All athletes face days when they just don’t feel like training. That’s normal. Figuring out what to do about it can be trickier. Should you ‘suck it up’ and force yourself out the door? Should you acknowledge the feeling and take a day off? Or is what you’re feeling a sign of something more …
Fuzhao Xiang has a strong chance of becoming the first Chinese athlete to win one of ultrarunning’s most prestigious races: Western States (WSER) or Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB). Her stellar performance at the 2024 WSER was the third-fastest female finish (16:20:03) in history. Athletes endured a hotter race day in 2025, …
Cyclists and runners and just about everyone else likes to put their feet up after a workout or a hard day at work. A common belief is that elevating your feet above the level of your heart for anywhere from several minutes to an hour or more will “drain lactic acid” from your legs, improve …
By Renee Eastman, CTS Premier Coach & Performance Lab Director Blood lactate plays a key role in exercise and fitness, offering valuable insights into how our bodies produce energy, build endurance, and perform. Part 1 of this series covered the basics of blood lactate’s role in exercise and setting training zones. In Part 2, we’ll …
By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “Ride Inside“ and “The Time-Crunched Cyclist” Sports science and coaching professionals read and report on many of the same research papers, sometimes with different interpretations. A scientist and writer I respect a great deal, Alex Hutchinson (author of “Endure” and the Sweat Science column for Outside …
By Tracey Drews, CTS Coach specializing in Grand Masters Athletes Winning medals never gets old. As an athlete in the 65+ age category and a coach who specializes in working with athletes around my age and older, I can assure you that Grand Masters, Super Agers, Senior Athletes – or whatever name resonates …
By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “Ride Inside“, “The Time-Crunched Cyclist”, and “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” Athletes over 50 years old know they face different physical challenges compared to younger athletes. As perhaps the largest endurance coaching company that works one-on-one with athletes, CTS has extensive experience coaching athletes between the ages …
By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “Ride Inside“, “The Time-Crunched Cyclist”, and “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” Maximum aerobic capacity (VO2 max) declines with age, but what causes capacity to drop? Aging athletes want to stay fit, vital, and active for the rest of their lives. So what, if anything, can you do to …
By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “Ride Inside“, “The Time-Crunched Cyclist”, and “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” Reviewed by Adam Pulford I have an important message to all Generation X and Baby Boomer athletes out there: It’s never too late to make meaningful and measurable gains in fitness and performance! Yes, there are …
By Andy Jones-Wilkins, CTS Ultrarunning Coach, 10-time Western States Finisher Anyone who has been running ultras for a while has, at one time or another, had to fight off the urge to quit. It is simply an inevitable fact of life that for most normal humans, after about 8 hours of running, hiking, crawling, …