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Beginner Cyclist Training Mistakes (Podcast #64)

We were all beginner cyclists at one time.  There's nothing like the thrill of trying something new and seeing ourselves improve quickly.  Beginners typically improve the fastest out of anyone when they start training, but they often make major training mistakes and not even know it.  These training mistakes tend to limit the fitness gains beginners see and cause them to get discouraged or frustrated and even cause them to stop riding.  That's a huge issue for anyone who's new to cycling.

I'll tell you something else, too.  Beginners aren't the only ones who make these mistakes.  Even long-time veterans to the sport can get caught out making these training mistakes that will hurt their fitness and skill progression.

In this podcast, I'll cover these big training mistakes and give you tips on how to correct them.  So click through and find out if you're making these training mistakes:

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Get More Sweet Spot Training

Sweet spot training is one of the biggest “bang for your buck” workouts available to an athlete, especially early in the season.  WEven when you're late into a season, sweet spot training can give your regular interval work a significant boost.  Even once your season has been shut down and you're cruising through the off-season, some weekly sweet spot training can help to keep your fitness from degrading too much as you wind down and rest.

Unlike high-intensity interval work, sweet spot training takes longer and leads to slightly different adaptations.  It takes up a little more time than typical high-intensity interval training, but it is easy to recover from and the value per minute of training is huge.

In this podcast, I'll go through the definition of sweet spot training, some of the benefits and some ways to get more sweet spot training into your workouts.  As a bonus, you can pick up a free copy of my power testing and fatigue resistance tool (which I'll explain how to use during the podcast) at the end of the show notes!

Don't forget to share with your friends and click through for the show notes:

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Am I Overtraining? How Can I Prevent It? (Podcast #62)

Athletes are a notoriously hard working bunch, carving out a dozen or more hours each week to train for their chosen sport.  Especially with cycling, there is a misconception that “more is better” and it often leads to overextending yourself.  Remember that training stress stacks up on every other stress in your life: family, work, kids, paying bills, doing tasks around the house, etc.  It's easy to turn a blind eye to the stress you deal with every day and focus solely on your training stress, but in reality, you're doing yourself a disservice.

This is generally the reason the busiest athletes find themselves stuck in an every declining spiral of training, declining performance and training harder, hoping to reverse the trend.  Overtraining is a condition where the body is taxed beyond it's ability to recover, and is a very real condition that I see in a certain percentage of athletes.  And yes, it's mostly the guys who get up at 4AM to train for 2 hours, get to work by 7AM, work hard all day, get home by 6PM only to eat, walk the dog, spend time with kids and go to bed late.

Then they repeat it the next day.

And the next day, and the next, over and over.

When performance starts declining, typically they add more training, maybe an after-work session or a longer morning session, hoping to see the trends reverse and performance to climb again.  Usually, it doesn't work, overtraining sets in and suddenly, they've dug a deep hole they're stuck in.

In today's podcast I'll discuss the signs and symptoms of overtraining as well as some of the ways to dig yourself out of the overtraining hole if you find yourself there.  Don't forget to leave comments below or on the Tailwind Coaching Facebook page, don't forget the coupon code at the end of the show notes and don't forget to share with your friends by clicking the bubbles on the left of the page!

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Breaking Through The Cycling Plateau (Podcast #61)

When your training is going great, nothing can crush your motivation like hitting a cycling plateau.  Those weeks where you just can't seem to find a couple more watts, a couple more tenths of a MPH, or a few more seconds on that climb can be hugely demoralizing.  But you have to realize that plateaus are a normal part of training progression and that progression can't progress forever in a linear fashion.

In this podcast, I'll teach you a couple of important things.  You'll learn the questions to ask to determine if you've sabotaged your own fitness gains or if you're truly stuck on a cycling plateau.  If your fitness is stagnant, you'll find out how to roll with the situation and break through the plateau.

Click through for the show notes, and I encourage you to subscribe to the Tailwind Coaching Newsletter, because I'll be providing you with a series of workouts to help you punch through your cycling plateau!

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Maintaining Strength Gains During The Season (Podcast #60)

It's no secret that cycling requires strength: leg strength, arm and shoulder girdle strength and core strength (and stability) are often overlooked parts of cycling prowess.  I've personally seen the benefits of combining moderate strength training with cycling, and I've seen clients, athletes and patients benefit greatly from increased strength.

“But cycling is and aerobic sport” I hear you cry.  You're 100% right, cycling (aside from track sprinting) is predicated on aerobic conditioning and capacity.  However, no sport can exist in a strength vacuum;, and cycling is no exception; lack of strength (especially functional strength) is a short road to injury and underperformance.  Your body needs strength and stability to be able to efficiently utilize its aerobic capacity.  The problem with strength and stability is that it's exactly like your aerobic capacity in the idea that if you don't use it you lose it.  I've talked about strength training and building strength in weightlifting for cyclists part 1 and part 2, and detailed in my Raw Strength Modular training plan, but an important part of strength training is maintaining the gains made during those winter sessions.  That can be tough for a couple reasons, which I'll explore in today's podcast.

Click through for the show notes and learn how to maintain those winter strength gains through the year and set yourself up for even bigger gains next year.
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