TrainingPeaks CoachCast

This week on the CoachCast Sports Dietician Dina Griffin joined Dirk to discuss the intricacies of pre-race nutrition and hydration leading up to race day. They explore strategy variations based on race duration, climate, sweat rate, gut tolerance and more. If you or your athletes have a race planned for this year, this episode will provide you with invaluable information to make race day more comfortable and successful.

There are few things more satisfying than mentoring and helping others succeed, but in this case, we’re talking about coaches helping coaches rather than athletes. In this week’s special Sprint Episode, Dirk sat down with one of USAT’s Educators of the Year, Shelly O’Brien, to discuss her journey—from beginner triathlete to a renowned coach of other triathlon coaches.

If you ride bikes a lot, you've probably been there—nerding out about optimizing crank length, micro-adjusting seat post height and debating the value add of osymetric chainrings. Well, friends, this is the episode for you.This week, Dirk joined expert Bike Fitter and Physiotherapist Phil Burt to discuss the entire bike fit process from start to finish. They discuss what it takes to work with everyone from the elite athletes at Team Sky to those just trying to get comfortable on their everyday commuter. As Phil explains, ultimately everyone is looking for the same thing—to feel (relatively) comfortable and truly listened to.

The Phinney name is one of the most well-known amongst the cycling community and the prestige is undoubtedly deserved. Connie started kicked-off her racing career at age 14 when she was the youngest Olympian in the 1972 Olympics, competing in speed skating. Davis, her husband, is the winningest cyclist in US history and is thus recognized by his nickname "The Cash Register."Listen as Dirk and the Phinneys delightfully reminisce about the 1980's heyday of road cycling and the progress (or in some cases lack thereof) of the sport. They also delve into neuroplasticity, living well with Parkinson's disease and the undeniable importance of staying active while aging.

Today, Dirk joined Physical Therapist Nathan Koch to explore the prehab and rehab best practices. Topics include but not limited to preferred recovery tools, the contentious value of static stretching, and how concussion therapy and brain science are finally taking their long-overdue place in the list of training and coaching priorities.

In the first episode of Season 3 of the TrainingPeaks CoachCast, Ultrarunner Abby Hall and Coach Jason Koop joined Dirk to talk about how they adapted to the emotional highs and lows imposed by the previous year. They explored the importance of the ability to continuously 'pivot' and examined why some athletes flourished with the instability while others struggled (hint: it's largely due to long-term motivation.)Abby also offered insight into her Nüümü Poyo FKT attempt and shared her dreams for 2021 (supplemented by acquiring a customized, very cool adventure van.)

For our final episode of Season 2, we could think of no other guest to interview besides the legend in her own right, Dr. Carol Austin. Dr. Austin is a trailblazer in the cycling world, serving as the first female ever to serve as the head of medical and high performance for any Tour de France Team. Despite facing great adversity in this role, Dr. Austin was focused on serving her team to the best of her ability and was completely dedicated to cultivating the rich talent presented by her African team— the first ever to compete in the Tour.Listen as Dr. Austin discusses her fascinating journey in the pro-cycling world, her own recent fitness discoveries and her career plans for the future. 

When the huge surge of indoor and e-racing arrived earlier this year, Coach Tim Ballintine was more than ready. With his massively successful KOA Sports League, athletes have been able to race competitively from anywhere in the world, while still maintaining an intimate, squad-like feel.Listen as Tim and Dirk discuss how e-racing fills the winter slump that so many coaches experience and why a TrainingPeaks account serves as a great performance passport for those looking to race virtually.

Gwen Jorgensen has a triathlon resume that might cause you to do a double-take. And yet, she is ready to move on, change sports entirely and focus exclusively on running for the 2021 Olympic Games. In this special episode fueled by the listener questions, sourced from social media, Gwen explains why she decided to mix things up and how passion lies at the heart of everything she does. She also talks about her current training schedule, how she's honed her nutrition routine and more in the newest episode of the CoachCast!

Lesley Paterson and Simon Marshall are a fascinating pair. With Lesley's personal experiences as a professional triathlete and coach, combined with Simon's sports psychology expertise, the two of them are able to provide deep insight into what makes an athlete's brain tick. Listen as they delve into topics such as compartmentalizing focus while racing, assuming an 'alter racing ego' and their collaborative process on co-writing their book: "The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion."