By Chris Carmichael Founder & Head Coach of CTS If you have even a tangential interest in nutrition news, you have undoubtedly seen recent headlines proclaiming there are no health risks to eating red meat after all. This, of course, represents a dramatic reversal of decades of nutritional guidance aimed at reducing consumption of red …
By Pro CTS Coach Kirk Nordgren Later summer and early fall are the times that many endurance athletes start thinking about cross-country skiing as a winter alternative to their current summer sports. Maybe you’re burnt out on cycling or running, or maybe you just can’t wait to hit the trails with your skis this winter. …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor It’s tough for athletes and other high achievers to self-evaluate performance. To prevent burnout, maintain motivation, and guard your mental health for the long run, it’s important to learn to celebrate yourself on occasion. We should pause to celebrate our own hard work and accomplishments. At the same …
By Chris Carmichael You do not have boundless energy. Even the most driven and motivated people have a finite amount of energy to spread across all their activities. A critically important portion, emotional energy, is easily depleted and unlike physical energy, no amount of food can replenish it. Emotional energy is the mental fuel that …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor Last week, I took my first coaching job. I won’t be charting watts or checking TrainingPeaks. The workouts will be measured in yards, not hours or miles – I am now officially the new assistant coach of Buffalo’s girls high school swim team. Swimming was my first love …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor I have been terrified to race for almost three years. I’m not talking about bike racing. I am talking about any athletic competition. I finished my professional racing career in 2016 with an absolute sense of finality. When people asked me about a comeback, or even when I …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor As a professional racer, I struggled mightily to comply with constant pleas from team managers, my coach and a variety of ubiquitous-yet-unsolicited advice-givers who all desperately wanted me to sit down and put my feet up as soon as I got off the bike. That was not my …
By Mara Abbott, Olympia, CTS Contributing Editor I am absolutely unable to resist a good sports story. Technically, my job at the Buffalo Bulletin is to write about energy and natural resources, but when I overheard my publisher recounting the tale of a mother, a son, and a hundred-mile trail running race to our sports …
By Corrine Malcolm, CTS Coach When it comes to cramping, especially exercise-associated muscle cramping (EAMC) almost everyone has a story. A story about that one time, in that one race, where that one muscle seized. Exercise-associated muscle cramps are defined as painful spasms, and involuntary contractions of skeletal muscles that occur during or immediately post …
By Mara Abbott CTS Contributing Editor My past two weeks: Move to a new state, start a new job, and then spend eight days based out of a hotel room in Houston for a conference. As a single, pro racer, I had strong admiration for athletes who successfully structured their training around career and family …