December is a terrible month for fitness, but we’re going to change that this year. Athletes miss more workouts in December than any other month. It’s not that surprising, really. There’s a lot going on between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. People are traveling, there are parties, the days are short, and the weather can get …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor As a native Coloradan, I love changing seasons. I have my favorite times of year, but I really like the variety and appreciate the every-so-often obligation to shift my habits and priorities along with the turn of the year. In training and in life, I’m generally quite content …
By Julia Priest, CTS Coach Before Gran Fondos and gravel events grew in popularity, male and female cyclists of all abilities had few opportunities to compete together on the road, dirt, or velodrome. Sure, non-competitive century rides and charity events always had mixed fields, but once there was a competitive element to a cycling event …
By Syd Schulz CTS Pro Athlete I recently got back from a three-week trip to Europe for the final two Enduro World Series races. Between my husband and me, we had two giant bike bags, two checked bags and carry-ons. All told, something close to 300 pounds of gear (luckily the airlines forgot to …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor I know, I’ve been there: You fell off your bike, slid down the road and left an awful lot of your skin behind. Nothing is broken, and the only structural rips are in your formerly brand-new kit, but a whole lot of things are red, raw, and …
The belief you can improve your performance through consistent, deliberate effort is central to being a cyclist. You wouldn’t bother training if you didn’t believe your efforts would improve your performance, right? But while you likely have an inherent tendency toward a growth mindset, many athletes are stymied by stubbornly fixed ideas. The concept …
For many years I – and especially my “Time-Crunched Cyclist” co-author, Jim Rutberg – have railed against the concept of “aerobic base training” for time-crunched athletes (here and here, for instance). So, naturally, today’s headline might come as a surprise to some of you. Is this a reversal? A flip-flop on the issues? Hardly. For …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor I waited two years for an interval workout. To be fair, those years were full: retiring from one sport, attempting to start a new one, injuring myself, and most of all, working on the perennial challenge of developing a mindset in which it didn’t matter if I …
Three Ways to Get The Most Out of the Fitness You Already Have One of the most common questions I get on social media or on my blog is this: how do I get faster? How do I get more skilled? Or, simply, how do I get better? No one ever asks, “How do I …
Working an aid station at the Leadville 100 MTB last weekend, one of the coaches pointed out the women’s field seemed smaller than it used to be. Another coach, who was tracking down race results to confirm CTS Athlete Larissa Connors had won her second consecutive title, confirmed there were a total of 142 …