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The off-season can be one of the most productive times of the year: It offers the opportunity to reflect on last season—to assess what went well and what could be improved—and then to look forward, and strategize about how to progress, both in your training and racing. Today we’ll focus on the art and science of how to set goals and incorporate them into your training. Coach Connor starts us off with a discussion of how to determine your goals, first by performing a season assessment, which feeds his gap analysis, which in turn yields a goal-setting strategy.  Coach Ryan Kohler joins us for the second half of the show to describe his SMART analysis—that’s S for Specific, M for Measurable, A for Achievable, R for Realistic, and T for Time-bound—before explaining his method for incorporating that information into macrocycles and then into mesocycles. The offseason isn’t just about sitting back and relaxing, although you should do a bit of that too. This time of year is perfect for putting in some homework, being honest with yourself about where you’ve been and where you want to go, so that the coming season can be as successful as possible. And with that, let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We believe modern coaching doesn’t optimally fulfill the needs of the modern athlete. That’s why we’re introducing our community, education, and coaching membership, Fast Talk Laboratories.  So often athletes are given templated training plans. But what if he or she gets sick? Or work gets stressful? That athlete will likely do more harm than good simply pushing through and sticking to the plan. In response to that methodology, we’ve created a virtual performance center, a place for the insightful athlete to be guided to their best self.  We have collected the many tools available to modern athletes in one place, offering curated and validated knowledge—through articles, videos, workshops, webinars, forums, and the list goes on—from some of the finest minds in sport science: Dr. Stephen Seiler, Dr. Stephen Cheung, Julie Young, Colby Pearce, Grant Holicky, Jess Elliott, to name a few. We’ll be adding new contributors all the time, and you can be sure they’ll also bring clarity and sophistication to their contributions. Let’s detail our Listener, Library, Live, and Laboratory member levels. Listener: We are now producing transcripts of every new Fast Talk podcast episode—plus our catalog of over 135 existing episodes and 27 Cycling in Alignment episodes. What does that mean for Listeners? Searchable podcast episodes, references, and resources. And, of course, you can read along or scan ahead, if you happen to be a faster reader than listener.  Listeners will also begin to receive our weekly newsletter, which will keep them up to date on new episodes, special guests, and opportunities to send in questions for new Q&A episodes. We also have plans to periodically release a few of our most popular training science videos and articles—but only for members.  Our next membership level unlocks a whole library of content, which is why we’re calling it our Library Membership. For our Library Members, we have created training science articles, a whole library of video content, and a moderated forum. This is content like the fundamentals of sports nutrition from Head Coach Ryan Kohler and a workshop on why cold temperatures affect performance from Dr. Stephen Cheung. The Forum is a place to discuss recent episodes, ask questions, and get answers from Trevor, Ryan, and our very smart members.  Live membership is really the heart and soul of what we’re offering. This level includes all the features we’ve already introduced, plus a whole suite of Live Events including social group rides, structured live workouts, live Q&A sessions, and live webinars. Trevor’s and Ryan’s experience in training centers and the group-style approach will shine. This level also includes group coaching and a monthly question answered. Our Laboratory Membership will open in January. This is our premier coaching level, and of course it includes all the benefits of the lower levels. We believe it’s a vast improvement over existing coaching programs. Our athletes and listeners are not typical. They are intelligent, motivated, and they don’t need email nannying, which is what we often see in endurance coaching. They also don’t really need templated training plans, which we believe are counterproductive for higher-level athletes.  