One of the most frequent questions our coaches get is, “What should I eat before my race/workout?” In reality, the answer they’re seeking has additional components. It’s not just what to eat, but how much to eat and when to eat it. All of these parameters are important. When you get it right, your pre-race …
By Renee Eastman, CTS Premier Coach, MS, CSCS, USAC level 1, Retul, NASM As athletes work toward fitness and performance goals, many focus on losing weight as well. Over 20-plus years of coaching, I’ve found some common things that trip people up. Below, I’ll share common mistakes I see athletes make when pursuing weight loss goals. …
By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “The Time-Crunched Cyclist”, “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning”, and “Ride Inside“ What is a sports drink? A sports drink is essentially water with stuff dissolved in it. Some drinks have lots of different kinds of stuff dissolved in them, some of which just waste space. There is only so …
People have strong feelings about carbohydrate, despite the fact it is neither good nor bad. The positive and negative effects of carbohydrate on health, performance, and recovery come from when, why, and how much people consume. For endurance athletes, carbs are an essential fuel for performance and recovery. To understand this critical component of sports …
Ergogenic aids, or performance-enhancing substances, include any substances that enhance performance or recovery. The term encompasses legal substances like caffeine and prohibited substances like anabolic steroids. Interestingly, the research that determined just how ‘sports enhancing’ they could be, was done in controlled laboratory settings rather than real-world scenarios. While controlled settings leave less room for …
Caffeine is one of the world’s most widely used stimulants, with the average caffeine consumption in the United States around two cups of coffee (200mg) per day. Most of us are familiar with our afternoon coffee’s ability to help us through the workday and how strongly ingrained coffee is in cycling culture, but does caffeine …
By Chris Carmichael, CEO/Head Coach of CTS The Pikes Peak APEX presented by RockShox covers just over 125 miles over 4 stages, features more than 14,000 feet of climbing, and showcases four iconic Colorado Springs-area trail systems. Mountain bike stage races and multi-day adventures present unique nutrition and hydration challenges, so whether you are …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS Races and events are back on the calendar and the weather is getting warmer, so weight loss is a trending topic in coaching conversations across my entire staff of 50+ endurance coaches. No two conversations with athletes about healthy weight loss are exactly the same. There …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS Eating in the evening often gets a bad rap because people associate it with mindless snacking and polishing off a whole bag of chips or a full pint of ice cream. Sometimes, though, what is bad for a sedentary population can be good for athletes. …
By Coach Renee Eastman, MS, USAC Level 1 Coach, NASM Sports Nutrition Coach Good eating and hydration practices on the bike are some of the simplest ways to get more out of your training rides and event performances. This topic has been covered on this blog before (like in this article: Nutrition for Rides of …