Answer: Riding outside generally means a higher intensity and higher TSS than a plan’s prescribed structured workout. Depending on a rider’s goals, their outside ride could hamper later workouts. It’s really a question of what you want to get out of your rides and how much time you’re willing to dedicate … If you’re looking…
Answer: No. When climbing a hill, you may see differences in your body’s ability to express 100% of your FTP, but the experience is not enough to necessitate a different FTP. Why is My FTP More Impressive on Climbs Than Flats? This disparity in performance brought on by these different scenarios can be discouraging and cause…
Answer: For most athletes, no. Depending on the familiarity and experience with an FTP value, athletes can realistically sustain the power level of FTP in a range from about 40-70 minutes. ** Our default testing format to estimate an athlete’s FTP was changed to the TrainerRoad Ramp Test since this post was published Why Your…
Ever wonder about recovery intervals? The purpose they serve, the durations they last, even the intensities they’re prescribed at? You’re not alone… We had the same question, and so we talked about it in depth on episode of 114 of the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast. Here’s an expansion of that discussion. Furthering performance capabilities…
All Cyclocross Specialty training plans are improved to be more specific to your riding and racing goals. What’s New All Cyclocross plans include even TSS weeks to allow riders to easily integrate training races and higher-priority races into their training. To prepare riders for rapid-fire repeats seen in ‘cross racing, these plans put an emphasis…
Singletrack 6 presented by Transrockies was epic in more ways than one. Here’s a compilation of lessons learned. Singletrack 6 Preview To help get you faster for your next XC stage race and/or MTB adventure, the hosts of the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast signed up to race Singletrack 6, the epic six-day MTB stage race…
The infamous fitness plateau is a state no athlete wishes to face. We’re going to make sure you never find yourself there. Throughout this discussion, we will introduce two foundational theories to understand what happens to our bodies when we train. By doing so, we aim to illuminate why certain practices yield results, while others achieve…
Power is the only objective metric you can use to train with. Other metrics — distance, heart rate, RPE — are subjective. This isn’t newfound knowledge. Most cyclists know this, but there are far fewer cyclists who have spent the time to really get it. So why is having more than a baseline understanding of…
Alcohol is intimately related to cycling and racing in general. Post-ride trail brews, podium champagne and “recovery beers” are all a regular part of our cycling vernacular and culture, but if you’re trying to take your training seriously, should they be? The effects of alcohol on performance can be narrowed down to two things: how…
For many cyclists, their warmup routines before a race look a lot like riding around at a moderate pace for 10-20 minutes, depending on how long their event is. This is changing. In place of loose, unspecific pre-race workouts are structured workouts that riders are opting to do on the trainer — you may have…