Have you ever been nervous before a big race? Of course you have. Ever talked yourself into thinking you might fail? Have you ever felt that unwanted negative thoughts and emotions influenced how you performed in a race? There’s a good chance that’s happened, since it will occasionally happen even to the best athletes in the world. 

But it doesn’t have to. This episode is entirely about helping you to control unwanted thoughts, with two experts who have literally written the book on it. Dr. Simon Marshall and Lesley Patterson, owners of Braveheart Coaching and authors of “The Brave Athlete: Calm the F***k Down and Rise to the Occasion,” have written and lectured extensively about mental preparation in athletes. 

Their philosophy of practice stems largely from the concept of stoicism, and their goal is to help athletes overcome destructive emotions and act only on what can be acted upon.  

Marshall brings his years of clinical and neuroscience practice to bear on the discussion, while former Xterra world champion Patterson brings the athlete perspective. Together, they offer what they see as a fundamentally educational, humanistic, and holistic approach to training the brain.  

Today, we’ll discuss the underlying principles of an athlete's psychological welfare, and why our thoughts and feelings are simply emergent properties of brain and nervous system physiology. On the practical side, we’ll discuss how controlling those thoughts and feelings requires that you manage your autonomic nervous system the best you can.  

Besides Simon and Lesley, we also hear from sports psychologist Julie Emmerman, who works with athletes across many disciplines and at various ability levels, and Ted King, who now races long, painful, and emotionally challenging gravel and bikepacking races. They both provide helpful tips on handling unwanted thoughts. 

Now, whatever you do, don’t think about a pink elephant... don’t worry, this will make sense soon. Let's make you fast!

Fast Talk

158: How to Manage Unwanted Thoughts Through Stoicism, with Dr. Simon Marshall and Lesley Patterson

Typically, when we hear the words “strength training,” we think of going into the gym, slapping some plates on a bar, and seeing what we can lift. The more, the better.  

But there’s a lot more to strength training than that, especially for those of us focused on endurance sports. Strength and conditioning is also about maintaining proper function, training neural patterns, and preventing injury. Sports like cycling, by nature, cause imbalances. If all you do is ride your bike, an overuse injury is nearly guaranteed for your future.  

We also believe that weight training aids performance on the bike. Regardless of your position, as Coach Connor likes to point out, no matter what you believe, race performance will suffer if you’re sitting on the sidelines with a bad back or painful knee injury.  

So, in this episode of Fast Talk, we’re going to discuss four of the most common overuse and imbalance injuries in cyclists and how to address them with off-the-bike work and proper bike fit.  
Patellar tendinitis, or pain at the front of the knee. Cycling is a quad dominant sport. Keeping balance and doing some loaded eccentric work can help prevent this very common pain.

Pelvic obliquity, a broad term for imbalances and asymmetrical movements in the hips.  

Back pain. A proper bike fit and learning to rely on your glutes and hamstrings instead of the postural muscles of the back can go a long way towards preventing this all-too-common issue.

Thoracic kyphosis, a fancy term for a slouched back, which is common among cyclists. Regular exercise to open the chest will help you improve posture off the bike.  

Our guest today is owner of Tag Performance and University of Denver faculty member in Human Performance and Sports, Jess Elliot. [you can link here to episode 32 which she also appeared in] 

Jess recently taught a half-day workshop on strength training for endurance athletes at the Training Peaks Endurance Summit and, for those of you in the Colorado area, because of the popularity of that workshop, she’s hosting it again on December 7. Go to her website at tagperformanceco.com/events to sign up. Use the code “fastlabs” to get a $25 discount.

You’re going to hear a lot of technical terms in this episode; we hope you walk away with an understanding that effective strength training is about more than creating a list of exercises then going to the gym and giving it your best shot. Proper movement, ensuring you are activating the correct firing patterns, and lifting an appropriate weight are all crucial. To help out, Jess is posting videos of most of the exercises we discuss on her website.  

Along with Jess, Trevor talked with Charles Van Atta, the head biomechanist and fitter at the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center. There’s no point in doing the off-the-bike work to resolve an over-use injury if a poor bike fit is promoting it. Charles addresses each of our four injuries from a bike fit perspective.  