Instead, our Laboratory Membership is a new concept that we call Endurance Mentorship. What does that mean? Well, it’s based on the idea that you already know the basics—but wouldn’t it be great to have an elite coach to answer your questions? Plus, with periodic testing and guidance, you’ll experience the best of what Fast Talk Laboratories has to offer as a virtual performance center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amos Brumble is a New England legend. Is it because of his racing palmarès? His charm? His collection of guinea pigs? Or all of those things? We find out, and then we dive into some listener questions.David H. of Seattle, Washington asks: “Suppose a 55-year old athlete is training with a heart rate monitor and perceived effort and recovery scales and is able to train between 10-16 hours/week. No power measurements. The athlete's goal is to maximize performance on gravel races—about 100 miles and about 10,000 feet of climbing—which, with the exception of the first 20 miles or so, basically means a long time trial effort. Given that goal and training context, how would you recommend that a training plan be structured? I ask this question because so much of the discussion on your podcast references power. I understand why, but I don't have a power meter in part, for cost, and in part because heart rate is enough 'quantification.' I'm interested in the meaning and aesthetics of riding hard.”The next series of questions on low-cadence work comes from Ray Farris:“My impression from your podcast is that the low cadence sessions talked about in the session were fairly short efforts at high power. However, Steve Neal of the Cycling Gym, whom you have had on Fast Talk a couple of times, seems to like to give his athletes sessions of several intervals of 20-40 min at low cadence at tempo power, generally 83% of FTP, subject to an 83% of max heart rate limit on power. And I just watched a Lionel Sanders YouTube video in which his coach had him do multiple sessions of 40 minutes at 50-60rpm at what I roughly estimate is about 80% of FTP.What’s the thinking about these types of interval workouts? 1) Do these build FTP? 2) Are these “hard” workouts in the Seiler polarized model? Do they have a place in a polarized model and if so what is it and when is it in terms of periodization blocks? 3) Do these raise the athlete toward his theoretical VO2 max, but at the cost of lowering VLa max? Does this trade-off even matter for anyone other than pro level sprinters?”Our next question comes from Russ Sanka, in Bristol, Tennessee. And it’s a good one for anyone who has a desk job. He asks:“What can I do at a desk job to aid in training/recovery? I have been using a stand up desk and a desk cycle I would like to hear your opinions and the research on the subject.”This next question comes from Ivan S. from Milan, Italy. He asks:“I love to ride my fixie in the ‘off-season’ to train on. I feel like it helps me with training and strength that I can’t get on a geared bike. Is this true? If so, what am I gaining and how does that help me when I go back to the geared bike?”Our final question comes from Peter Burghardt. He asks:“Can you address 'lunch ride syndrome'—the tendency to go out the door and immediately hammer down because you've only got 45 minutes. Do you have suggestions for lunch ride workouts of an hour or less?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you ready to go long? Today we want to introduce you to the fascinating world of ultra-distance cycling.  While there isn’t a true definition of what “ultra” means, and some of our guests like to say it is a state of mind more than anything else, for the sake of this discussion we’re talking about multi-day bikepacking events; randonneuring events which range from 200 kilometers up to 1200 kilometers, as in the case of the granddaddy of them all, Paris-Brest-Paris; and ultra-cycling races like RAAM, the 12- and 24-hour Time Trial World Championships, cross-state records, and the list goes on.  What are these events? How do you prepare, physically and psychologically, for these feats? What’s it like to ride when sleep-deprived? What should you eat out there on the lonely road? That, and so much more on today’s show. Our featured guest is Matt Roy, someone who has been competing at ultra events of all kinds for over a decade. Some of his accomplishments: Matt holds both the Maine north to south and west to east cross-state records, he holds the Saratoga 12-hour course record, he won the Trans-Atlantic Way pairs division in 2018, finished the Paris-Brest-Paris in 2019 and has completed more than 27,000 kilometers of brevets since 2007. His list of accomplishments goes on.  I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that also holds his Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard and now works in CRISPR and gene editing technology... a conversation for another episode. Joining Matt on the show today is his friend and colleague Nick Legan, the road brand manager for Shimano, who is also an accomplished ultra-distance cyclist, having completed Tour Divide and the 12-hour Time Trial World Championships, among other races. He’s also a tech and gear guru, having formerly served as the tech editor of VeloNews magazine as well as a professional mechanic for WorldTour teams.  