“If I run happy, I run well.” – Kaci Lickteig, Western States Endurance Run Champion Kaci Lickteig is one of those people. You know, those people who can still smile when everyone else is grimacing, who has the presence of mind to thank course volunteers while climbing steep grades, and whose happy countenance and …
This is a period of the year when athletes have a lot of motivation to train, but don’t always have great weather for outdoor training. Fortunately, you can accomplish a great deal with targeted indoor cycling workouts, often in a fraction of the time – and with a fraction of the clothing – compared to outdoor …
By Chris Carmichael I am a cyclist in my mid-50s and I spend a lot of time riding with athletes up to 30 years younger and 25 years older than me. People ask me about the impact of age on endurance athletes, and here’s what I tell them: Your potential declines, but your ability to maximize …
We live in a 24/7 world with constant demands on our time and pressure to do more and more. The nature of social media and the ever-present smartphone feeds this pressure, whether it’s work emails coming in at 9:30pm or social media updates exalting everyone’s latest achievements. Athletes face the same career, family, and social …
One of the reasons CTS headquarters are in Colorado Springs, Colorado is that there are a ton of smart sports science folks here. And those who don’t live here typically come through here for conferences or events, like the US Olympic Committee’s International Altitude Training Symposium. Because altitude training and performance at high altitudes are …
At a recent Gran Fondo I had a chance to talk with a lot of athletes. I love working one-on-one with the athletes I personally coach, but I also love getting out of Colorado Springs to ride and interact with athletes of all ability levels at events around the country. I talk to a lot …
The expanse of open water that greets triathletes at the beginning of a competition is intimidating. That is an almost universally true statement from novice triathletes, at least those who didn’t come into triathlon from a swimming background. For runners, cyclists, and casual exercisers who are interested in triathlon, the intimidation factor of the swim …
Shifting gears is an under-rated skill in cycling. On the wall in our Colorado Springs Training Center, there’s a Murray-branded steel Serotta hanging on the wall. It’s the bike I rode in the 1985 Giro d’Italia, complete with a 53/42 crankset, 12-23 freewheel, and friction downtube shifters. Back then shifting gears was a major component …
By Nick White and Chris Carmichael We’re in the age of power, and on-bike power meters have forever changed the landscape of triathlon training. But while more athletes are analyzing their workouts, many stumble when using a power meter during competition. In training you rely on your power meter to ensure that you’re challenging yourself …
It is crucially important for an athlete to know when enough is enough. And that holds true whether you’re talking about completing one more interval in today’s workout, or deciding whether you need an extra day of recovery after a hard workout or race. I wrote about this in “The Time-Crunched Cyclist “, and …