Here you can find all the back editions of the Tailwind Coaching Cycling Podcast. Feel free to peruse these archives or head over to iTunes to find and rate the show. Each rating helps to move the Tailwind Coaching Podcast up through the ratings, improving it's reach. The more people I can reach, the more people can get these free tips on riding stronger and faster, and having more fun doing it.
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Two Keys To Building Functional Threshold Power
Building functional threshold power is one of the biggest objectives of most competitive cyclists. Cyclists everywhere like to brag about how many watts they put out at threshold. Coffee shop talk is dominated by phrases like “watts per kilogram” and “threshold intervals” in the pursuit of more cycling power. Interval training programs are based on the concept of how much power you can put out at threshold.
I'm telling you that functional threshold power is indeed one of the biggest goalposts we measure fitness by. The way we've consistently tried to train it has evolved over the years, but the basic concept remains the same: increase aerobic power at and under your threshold. There are a few ways to improve your functional threshold power without having to spend hours, days or weeks doing 20 minute threshold efforts.
Quite simply, if you want your functional threshold power to grow, you can either train longer, train smarter or train harder. Click through the jump to listen to my latest podcast. You'll learn two keys that will help you train smarter, giving you a jump on building functional threshold power in the base phase.
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5 Things The Best Cyclists Do At The End Of The Cycling Season
The end of the cycling season is a tough time for many cyclists. The weather turns cold and the days shorten. Cyclists everywhere are forced inside to trainers and rollers for winter training. But the fall cycling season is the perfect time to get your house in order for the coming off-season.
Since you should be tapering into your off-season, you have more time to think about your next season objectives. Set your goals and objectives for the next season. Sit down and evaluate the past season and see where you can make improvements in your preparation and fitness. You are on the bike less, so you can do all these things that you have been neglecting in favor of putting in training miles!
To help you strengthen your off-season preparation, I'm going to give you a couple of tips to get you started. Click through the break to find these 5 things the best cyclists do at the end of the cycling season and learn how to turn autumn gloom into spring success:
Cycling Coaching Questions and Answers #3
As an online cycling coach, I get a lot of questions emailed to me. Every so often, I take a sampling of those questions and answer them for the benefit of everyone who listens to the Tailwind Coaching Podcast.
In this Q&A episode, I'll tackle plenty of training and fitness questions. If you've ever been dropped on a group ride, you'll want to check out what I have to say. Some others have been confused as to the best way to test functional threshold power or evaluate their performance improvements. Folks from the southern hemisphere will be pleased to learn about training in the heat. Beginners get some love with some questions about riding harder vs riding longer and Gran Fondo and long distance racers get some attention with a discussion about long distance training. Finally, check out a basic power meter setup with a question about the bare minimum you need to start training with power.
Without further ado…
Coaching Questions and Answers
Below you'll find some links and information to expand on what I've covered in this podcast. 464yepvn (more…)
10 Devastating Cycling Mistakes I've Made (So You Don't Have To)
Everyone makes cycling mistakes when they're starting out. Even the best riders, the most experienced racers, and the best coaches make mistakes too. Sometimes those mistakes are small hiccups in your training and sometimes they can be dangerous or hazardous to your health. I've made a ton of cycling mistakes in my journey from beginner to racer to coach. Each one has been a learning experience, and each one has formed my training, racing and coaching strategy.
In today's Tailwind Coaching Podcast, I'm going to share the 10 most devastating cycling mistakes I've ever made. I'll tell you how they happened, how they can ruin your cycling fitness and how you can prevent them from happening to you.
If you like the podcast, don't forget to head over to iTunes and rate the podcast 5 stars to help me reach a few more cyclists each episode!
Click through the jump to listen and check out the podcast show notes, which contain all the links I've mentioned in the podcast.
Evaluating Ride Data and Race Data
With the huge number of electronic gadgets attached to a bike these days, it's inevitable that cyclists will be inundated with data. From speed, cadence and heart rate to power data (and even new technologies such as muscle oxygenation data), there's a mind-boggling collection of numbers to consider. But why even bother collecting data? Evaluating ride data is one of the biggest reasons most cyclists collect data and it can tell you a lot about your ride if you know how to look at it the right way.
In this video, I'll walk through evaluating ride data from several race performances. I'll describe what I look for and how you can use that information to improve your training and riding.