With that, let’s make you fast.

VeloNews Fast Talk

Fast Talk, ep. 87: Preventing cycling injuries through strength and conditioning with Jess Elliott

We all understand that to race or ride our best, we need to periodize our season. That’s obvious and essential for a pro who’s racing upwards of 80 races in a season. Simply put, they wouldn’t survive if they went hard all the time: They need a base, they need rest, and they need peaks.

But what about those of us who only have three or four races in a season. Or to take it one step further, what about those of us who don’t race, or who may do a gran fondo at some point. How do we map out our seasons and prepare for those couple events? Do we still need to periodize? Can we be on form all year round?

Today we'll dive into these questions and talk about:

- What we can learn from the pros. Even though they do a lot more races, the same physiological principles apply when you’re talking about reaching your best form. And the pros have learned a lot about how do that right.

- What you can’t take from pros. The simple fact that they do so many races means they can race themselves into shape. That’s a lot harder to do when you have a month between each of your events. So, we’ll talk about what not to mimic.

- Next we’ll dive into a few scenarios including one in which you have four or five races in your season and they are all within a short time frame; a second scenario in which you have four or five races but they are spread out with long periods of time between each; the scenario of doing a single big event; and finally, the scenario in which you don’t participate in any official events, but love to hit the local weekly group ride.  

Today, we are using a roundtable format with three top level coaches to answer these questions. Our first guest is the now famous, much loved Colby Pearce. Also joining us is the always infamous, also loved Grant Holicky with Forever Endurance.

Now, let's make you fast!

Fast Talk, ep. 88: Planning a limited race season with Colby Pearce and Grant Holicky

Riding on the gold-standard Velotron in a laboratory, and breathing into an uncomfortable face mask while a physiologist like our guest Jared Berg pokes your ear for blood might not sound like a good time at all. Which is probably why Coach Connor can't get enough. 

But this week’s show is about exactly that—physiological testing. The end result of a good test is a robust set of data specific to you, which can help you understand things like your true physiological training zones, how much carbohydrate you burn for a given effort, and just how well you can get up infamous climbs like Magnolia Road here in Boulder. 

Learning about your body’s unique capacity for work is crucial as you prepare for races and work on pushing yourself to your full potential. Our guest, Jared Berg, the lead exercise physiologist at the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center in Boulder, is going to walk us through some of the most common performance tests, including the VO2Max test and the lactate test, describing each protocol as well as its benefits.

You’ll learn what’s the right test for you, the ins and outs of the various protocols, and how to prepare yourself for the day of testing. We’ll also discuss how to select a lab that will give you the most accurate data.

Maybe you'll even learn how to pronounce a few new words with us. Ever heard of symmorphosis? Can you say it? Coach Connor can’t...

Oh, and if you haven't seen it yet, drop everything and check out the legendary bike racing movie, American Flyers. It's available on Amazon Prime for $2.99, which is probably too much, but, hey, it’s educational. You can’t consider yourself a true cyclist, nor will you fully appreciate this episode, until you’ve seen it.  

Finally, if things already sound a little different and you notice a lot better sound quality on this episode, that’s because we have a new producer on the show! Jana Martin has joined our team, and we’re incredibly excited about that. She comes to us with over a decade of podcast and television production experience. In other words, now that Trevor isn’t allowed to touch the computer, the show is going to get better! 

As always, send us your feedback and thoughts at fasttalk@fastlabs.com.

Fast Talk, ep. 89: The value of physiological testing

Base training has traditionally been all about long, slow rides. But that's tough if you live in the northern hemisphere and you hate the cold, or lack the necessary equipment to ride safely outdoors when road conditions might be perilous and light is limited.

Today, we’re discussing how best to deal with those challenges that plague the northern hemisphere this time of year. (Apologies to all of our friends in the southern hemisphere!) Does it kill your motivation to ride? Do you feel the fitness literally draining from your body? Don't let it!

