The VeloNews Fast Talk podcast is your source for the best training advice and most compelling insight on what it takes to become a better cyclist. Listen in as VeloNews managing editor Chris Case and our resident physiologist and coach, Trevor Connor, discuss a range of topics, including sport science, training, physiology, technology, nutrition, and more.
 
We all know how to train hard. Tearing up a set of Tabata intervals, giving it our all at the local Tuesday night training race, or attacking someone from New Zealand on Zwift is what we do.
But training — at least effective training — is actually a balance between stressing our systems and recovery. Remember that training does damage. It's in recovery that we repair and get stronger. This may be why several recent studies have shown that training based on our recovery level can be more effective than rigidly following a structured plan. This is also why Coach Connor loves to say “be as intense in your recovery as you are in your training.” Train hard, rest hard.

Yet, while there are a multitude of tools to measure our training stress – bike computers, power meters, heart rate straps, WKO, Golden Cheetah, Xert and the list goes on – the list of tools to measure recovery is not nearly as robust. But new players such as Whoop – which uses a combination of resting heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep and strain to assess your daily recovery level – are starting to tackle this very important side of the training balance.
So today we dive into the recovery side of the training-recovery concept and talk about:
- This fundamental principle of training also called super-compensation.
- How to know when the balance between training and recovery goes too far towards the training stress side and is leading to over-training. Interestingly, it starts neurologically which can express as changes in mood and motivation long before it shows up on the training ride.
- We discuss ways to identify neurological fatigue both on and off the bike.
- Next, we dive into the recovery side of the equation and discuss ways of measuring recovery including resting heart rate and heart rate variability.
- Why sometimes going into the red on the recovery score is necessary
- We discuss the new Whoop strap 3.0. Whoop is a sponsor of this episode and Coach Connor and I are excited to have them as part of the show. This isn’t the first episode where we’ve preached the value of recovery and Whoop is the one tool out there really focusing on that value. And their new strap is providing even better metrics including their strain coach to help you decide when to push and when to pull the plug.

Our primary guest today is Kate Courtney, the reigning mountain bike world champion, and winner of the first two rounds of the UCI World Cup this season.

Along with Kate we talked with Houshang Amiri, a past Canadian Olympic and National team coach and owner of the Pacific Cycling Centre. Houshang has helped athletes such as World’s Silver Medalist Svein Tuft by focusing on the value of recovery. Houshang talks with us about ways he’s used to assess it.

We include a past interview with Phill Gaimon, who talks about the importance of feel and knowing your own body.
Finally, we feature an interview with two top coaches in Colorado – Mac Cassen with Apex Coaching and Frank Overton with FastCat coaching. This interview was actually from episode 45 a few years back, but we talked about measuring recovery and it’s the episode where Frank introduced all of us to the WHOOP strap.

VeloNews Fast Talk

Fast Talk, ep 76: Kate Courtney on when to push and when to back off

We all make mistakes. No one trains and races perfectly, which can be frustrating when so often those mistakes are made out of honest effort and a desire to perform at our best.

But we have a choice in how we treat our mistakes. One way is to get frustrated and beat up on ourselves. The other is to realize that admitting when we make a mistakes is an opportunity to improve and be a better athlete.

With that second perspective in mind, today we’re going to talk about some of the most common mistakes that we see in athletes — even pros. And we’re going to hear from a variety of athletes, coaches, and experts who have been around the block a few times. They know all the mistakes, but more importantly they know what to do about them.

A few of the things we will talk about:
- The one thing that almost all of our guests said was the biggest mistake – hint, don’t try too hard to figure it out.
- Being coachable, or more generally being willing to listen, know yourself, and identify your mistakes.
- Warm-ups and cool-downs — they can have a big impact if done right, and also if done wrong
- Nutrition — though you may be surprised by what our guests say is the biggest mistake
- Too much intensity — do you really think Coach Connor and I were going to have an episode about mistakes and not bring that one up.
- Bike fit and biomechanical mistakes — one of our guests today is Dr. Andy Pruitt who has made a very successful career of helping athletes find success by fixing these often-overlooked mistakes.
- Racing mistakes and why one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to never risk making mistakes.
- And finally, we’ll talk about a more philosophical mistake — not knowing when to move on.

Our primary guests today are Dr. Andy Pruitt and Frankie Andreu. By now, you should know who Dr. Pruitt is, one of the foremost experts on cycling ergonomics and medical issues in athletes. Frankie Andreu was a longtime professional, a mentor to many, a team manager and director, a race commentator, and a legend in the sport.

Along with our two primary guests, we checked in with several other respected experts including Joe Friel, author of the "The Cyclist's Training Bible" which was recently updated. Joe has coached over a thousand athletes in his career and has seen it all. So we had to ask him what he thinks are the biggest mistakes athletes make.