We also hear from Jose Bermudez, another accomplished ultra-distance cyclist. As he says, his modest claim to fame is that he’s the first, and still the only, person to have completed RAAM, the Tour Divide, and the TransAm, a self-supported bikepacking race across the U.S. He’s also raced the 350- and 1000-mile Iditarod events in winter. Not only does he race, he also coaches: Jose is a USA Cycling Level 2 coach. Irrelevant though still interesting is the fact that he is a professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University. I’ll ask it again: Are you ready to go long? Let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we bring back a former frequent guest, Colby Pearce, who has since graduated to his own show, Cycling in Alignment.We start with a discussion on crank length, determining what you need, and how consistent you should be across your, presumably, fleet of bikes.That leads to a discussion on power imbalances, what constitutes an issue when it comes to imbalances, and what you can do to correct them if they arise.Next we turn our attention to CBD, and address its claimed anti-inflammatory effects. Is this something we want, or something we want to avoid, so the body’s natual inflammatory process can take place. We discuss.Finally, we’ll take on the topic of returning from injury, both the psychological and physical ramifications of that long process.All that and much more today on Fast Talk. Let's make you fast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ah, sleep. I love it. Do you love it? If only I could get more of it, and get better at it, and wake up each day well rested. Somes days it works, many times it doesn’t. Sleep can be hard, but does it have to be? Sleep is critical, so are you getting enough? And are you getting the right kind? We all know we need sleep, but knowledge is not enough. The focus of this episode is not to convince you why sleep is important, but how to monitor and change your sleep, to get the most out of every night.  In particular, for athletes who stress their bodies, sleep is critical. How do we make sure we get what we need, and avoid some of the disruptions and issues that can lead to sleep impairments? We’ll dive in. When it comes to monitoring sleep, there are a host of new gadgets that tell us both about our sleep volume, and the stages we’ve hit. Do they work? We’ll discuss the latest findings on sleep monitoring—what works, what doesn’t, and what to do with that data. Finally, we discuss how to take all that information and change our behavior—easier said than done. But hopefully today’s guest will help us all sleep more soundly tonight.  Dr. Shona Halson is an associate professor in the School of Behavioural and Health Sciences at Australian Catholic University. Prior to her current research on sleep, she was a senior physiologist at the Australian Institute of Sport for 15 years. She has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of sleep, recovery, fatigue, and travel. Dr. Halson has served as the director of the Australian Olympic Committee Recovery Centre for three Olympic Games. She has helped countless athletes better understand the importance of sleep, and we’re excited to bring her knowledge to you today. In this episode, we’ll also hear from Dr. James Hull, a respiratory physician, who touches upon the importance of sleep when it comes to fighting infection; and Cameron Cogburn and Erica Clevenger both detail their sleep hygiene and routines to improve sleep quality. Time to put on your PJs. Let's make you fast!    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whenever we speak with a guest of Fast Talk—coach, athlete, or scientist—we always ask them their favorite workout. In this episode, we share the favorite workouts of Cameron Cogburn, Joe Friel, Jim Rutberg, Neal Henderson, Payson McElveen, Amos Brumble, and Petr Vakoc. You’ll hear each guest discuss the specifics of the workout itself. You’ll also gain a sense of the guest’s philosophy—based on how he or she describes the workout—and the “style” that they bring to the execution and prescription.  As a bonus, Trevor, Coach Ryan Kohler, and I also share our favorite workouts.   Get ready to take notes. Let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It wasn’t long ago that riding inside was something most of us did only when the weather was bad, or the days too dark, or we were pressed for time.  