The darkness, cold temperatures, and perilous road conditions of the winter months don’t have to be any sort of barrier. In fact, as you’ll learn in this episode, this time of year is the perfect time to find a host of new ways to stay motivated, add variety to your training methods, try something new, reinvigorate your work ethic, and, ultimately, set yourself up to improve performance when the racing begins later in the year.

Our primary guests today are Andrew Randell and Steve Neal, the owners of Toronto's The Cycling Gym, joined by one of their athletes, Jeremiah Groen, someone who we imagine is similar to a lot of our listeners: "I'm a very amateur cyclist, don't do many races; I mostly just want to be fit."

These three Canadians don’t care about the winter blues! Their advice? Get brave and get outside. Yes, even in the dark and even in the snow. But if you can’t or won’t go outside, they have plenty of sage advice on how best to hit the gym, the trainer, or the weight room to get the most, and the most balance, out of your training sessions.

We’ll also hear from pro roadie Erica Clevenger. She divulges some of her favorite methods of cross training. All that and much more, including some tech advice from Lennard Zinn.

By the end of this episode, you’ll understand that using the base season properly to prepare for the build to come and the all-important race season to follow can be a very enjoyable time of year.

Now, let's make you fast!

Fast Talk 

Fast Talk, ep. 90: Innovative approaches to base training

Happy New Year’s, Fast Talk friends!

We are excited to be speeding into 2020 with our new company, Fast Labs, and continuing our partnership with VeloNews. For starters, and due to popular demand, Fast Talk will now be a weekly show. These new bi-monthly bonus episodes will be a bit shorter than the traditional Fast Talk episode, but in them you’ll find similar, detailed scientific physiology explanations, special interviews with your favorite pros, coaches, and experts, and we’ll also regularly answer your questions.

To that end, thank you to the listeners who called and left us a voicemail over the holidays. We’ll be recording a special listener questions episode in the next week, so make sure to get your questions in as soon as you can. The number to call is 719-800-2112. If we can hear you loud and clear in the message, we may include the recording in the show.

Now, episode 91. The focus of this episode can be summarized in a single, powerful sentiment: There is great value in keeping track of your numbers, at analyzing the data you’ve gathered with your power meter, heart rate strap, or other device, but if all you do is focus on the numbers, and make them the end-goal themselves, you are missing out on very critical aspects of your training.

So, the underlying message of episode 91 is simple: Think of the numbers not as the target or the goal, but as a tool. What we will emphasize today are the many critical aspects of training and coaching that don’t show up in the data.

Our primary guest is a very successful former professional cyclist turned coach Julie Young, whose road racing career stretched over a decade with teams including Saturn and Timex. She continues to race today at a very high level across multiple disciplines, and is currently part of the talented team behind the Kaiser Permanente Sports Medicine Endurance Lab in California.

We’re also joined by co-owner of The cycling Gym, Coach Steve Neal, as well as Trek-Segafredo's Ruth Winder, the reigning American national champion on the road.

Now, set your preferred analytics software aside for a minute. Let’s focus on you, your brain, and this moment. Let’s make you fast!

Fast Talk, ep. 91: Beyond the data—training is about more than just the numbers

Hello and welcome to this bonus episode of Fast Talk. These new episodes, which we’ll publish every other week to supplement our flagship shows, will typically run a little shorter than our regular episodes, and they’ll also be more geared toward answering your questions, but all in all, they’ll contain the same great content you’ve come to expect from Fast Labs, and from Coach Connor and Chris Case. 
 
Our regular, full-length episodes with multiple guests addressing the current science in training and your requested topics will still continue on, of course. For this first bonus episode, we’re doing a bit of everything. For starters, during our episode a few weeks back with the Cycling Gym, we recorded an analysis of some recent physiological research. Trevor hadn’t done a nerd bomb in a while and was feeling the need. But it didn’t really fit with the episode. So, we’ll start with Trevor’s summary of a few studies and what they say about how to structure your training.

We’ll also answer listener questions on overtraining, laboratory testing, and much more. 
 
If you have a question for us, give us a call at 719-800-2112 and leave us a voicemail. If we can hear you loud and clear in the message, we may include the recording in the show. As always, you can also email us at fasttalk@fastlabs.com.  
 
Now, let’s make you fast!