We also speak with Jared Berg, who’s the head physiologist at the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center. One of the issues with making mistakes is we can often convince ourselves that it doesn’t actually affect us. But you can’t fool the physiology and Jared sees that inescapable truth every day.

Next we pulled in an old interview with Grant Holicky, formerly of Apex Coaching with Neal Henderson and now with Forever Endurance, who talks about a mistake that we love to harp on — training in moderato.

Finally, Trevor touches base with Houshang Amiri, a former Canadian National and Olympic team coach who’s worked with many of the best cyclists in Canada. Like Joe Friel, Houshang has seen it all and had some interesting insights on the importance of being prepared.

Fast Talk, ep. 77: Avoiding the big mistakes even pros make, with Dr. Andy Pruitt and Frankie Andreu

What exactly does it take to race the Tour — physiologically, mentally, spiritually. Each day these phenomenal athletes race an event that would shatter most of us in just one day. But then they also have to contend with answering reporters questions, pleasing sponsors, transferring between hotels, trying to eat enough food to cover the day’s expenditures, and, finally and perhaps most importantly, trying to get quality sleep.

It’s a feat that’s hard to comprehend, so today we'll try to give a sense of what it takes to race the Tour. We’ll cover:

First, an overview of the Tour from a numbers perspective, and why the numbers really don’t tell the tale.

Our guest, Ciaran O’Grady will explain his role as a Tour team physiologist and coach.

The many challenges of the Tour outside of racing, including not only what I mentioned above, but also not missing the bus, handling the food, and what happens when you get sick.

Why getting dropped by the peloton doesn’t make for as easy a day as you might think.

What happens to the riders physiologically over the three weeks and why, in essence, it’s just a controlled burnout.How riders try to recover day-to-day, especially when they’re dealing with injuries.

How riders train for the Tour and why having incredible endurance comes first. Then we’ll take a deeper dive into how the different types of riders prepare, from GC contenders to stage hunters and domestiques.

Finally, we’ll try to pull all this together and talk about what mere mortals should and shouldn’t take from Tour riders, whether we’re preparing for a weekend race or a three-day stage race.

Our primary guest today is Ciaran O’Grady, one of the team physiologists for the Dimension Data WorldTour team.

Along with Ciaran, we catch up with one of our favorite guests, Brent Bookwalter of Mitchelton-Scott. Brent has now completed nine grand tours, so he had a lot to say about what it’s like getting through 23 grueling days.

We also talked with Houshang Amiri, a former Canadian National and Olympic coach who runs the Pacific Cycling Centre. He’s coached Tour athletes and had a few thoughts to share on getting athletes ready for a grand tour.

So, get your bidons and your musettes and your baguettes and your crepes, let's make you fast!

Fast Talk, ep. 78: The demands of the Tour de France, with Dimension Data coach Ciaran O'Grady

Complex training prescriptions are becoming increasingly popular. In this episode, we ask the question: Does it really need to be that complex? What do you gain from this complexity?

With the help of seven different experts — coaches, scientists, and athletes — we’re going to try to make three key points:

- Human physiology is very complex
- Properly executing intervals is very difficult
- But, the prescription should be simple.

There was no guest with us in our studio for this recording, but since this is a summary episode, we pulled a lot of segments from past shows. Our guests this week include:

- Legendary mountain bike world champion, and a guy who never gets old, Ned Overend. Ned almost sounded scared when he talked with us about the possibility of training with power or heart rate. Yet, despite having almost no metrics, and no structured routine, he’s developed a remarkably sophisticated system of training.

- Next, we’ll hear from Houshang Amiri, head coach at the Pacific Cycling Centre and past Canadian national team coach. Houshang shared with Trevor his thoughts on complex interval routines.
It wouldn’t be an episode on interval work without hearing from Dr. 
- Stephen Seiler, a top physiologist and researcher in Europe, who’s been credited with formalizing the polarized training model. We pulled a few clips from Dr. Seiler sharing his thoughts on interval prescription and execution.

- But what about athletes who have grown up with power and pre-programmed workouts on their head units? We included an interview we haven’t used before with 2018 Tour of Utah winner Sepp Kuss. While he relies heavily on power, it’s not as simple as setting a target number before he gets on the bike and sticking to it.

- Next we grabbed a clip with Dr. Andy Coggan and Hunter Allen, authors of “Training and Racing with a Power Meter” which was updated this year. They invented probably the most common training zone model in the world (though they don’t like the word zones.) They talked with us about the value of zone models or levels.

- Trevor pulled out an old interview with Trek-Segafredo rider Toms Skujins. Like Sepp, Toms talks about just some of the many decisions that go into effectively executing his interval work.
- Finally, we hear from 2017 U.S. national champion Larry Warbasse of Ag2r La Mondiale. Larry talked with us about the importance of seeing your training sessions in a broader context. Otherwise, you can execute perfectly and still get off track.