Flash forward to today and indoor cycling is quickly becoming a discipline many people focus on for its own sake. It’s no longer a second-rate alternative. And that’s why, today, we’ll focus entirely on indoor cycling and its many nuances. The author of the famous “The Cyclist’s Training Bible,” Joe Friel has now co-written a new book with Jim Rutberg. “Ride Inside: The essential guide to get the most out of indoor cycling, smart trainers, classes, and apps” is the basis for our discussion today. Friel, with decades of experience coaching athletes, indoors and out, and Rutberg, who has long worked with coaches on disseminating their training philosophies, share their thoughts on the future of the sport and why we’re seeing more indoor cycling. They also discuss the specifics of indoor workouts, and why what works outside isn’t always the best practice inside—and vice versa. That and much more from Joe and Jim. We also hear from three riders from Team Saris-The Pro’s Closet. Jennifer Real, Holden Comeau, and Matt Gardiner, all members of this eSports cycling team, have been racing for years almost exclusively on Zwift, and they help us understand the intricacies of this gaming-like platform: How to use the draft; why knowing the courses makes such a difference; how to set up your trainer, and much more. We also touch upon the all-important training aspects of indoor cycling. Time to ride inside. Let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, we catch up with our friends at The Pro’s Closet, Spencer Powlison and Bruce Lin, to discuss their recent four-week Strava PR Challenge. In the lead up to their attempts, we helped them with training advice and “race-day” strategy tips. No doubt, this has been an unusual year for cycling. Many of our favorite races were postponed or canceled. And while bikes aren't the most important thing in the world, and public health and safety should always be our priority, as cyclists we thrive on the motivation that comes from training for a big race or event, or setting our sights on a particular challenge.Thus, The Pro’s Closet Strava PR Challenge was born. To reinvigorate their competitive juices and get a dose of competition, Bruce and Spencer turned their attention to local Strava segments in Boulder, Colorado. Trevor gave them some training tips on how to prepare most effectively given their timeline (a mere six weeks), and we also coached them on “race-day” strategy.  Today we recap all the tips, tricks, and training advice, and talk about how their attempts went. Let’s make you fast! Check out the series of videos produced by The Pro’s Closet: https://www.theproscloset.com/blogs/news/the-four-week-strava-pr-challenge-pt-1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, Colby Pearce, a Steve Hogg Certified bike fitter, sits down with Chris Case, host of Fast Talk, to dissect the minutiae of how to pedal a bike. Saddle position, ankling, dead legged drills, plantar and dorsal flexion of the foot, all of this and much more is unpacked in today’s episode.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’re breathing, I’m breathing. But neither of us is probably thinking about our breathing right now. Do you ever think about your breathing during your workouts or races? Do you ever wonder if you should be "training" the act of breathing as a skill? Or whether you should do something differently during rest and recovery, or between intervals, or even on long endurance rides?  In some ways, breathing is a much-discussed topic—often, however, that’s in the context of meditation or in the practice of yoga or other such disciplines. Breathing for performance, in the context of training and racing, however, is not something that gets a whole lot of attention. And that’s the focus of today’s episode. While Trevor was sitting in Toronto and I was in Boulder, we caught up with a leading expert on the science of breathing, Dr. James Hull, who joined us from London. Dr. Hull ‘s experience is vast and varied, and all of it focuses on breathing. He is a respiratory physician at Royal Brompton Hospital in London and the clinical lead looking at unexplained breathlessness during exertion. He also works at the Institute of Sports, Exercise, and Health at University College London. He also works with elite athletes, both as part of the English Institute of Sport working with British Olympic athletes, and as a contributor to the International Olympic Committee’s respiratory guidance committee. Dr. Hull takes us through the science of respiration, from the state of the system—is it overbuilt or underbuilt?