Training Stress Score, or TSS, is commonly used to describe how “hard” a ride was, but that’s only part of the story. Although it is valuable, some important aspects of training are not reflected by TSS. So, as you are scanning through your workout data and planning your upcoming cycling training, here’s a guide …
There is an entire generation of cyclists that views VO2 max as a genetically pre-determined performance ceiling. A more modern and nuanced take shows it to be quite responsive to training. With different types of workouts we can increase VO2 max itself, as well as peak power, fractional utilization, and power duration at VO2 max. That’s …
There are numerous methods for field testing, involving efforts of varying durations. I developed The CTS Field Test, which consists of two 8-minute, all-out time trials separated by 10 minutes of easy spinning recovery, in 1994 with physiologist Dr. Edmund Burke. At the time we used heart rate, time, and distance (3 miles). Watts were …
Part 4 of Leveraging Blood Lactate Response in Training: Using Blood Lactate Response to Guide Training Progression There are many ways to structure training throughout a season to achieve similar outcomes in terms of fitness and performance. The brilliance of human physiology is that applying stress to any point along the spectrum from easy …
By Renee Eastman, CTS Premier Coach Part 3 of a series on leveraging blood lactate response in training How did Zone 3, a challenging aerobic intensity below lactate threshold, or between LT1 and LT2, get demoted to being a “grey zone” and considered a waste of training time? Well, there’s good evidence that athlete …
By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “The Time-Crunched Cyclist”, “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” SBT GRVL’s date change from mid-August to June 26-29 was one of the biggest shakeups to the gravel cycling calendar for 2025. Athletes who were planning their long-range training scheduled to peak for a long gravel event in August need to …
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 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. Often misunderstood as just a waste product, blood lactate is actually a powerful fuel source and an important messenger within …
By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “The Time-Crunched Cyclist” December presents many training and nutrition challenges for athletes, but with some planning you can hit January strong, fit, and ready to ramp up your performance. You don’t have to live like a monk for the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. We …
By Chris Carmichael, CTS Founder and Chief Endurance Officer There are a lot of things you can know about cycling training, but here are the 10 truths you need to know. The past several years has witnessed a surge in the number of devices, products, apps, and supplements promising to improve the effectiveness or …