Fast Talk ep. 80: Properly executing intervals is hard; keep your training plan simple

It’s been a long time coming, but Fast Talk is finally taking on cyclocross, from training to racing, honing technical skills to riding on nearly flat tires. Warning: there are few, if any, nerd bombs in this episode.

Is there anything more fun than ripping around in the mud on an autumn day with all your friends? Jumping off your bike, jumping on your bike, diving into corners, bunny-hopping barriers, drifting through corners, powering through sand. The cyclists who have the most fun? Cyclocross racers. 

Today we'll dive into many facets of ‘cross, including:

- First, why cyclocross is so unique to the cycling world, and why comparing it to crits or time trials doesn’t do it justice.

- Second, what assets you need to be a good 'cross rider. Some of it is purely physiological like a good two to five-minute power, but there’s also more intangible things like resilience.

- Few people race just ‘cross, so we’ll talk about how to balance multiple race seasons, and how to deal with what can end up being a long season as a result.

- Fourth, we’ll explore the season a little deeper and talk about how both our experts like to periodize their training, and also how they address the short race season in cyclocross

- We’ll explain the all-too-critical start position, and why that raises an important question when planning your season. Should you come into the 'cross season hot?

- We’ll spend some time talking about the technical side of cyclocross. A good engine is important, but if you’re losing 10 seconds in the corners every lap, even the biggest engine isn’t enough.

- Next, we’ll discuss the training side of cyclocross and why the unique nature of the sport also requires a unique approach to training.

- Finally, we’ll talk about ‘cross races themselves— race strategy, the importance of course inspection, and selecting your gear.

Our primary guests today are Grant Holicky, one of the top cyclocross coaches in the country, of Forever Endurance coaching, and one of his athletes Maxx Chance, a former collegiate cyclocross national champion.

Along with Grant and Maxx, we spoke with Ellen Noble, a Red Bull sponsored athlete with Trek Factory Racing, and a multiple-time medalist at elite ‘cross nationals.

Finally, I sat down with a true cyclocross legend, Katie Compton, the winner of 15 consecutive national titles, and a four-time silver medalist at ‘cross worlds.

Fast Talk, ep. 81: The 'cross episode with Coach Holicky, Katie Compton, and Ellen Noble

Recovery, recovery, recovery... you’ve heard us talk about it before. You’ve heard a lot of our guests preach about its importance. Well, now let’s confuse you a bit. The ultimate goal of training is, of course, to adapt. And there’s a critical distinction between adaptation and recovery. They are not the same thing. In fact, sometimes what helps one, hurts the other.

Recovery is about doing what you can so the legs are ready for your next workout. Adaptation is about the body repairing the damage caused by training—if the training provides enough stress, it will repair the system to come back stronger. But what’s good for that repair process may have you feeling less than perfect on the bike the next day.

Today, we’re going to dive into this important difference and focus on adaptations—what causes them and how to aid them. We’ll talk about:

- First, the difference between recovery and adaptation.
- Second, how the immune system is intimately involved in both, and why we’ve come to the realization in recent years that reducing inflammation can be counterproductive.
- Next, we’ll talk about the three stages of repair. Remember that training does damage. We are weaker after hard rides. It’s during the repair process that we get stronger, and the immune system is the repair man. Much like the local cable guy, the immune system is going to work at its own pace regardless of what you do or say.
- Next, we discuss how there’s a delicate balance between damage and repair, and when you get out of balance by doing too much training, it starts a vicious cycle that prevents further adaptations and leads to burnout
- We’ll talk with George Bennett, who put in a fantastic Tour de France performance, helping his GC leader, Steven Kruijswijk, land on the podium. George discusses what he does to aid adaptations.
- Finally, we’ll finish with a conversation about the things that do help adaptations and the things that hurt it, despite the fact that a lot of endurance athletes do them.

Our primary guest today is George Bennett, member of the Jumbo-Visma WorldTour team. George joins us for part of the episode—we spared a rider of his caliber from having to sit through Trevor’s initial lecture on immunology.

We also hear from Joe Friel, author of “The Cyclists Training Bible.” In the most recent edition of his book, Joe makes the important distinction between recovery and adaptations.

Next we talk with Brent Bookwalter of Mitchelton-Scott. In order to adapt, we have to first do damage. Brent talks with us about the important balance between damage and repair.

Then we catch up with Boulder-based coach extraordinaire Colby Pearce. And finally, we talk with Paulo Saldanha, the owner of PowerWatts. Paulo talks about ways to find the right amount of damage, and why we should rethink taking antioxidants.

Fast Talk, ep. 82: The importance of adaptations, with George Bennett

Just ask any Tour rider who’s frequently burning 5000 calories or more per day about in-race nutrition and they’ll tell you that it’s both critical and tricky to get right. You can spend months getting your legs ready for your target event, you can be putting out the best numbers of your life, and that can all be wiped away by a poorly timed bonk or intestinal cramping.  

