By Chris Carmichael Although many ski areas around the country are lamenting the lack of snow this winter, it’s still plenty cold enough out there to make cycling and running outside a significant challenge. This year is a little different than prior years for me, in that I have a 6-day mountain bike stage race …
By Chris Carmichael Progress. It’s what we’re all after, what athletes train hours, months, and years to accomplish. You might have personal or competitive goals driving you forward, but behind all of those there’s the necessity to make progress. And so we test ourselves. We do field tests, lab tests, test ourselves against our buddies, …
By Chris Carmichael I’m writing this article as wind-driven snow pelts the window of my office, reminding me more than ever that this is peak indoor cycling season! I’m a firm believer in utilizing relatively short and hard indoor training sessions, as opposed to mind-numbing endurance sessions staring at the wall or watching the entire …
By Chris Carmichael, One of the biggest questions I get at this time of year is, “What should I be doing in the dead of winter so I’m ready for a Spring Training Camp in February or March?” For many athletes, a CTS Spring Training Camp is the start of the season and they come …
By Natalie Bojko, CTS Senior Coach For most triathletes, swimming is the sport that is first to get cut out when time gets short for training. Since it is the shortest part of a triathlon, triathletes can often justify spending less time in the pool during racing season since they can get more bang for …
How altitude affects cycling performance The basics of altitude work like this: as you go higher the air becomes less dense, which means the oxygen molecules are more spread out. As a result, when you breathe in and fill your lungs, there are fewer oxygen molecules in that volume of air. Most people from …
By Chris Carmichael What goes up must come down, and while Stage 17 of the 2011 Tour de France featured some very big ascents, it was the descents that had the biggest impact on the race. Of the final 62 kilometers of Stage 17, only 8 kilometers were uphill and there may have been another …
By Bill Plock Being fairly new to Team Trainright and with my first race coming up, something my yoga teacher said the other day really made me think about why I race. I love to compete, I want to win, but as someone past his prime, why do I continue to race? Remember when you …
Two weeks ago I was talking with a CTS Athlete about how his season of training and competition was going, and after a while it became clear that he’d gone from being very aggressive to being more passive during the past few months of racing mostly criteriums. This is actually something we see quite often, …
For those of us who did not grow up with gills, swimming fast can be a difficult skill to acquire. A great aerobic engine is important, but without great technique in the water you’re not going to move forward quickly. To become a faster swimmer in time for the upcoming triathlon season, now is a …