Fast Talk, Ep. 92: Q&A on intensity vs. volume, overtraining, lab testing, and more

Take a guess, which one of our all-knowing hosts is an expert on Baby Yoda, and who hadn’t even heard of him until this recording? Or, more importantly, what is a palindrome?

Welcome to our second bonus episode of Fast Talk where Chris and Coach Connor are once again tackling your important questions.

First is a question about training while fasting, then some goal-setting analysis, and finally some more discussion on the polarized training approach. We’ve included both email and voicemail questions in this podcast.

To submit your own question to the guys you can call 719-800-2112 or email fasttalk@fastlabs.com.

Fast Talk, ep. 94: Q&A on fasted training, goal setting and the polarized approach

In episode 95 we talk in-depth about the humble tire. Often neglected, frequently misunderstood, the lowly tire is a much more complicated piece of equipment than many people know. 

With the help of two very talented technical gurus, Lennard Zinn and Nick Legan, we explain the complexities of the tire, tire pressure, and how those things lead to changes in comfort, grip, rolling resistance and much more.  

As always, we love your feedback. Email us at fasttalk@fastlabs.com or call 719-800-2112 and leave us a voicemail; if it is recorded clearly you may be featured on the show.

Fast Talk, ep. 95: Lennard Zinn and The Art of Tire Pressure

For this episode, Chris and Coach Connor go to the fit guru Colby Pearce with a simple request: Tell us what you know about the pedal stroke. We anticipated an intelligent, albeit relatively short answer. What Colby gave us was a monologue of gold. 

We also caught up with reigning U.S. national road race champion Ruth Winder of Trek-Segafredo for more advice on how to train the pedal stroke, on and off the bike. 

Thanks again for everyone who has sent us questions both via email (fasttalk@fastlabs.com) as well as by calling our google voicemail at 719-800-2112.

Fast Talk, ep. 96: Analysis on Pedaling Dynamics, with Colby Pearce

Are you stretching? Are you stretching too much? The core of Fast Talk episode 97 delves into the short and long term effects of stretching, differentiates between the athletes in various disciplines that should be stretching more, and who should be stretching less.


You can lose power and performance capability if you are over or under the optimal length for any given muscle. We discuss yoga and the appropriate way to practice it.

Our primary guest is Menachem Brodie, the owner of Human Vortex Training. Menachem has over a decade of strength training and coaching experience. He has coached at a high level in cycling, and he began in his own cycling career as a strength and skill sports competitor. It was only after injury that he found cycling, and then he merged his strength training background with his new passion for cycling to bring those worlds together.

In today’s episode, Menachem tests Trevor’s flexibility, which is awkward and painful, but you can try it as well.

Also on the podcast to speak with us about the ways he integrates stretching into his training and racing is Red Bull athlete Payson McElveen. Payson is a two-time marathon MTB national champion, a budding star in the gravel racing world, and hosts of the podcast “The Adventure Stache.”

Now, don’t get all bent out of shape, let’s make you fast!

Fast Talk, ep. 97:  Stretching Too Much? Analysis with Menachem Brodie & Payson McElveen

The Fast Talk podcast offers the best guides to cycling performance and endurance sports training from world-class experts.

Cohosted by cycling coaches and sport scientists Trevor Connor and Rob Pickels, Fast Talk episodes feature fascinating conversations with world-class experts discussing the endurance sports topics they know best: the best ways to train, effective workouts, questions on polarized and interval training, sports nutrition, physiology and recovery, and sport psychology.

Fast Talk guests and regular contributors include Dr. Stephen Seiler, Joe Friel, Dr. Asker Jeukendrup, Sebastian Weber, Jim Miller, Dr. Andy Pruitt, Dr. Timothy Noakes, and elite professional athletes like Kristin Armstrong, Sepp Kuss, Brent Bookwalter, Kate Courtney, and many more.

Fast Talk is part of Fast Talk Laboratories, a new endurance sports knowledgebase for endurance racers and adventurers.

158: How to Manage Unwanted Thoughts Through Stoicism, with Dr. Simon Marshall and Lesley Patterson

Fast Talk

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