—to pathological concerns for athletes. Think you have asthma? There’s a good chance that’s a misdiagnosis. Finally, we discuss the things you can do to improve performance through breathing. Not to be forgotten, also on today’s episode, we talk with several guests about the meditative side of breathing, as well as the practice of breathing. We hear from coach Colby Pearce—catch him on his own podcast, “Cycling in Alignment” if you haven’t already. We catch up with Erica Clevenger, a member of the Tibco-Silcon Valley Bank women’s pro team, and someone who suffers from asthma. And we also hear from two elite coaches: Julie Young and Neal Henderson. Inhale, exhale. Let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, we formally introduce our new head coach, Ryan Kohler, and put him in the spotlight for a classic Q&A. (Don't worry, Trevor is not going anywhere! He’s merely stuck in isolation amid the tundra of northern Ontario at the moment.) Ryan brings a wealth of experience as both coach and nutritionist after years of working at Carmichael Training Systems, as manager of the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center, and while coaching several MTB development teams, as well as working with individual athletes. We have exciting new offerings in the works that Ryan will be spearheading, so sign up for our newsletter for the latest developments. Today, however, we’ll stick to your questions.First, we tackle a complex series of questions from Ryan Bates in Ann Arbor, Michigan: “I have read that cutting more than 500 calories per day from the total needed to maintain your current weight will actually slow down your metabolism, and make weight loss harder overall. Is this true? If so, does it matter, for the purposes of potential slowing of your metabolism, if the deficit is produced by exercise versus calorie restriction? If true, how many days of 500+ calorie deficit (approximately) are needed to trigger metabolism slowdown?”Next we take on a mountain bike question, specifically about descending, heart rate, and ways to improve recovery during descents.Finally, we follow up on our discussion on recovery periods between intervals by answering a question on the different ways of executing 5x5-minutes intervals.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, we’ve assembled a fantastic group of coaches to discuss the differences, similarities, nuances, and challenges of coaching beginner athletes versus veteran amateurs. This episode is filled with myriad topics, all related to the coach-athlete relationship. And it starts by defining some terms. What constitutes a beginner, and a veteran? Can you be a beginner if you’ve ridden for 10 years but don’t know much about how to train? We’ll discuss. What should beginners focus on most? What should veterans focus on most? How does a good coach most effectively work to identify each athlete’s needs? How can an athlete get the most out of working with a coach, and how does that differ if you’re a beginner or a veteran? These questions and so many more, today on Fast Talk. Our guest coaches today include Grant Holicky, someone you’ve heard many times before on Fast Talk; former pro triathlete and XTERRA world champion turned coach, Melanie McQuaid, who appeared in episode 99; and Ryan Kohler.  Ryan is the former manager of the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center and—exciting news here—the new Head Coach here at Fast Labs. With Ryan on board, we have exciting things coming, so don’t miss it – get our email newsletter by signing up at fastlabs.com. You’ll be first to know what Coach Kohler is up to. Now, get ready to roundtable, let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, our favorite physiologist Dr. Stephen Seiler is back on the program to talk about something that many of us get wrong: the distinction between overtraining, overreaching, and burnout. Often these terms are used synonymously, but there are many nuanced differences between these conditions, and that’s what we’ll explore in today’s episode.  We’ll dispel any myths about these terms, point out the scenarios that lead to each, and talk through how to avoid the worst outcomes. While research on overtraining syndrome is still in its nascent phase, we now know more about the complex hormonal and physiological complications that can lead to this debilitating condition. On the other hand, while the term hasn’t long been defined in the science literature, overreaching is a training method with a long history. We’ll differentiate between functional and non-functional overreaching, and how to differentiate between the two. Then there’s burnout, that lack of motivation or mental fatigue that most likely all of us have experienced at some point. Is burnout an inevitable part of being a bike racer? We’ll discuss. In addition to Dr. Seiler, we’ll hear from a host of great names in the endurance sports world, including Seabastian Weber from INSCYD, Jim Miller at USA Cycling, pro mountain biker Payson McElveen, and coach Neal Henderson from Wahoo. One final note before we dive in. In this episode you’ll hear Coach Connor describe his bout of overtraining syndrome. When we were recording the show, Trevor thought back through the haze of 25 years to try and remember the training volume that led to his Issues. You’ll hear him say it was only 10 hours. On later reflection, he feels it was more like 15 hours per week. And that’s a massive difference, given how he was training at that time. Stay tuned for that discussion.  