When you think of training, do visions of health and fitness come to mind? Most likely they do, and for good reason. Consistent exercise and training obviously offer many health benefits. But for many athletes, it also carries the risk of going too far, actually damaging muscles and cells, and causing fatigue and chronic soreness.In…
Nutrition Timeline for your Big-Race Taper Week
Only one week until your big race. You’ve made it. You’ve survived the training. You’ve started to taper. But what should you eat now? There’s plenty of conflicting advice out there to confuse most anyone. There’s “to carb load,” there’s “to carb starve,” there’s reducing calories, adding calories, and more. Clear as mud. Taper week…
3 Tips for Recovery During Stage Racing
Question: You’ve done several stage races, what have you found to work best for recovery methods to get through the stage race and how long will it take post-stage race before one can realistically expect to race in good form again? Answer: While many athletes put a large focus on training, fitness, and nutrition, I…
Training with Power vs. Heart Rate: What’s Better?
Question: Is it truly better to train by ‘power’ vs. heart rate especially with a focus on stage racing and endurance races? What are the benefits and what are the cons if any to training based on power? Answer: Training with power has numerous benefits that can get you faster on the bike for both long distance(4+…
5 Biggest Sports Drink Mistakes
Do you have a favorite sports drink? If you’re one of the fortunate few who have found your match, the one that hydrates you well with fluids and electrolytes, without any stomach issues, and with a taste you look forward to drinking still in the fifth hour of a ride, you should congratulate yourself. The…
How to Turn Hard Work Into Results with Recovery
When you think of training, do visions of health and fitness come to mind? Most likely they do, and for good reason. Consistent exercise and training obviously offer many health benefits. But for many athletes, it also carries the risk of going too far, actually damaging muscles and cells, and causing fatigue and chronic soreness.…
3 Keys to Training Fuel While Riding
Here’s an understatement: These days, you have a lot of options for training fuel. As in a bazillion. There are so many options, many athletes become overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated trying to make a choice. It seems like a distant past when only two or three commercial sports drinks were available, and there was one…
Pre-Race Equipment Prep: Checklist & Tips
With the road racing season well underway, many of you have probably already pinned on a number and unleashed some of your hard-earned fitness in a bike race, maybe even several. I would bet many of you also have upcoming target events, to which you’ve already dedicated hours of Trainer Road workouts, scary volumes of…
Stage Race Nutrition
Stage races provide little to no room for error when it comes to nutrition. A mistake in hydration one day might lead to a steep decline in performance over the next several days, perhaps leading to other problems like GI distress, poor recovery, lack of appetite and diminished mental acuity. The deleterious effects become magnified…
The Trainer Is Your Secret Weapon
When my to-do list expands beyond the threshold of manageable into the realm of overwhelming, a bike ride can be the perfect way to streamline productivity: by giving my brain the space it needs to reorganize thoughts and enable me to more efficiently and effectively tackle that daunting list. In fact, riding my bicycle is…