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 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 …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor “Most of what I do, I don’t consider to be a ‘workout’, but more like the fun of the day,” my dad told me last week as we discussed his post-retirement athletic adventures. As an incurably goal-oriented competitor, and also his daughter, this carefree quip was both …
By Adam St. Pierre CTS Ultramarathon Coach Every athlete has a limiting factor. More accurately, there are a number of interconnected factors that seek to limit your ultramarathon success. Though it’s an oversimplification to say these are the only three factors limiting performance, three of the most common are: Time, Structure, and Energy. Time For …
Cyclocross Coaching Special4 Months Of Coaching For the Price Of 3 MonthsONLY $0Over $200 SavingsGET MATCHED WITH A COACH NOWFeatured InWork With A Top Cyclocross CoachKaitie KeoughExpert Level CTS Coach Kaitlin is from Racine, Wisconsin. She started racing on the velodrome in Kenosha, WI when she was ten years old. From there, Kaitlin found other …
By Mara Abbott Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor I almost never got bodywork as a professional cyclist. Part of that decision was probably financial, but a part of it also came from a sense of pride that I didn’t need the help, that I could keep any impending physical ailments in check with my …
I get thank you notes from cyclists’ spouses and significant others. They typically containing some variation of, “Thank you for returning my husband/wife to me. The happy and vibrant person I fell in love with is back!” I have no doubt helping athletes train consistently, rediscover their fitness, and have fun on the bike …
By Mara Abbott Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor As many of readers here know, as soon as you get a coach you have an ever-present voice eager to explain training principles and the physiological changes you will experience if you follow the plan. I have been a coached athlete for most of my life – …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor Two weeks ago my farmers market co-worker, Max, made a terrible mistake. He made some off-hand comment about not eating breakfast. Max works in the fields on the farm all day, yet somehow, “I am not really hungry for lunch, either.” I noted, in no uncertain terms, …
By Mara Abbott Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor It may have been the opening for my entire cycling career – a super-cool upperclassman invited me to go mountain biking with her in my first weeks as an impressionable freshman still identifying as a swimmer. She said I should join Whitman College’s cycling team. Jane Rynbrandt …