And with that, let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have another fantastic Q&A episode for you today, with a diverse range of questions. Our guest coach this week is Julie Young, who has appeared before on Fast Talk—episode 91, to be exact. Julie is a former professional cyclist turned coach. Her 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. On to the questions:  Erik Olsen from Aarhus, Denmark asks about time to exhaustion and the true definition of fatigue. Luis Arrondo in San Jose, California, wonders if there is a “currency exchange” between adaptation and recuperation. Reuben Kouidri, in Bristol, in the UK, has some goals far in the future, so he wants to know when the goal is a long way away and he doesn't need to peak until 3 years from now, is there a more optimal way to train for maximizing fitness than, for example, that 80:20 polarized ratio? Klemens Plasser in Vienna, Austria asks about glycogen use during exercise, the different exogenous and endogenous sources, and how each is utilized. Dan Draper in Salt Lake City, Utah ponders whether he’d be faster if he cut back or eliminated grains from his diet. James McKay in Yorkshire, England wants to know if a greater fat intake will help him improve performance and health. And finally, Tom Maher in Horwich, the UK, has questions about changes to heart rate in relation to power as he makes his way back from injury. All that and much more today on Fast Talk. Let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve heard us talk about so-called “big gear” training on the program before. Many of you probably incorporate it into your riding, and for a variety of reasons.  What’s surprising is how little research has been done on this low-cadence, high-torque riding. Even the definition of what constitutes “low-cadence” remains hazy. And there are as many ways of incorporating this into your workouts as there are coaches. Threshold, sub-threshold, five minutes, or 20 minutes. There are many possibilities, and as many philosophies. Today we take a closer look at big gear work. What does the research literature say about performance gains and adaptations? What have elite coaches discovered through practice? Are coaches employing something their gut tells them works, and the research has simply yet to catch up? Our guest today is Neal Henderson, head of sport science at Wahoo, and, in his spare time, an elite coach to several WorldTour riders. Neal is one of those coaches who routinely uses big gear work with most of his athletes—from track riders to time trialists, including world champion Rohan Dennis.  We also hear from Sebastian Weber of INSCYD and Jim Miller at USA Cycling, two other highly experienced coaches who utilize big gear workouts with their athletes to great success. Finally, we hear how pro Petr Vakoc incorporates big gear work into his training. Alright, put it in the 53x11. Let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to Fast Talk, your source for the science of cycling performance! I'm your host Chris Case. Today, we’re digging into the archive for some season-planning knowledge. Why now when our seasons have been demolished? Because it’s never too early to start soaking in the wisdom of seasoned veterans on how to best map out any season, particularly next year’s. Trevor did several great interviews with four top pros—Toms Skujins, Kiel Reijnen, Joey Rosskopf, and Larry Warbasse—for an article he was writing several years ago, and now we want to share their full wisdom. There’s no other agenda, they just had a lot of good things to say, from starting your season right to picking your moments in that season to peak; from fending off fatigue and overtraining to ending your season right. All that and much more on today’s episode. Let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever woken up early in the morning to go for a ride, skipped breakfast, and thought, “I wonder if that was bad for my training? Or maybe it was good?!” In today’s episode, we try to decipher if there are any advantages or disadvantages to occasionally riding, or exercising in general, in a fasted state. What does “fasted” actually mean, in this context? How’s that help, or hurt, my training? How conclusive is the evidence? And how often should I do it? Those are just some of the questions we’ll try to answer today.  Fasting is one of those subjects that many of you have likely heard mentioned in passing, but whether or not it can lead to true performance gains is another matter. To fast or not to fast, that is the question. Today, we go particularly deep into the details of fasting, from the different types of fasting you can use for both health and performance benefits, to the genetic and cellular mechanisms which could play a role in adaptations.  