You have to consume enough carbohydrates to keep the legs ticking over when the race gets hard, but at the same time you need to make sure they are well tolerated and you’re able to absorb them. It’s a tricky balance and it’s highly individual. Simply buying the newest, coolest sports nutrition product isn’t going to get you there. 

You have to find what works for you. But just as importantly, you have to remember that in-race nutrition, just like almost all things, is trainable and while you’re out three doing your big weekend ride, or hard hill repeats, you need to dedicate some time to training the gut. 
So, today we'll dive into nutritional training and talk about: 

1. Applying a scientific approach to figuring out your carbohydrate needs and whether you are a fat burner or a carbohydrate burner. 

2. Second, G.I. distress. Some thoughts on what causes it and why intestinal permeability may be a factor 

3.               Next, we’ll discuss race nutrition and why changing up what you eat on race day may not be your best strategy. 

4.               Fourth, why most people can only absorb 60g of carbohydrates per hour but we’re still recommending trying to get 90g. That sounds like a lot, but it’s actually only about 360 calories which is still less than what you’re going to burn in an hour during a big race.  

5.               The best mix of carbohydrates to improve absorption 

6.               Why you need to dedicate time every week to training your gut – no different from the time and energy you invest in training your legs,. 

7.               Finally, we’ll talk about any potential health concerns with focused race nutrition and briefly touch both on the microbiome and l-glutamine 

  

Our primary guest today is none other than Dr Asker Jeukendrup. Dr Juekendrup, is one of the most renowned sports nutrition researchers in the World. He was Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Sport Science. He ran the Gatorade Sports Science Institute back when it was the center coaches and team managers were looking to for the leading hydration research. Dr Jeukendrup now has his own company, Mysportscience and works with Team Jumbo Visma. 

  

Along with Dr Jeukendrup, we talked with Katie Compton, the winner of 15 consecutive national titles, and a four-time silver medalist at ‘cross worlds. She’s familiar with G.I. problems during races and shared with Chris some of her thoughts. 

 

Next, we checked in with Colby Pearce, at this point our unofficial third regular on Fast Talk. He had some warnings about getting too caught up in traditional sports nutrition products and emphasized the importance of also considering health.  

  

Finally, we touched base with Ryan Kohler, the head coach at the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center. Ryan frequently works with athletes on training their guts for their target events and shared some of his strategies.  

  

Alright, pull out your Swedish fish.... throw them in the trash and get some real sports nutrition and let's make you fast!

Fast Talk podcast, ep. 83: Training the Gut with Asker Jeukendrup

George Bennett of the Jumbo-Visma WorldTour team, who at one point was sitting fourth at this year’s Tour de France, has had a phenomenal season. 

In the course of our recent conversation with George about recovery and adaptation, we talked with the New Zealand-born rider about how he was managing his recovery from the Tour de France to get ready for the Vuelta a España. That lead to an entire conversation about how George trains, and his tips for hitting peak form. That's the basis for this episode.

Today, we cover:

- First, something that is fascinating but probably won’t help many of us: how to complete two consecutive grand tours.

- Second, the training approach that George has found works for him. While many of his teammates need high intensity work, George does very little, and focuses primarily on long endurance rides. But he emphasizes that the method that works for you is highly individual.

- We discuss if George’s approach is appropriate for amateur riders, or if we should focus more on intensity. Bennett points out that different work can lead to very different strengths and weaknesses.

- Next, we have a long talk about the importance of eating enough and keeping your glycogen stocked up.

- Finally, George offers a final word on having the confidence to rest, and to not take your training too seriously.

Along with George, we hear from Grant Holicky, formerly of Apex Coaching when this interview was conducted, and now with Forever Endurance Coaching. Grant addresses how to time your season, particularly as an amateur rider.

Let's make you fast!

Fast Talk

Fast Talk, ep. 84: Pro training tips with George Bennett

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.

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

How is the biggest team in the world dealing with the global coronavirus lockdown? Well, they've been doing a few things - including pivoting to help distribute hand sanitizer to hospitals in conjunction with their sponsor Ineos.

Ineos team boss David Brailsford comes on the show to talk about how the riders, the coaches, and the support staff have been collaborating, training, and racing over the internet — and helping create value in new ways.

Ineos owner and chairman Jim Ratcliffe told Brailsford that he wanted to produce a million bottles of hand sanitizer a month and supply that to the frontline workers in hospitals, using the well-oiled logistics of the  cycling team to handle some of the distribution.

"Everybody has been involved, and they've done a brilliant job and it's quite a satisfying thing to be involved in," Brailsford said.

PYSO, ep. 50: Ineos boss David Brailsford

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

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