app-connected smart trainers and smart bikes athletes indoors and outside are training with power. All that data is great, and advanced training software can help make sense of it, but as a coach I see athletes making two big …
By Alison Tetrick, Pro cyclist, Entrepreneur, CTS Contributing Editor Stop and smell the flowers. Literally. When was the last time you smelled a wild iris on your ride? Or noted that those purple lupines along the road smell like a wet dog? They do. I used to pick lupines for my Grandma and proudly present …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS Optimizing performance for masters cyclists can be trickier than getting the best out of a 20-something professional athlete. The complexity comes from fighting the slow and natural decline in performance potential after about 40 years old, coupled with busy lifestyles that incorporate relationships, children, and …
By Lisa Bourne, CTS Contributing Editor & Senior Director of Diversity, Inclusion & Social Impact at Zwift So, there’s something quite spiritual about my three hour solo rides. This is the fourth year I’ve worked with a coach and trained for a May cycling holiday in Mallorca, though I’ve only been fortunate enough to visit …
It’s time to move on from Zone 2! When it’s time to develop the speed and power for high-intensity, race winning efforts, you need to build anaerobic capacity. Anaerobic capacity is a major factor in whether you make the breakaway, stay with the pack over the summit, charge up a technical feature on the …
By Scott Mercier, US Olympian, Retired pro cyclist Scott Mercier competed in the 1992 Olympic Games for Team USA and raced professionally for the Saturn, US Postal Service, and Navigators cycling teams. He will be contributing a monthly column for CTS, featuring stories from his cycling career and the triumphs and challenges of staying fit …