In essence, there are two overriding questions: Does fasting have health benefits? And does it help in training and performance? The science is pointing towards clear health benefits, but performance and training are less clear. We’ll explore all of that and much more today on Fast Talk. Our primary guest is someone who has spent his research career looking into these very questions. Dr. Brian Carson, of the University of Limerick, in Ireland, is a leading expert on the effects of exercising in a fasted state, as will become patently clear when we dive into the science.  We’ll also hear today from longtime USA Cycling coach Jim Miller, pro roadie Petr Vakoc and pro mountain biker Payson McElveen, leading physiologist Dr. Iñigo San Millan, and neurologist Dr. Dale Bredesen. Put down that cookie. Let’s make you fast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Coach Connor and I discuss something that comes up nearly every time we receive an email from one of our devoted listeners, from you. (By the way, please keep sending us questions and voice memos—we love them.)  So, what is it that is nearly universally included in every piece of correspondence we receive? Well, it’s some indication of a listener’s “threshold.” Often that figure is stated as if it is an absolute or as if it’s 100-percent accurate. And that’s what we want to address today: How accurate are these numbers, really? It turns out, not very. And as an extension of that, we also discuss just how difficult it is to get an accurate figure, for myriad reasons. We’ll discuss several of the most common ways to determine your threshold, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.   Coincidentally, we were already planning to record this episode when Trevor received an unpublished review by a team out of Auckland, New Zealand, led by researcher Ed Maunder at the Sports Performance Research Institute of the Auckland University of Technology. The review is a fantastic summary of this very concept, but since it isn’t yet published, we can’t discuss the findings just yet. That said, the group had a lot of great points that helped shape this episode, thus we do need to give them full credit for those ideas in this show. Once the review is published, we’ll do a second episode in which we’ll interview the researchers and discuss their review. One of the fascinating concepts we look forward to discussing with them is how “durability” factors into threshold measurements. Stay tuned.   Now, let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to Fast Talk, your source for the science of cycling performance! I'm your host Chris Case.   I’ll set the stage for today’s episode with an analogy. And apologies to those of you who don’t enjoy our car engine analogies; alas, we’re sticking with it on this episode. We ask the simple question: Which has the greatest chance of consistently producing the best performances: a powerful, finely-tuned, race-inspired engine—take your pick from Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, and especially if you’re an F1 fan, Mercedes—or a heavily modified Honda Civic that you hope can compete at that goal race you’ve been preparing for?  Bringing it back to cycling terms, is it more beneficial to build a robust, complete physiological engine and then apply it to, or activate it for, different race situations, or is it better to work on specific attributes of your engine given the specific demands of a particular race? The answer, it turns out, has as much to do with training philosophy as it does to physiological principles. In today’s episode, we analyze which is more appropriate for you, and which leads to the best performances, and the best athletes. It’ll likely become pretty clear where Coach Connor and our main guest, Jim Miller, stand on the matter.   Jim, as Chief of Sports Performance, leads USA Cycling’s Athlete Development programs. In his previous role with USA Cycling, after a two-year hiatus took him to TrainingPeaks, Miller helped the United States earn 14 Olympic medals and numerous world championship titles since 2001. The list of athletes Jim has coached over the years is too long to read here, but notably includes Tejay van Garderen, Kate Courtney, Kristin Armstrong, and Lawson Craddock, to name a few. His coaching experience isn’t solely focused on the elite of the elite, however. Jim also works with athletes whose backgrounds or goals are unique, and they’re often from the amateur or master’s ranks. Not surprisingly, Jim has found the most success with the amateurs he coaches by applying the same principles he does to world champions. We’ll hear about those successes today. We’ll also take a compelling tangent into the importance of psychology and mental capacity to success. On today’s episode, we’ll also hear from American pro Kiel Reijnen, data analyst and coach Tim Cusick, and WorldTour physiologist Inigo San Millan. All that and much more, today on Fast Talk. Let's make you fast!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices