EVOQ.BIKE Cycling Podcast

being nimble with the lifts, just like we are on the bike. sometimes an audible is needed Strong App mentioned in this one. If you need help with lifting, check out this guide: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/training-plans/cycling/tp-366410/evoq-strength-training-no-rides 

Bunch of excuses coming your way.   tl;dr - aborted. zero mental energy Ha, loved that. Sometimes, as hungry as you are, it's better to skip the ride and rest up. Some thoughts, and maybe some ways you can effectively audible when the schedule just doesn't go as we want.

Great question came through the comments: I did 5x4 minutes and did my first at 133% and could only do the rest at 110%. is that ok? Or should I try and average the same power? In this video, we'll talk about: 1. one off efforts 2. repeatability and accumulating time at vo2max 3. When to PR 4. Incorrect FTP detected? one off efforts….good for KOMs, hill climbs, track events, but that is probably not why you’re doing this workout 5 x 4 repeatability for road race, gran fondo, etc When to PR? 133%….is FTP set correctly? Repeat wattage a bit higher, this may take time Also use HR to see f you’re working vo2 with lower power Muscular component of pushing big watts PFA for athlete 3x3, never spending quality time via HR or power Discord link: Interval Progression Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA1utrhSlbI VO2Max Blog: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/about-vo2max-cycling-workouts VO2Max Training Pack: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/training-plans/cycling/tp-352658/vo2max-top-10-workouts-with-nft Ready for the "offseason"? Time to get STRONG! https://www.trainingpeaks.com/training-plans/cycling/tp-366410/evoq-strength-training-no-rides

This podcast is SO much more than time trialing, and I hesitate to post "chapters" because there are so many nuggets from Zach intertwined throughout. I wouldn't skip around! Thank you Zach!!! This was awesome! Please remember to Like the video if it's helpful, and PLEASE subscribe to the channel so we can continue to get more incredible athletes to share their tips and secrets! We need your help, let's get to 4k! Chapters below with bigger notes below that, and links to things you might want to check out. Chapters 00:00 Intro, Baseline Testing 04:40 Rapid Fire 10:43 What’s going on it October 12:00 Month before TT Nats Win Wind tunnel testing 19:30 May/June before TT Nats JMSR, Snake Alley…more than just TT’s 21:00 Riding every interval in TT mode 22:27 The secret workout…HOT temps, calibrating to environment Sauna prep Over Unders 29:10 Why does Zach have a coach? 31:10 Volume 2 x 60 tempo BIG TEMPO 37:56 GYM! 41:08 Biggest Goal for 2023 43:08 How to stay focused on the road 46:15 Five things he needs on the road 50:34 Nutrition, Underfueling 57:50 Time trial gear and set up 1:03:20 You have to go slow to go fast 1:06:54 Project Echelon Project! They are here to help! Notes on things that came up throughout: Do you define yourself as a TT specialist? I ask because I’m wondering “Big picture, how do you see training for time trialists” but maybe you don’t see yourself this way….tell us! what is different about preparing for the TT as opposed to road What was the most important aspect of your training What does your training consist mostly of in terms of volume and intensity? Favorite workout?  3h long tempo 2 x 60tempo Do you cross train or lift? Racing What’s your biggest goal race for 2023? Race routine whether the week before a big race or the day of? how do you feel in a UCI race where you aren’t the big dogs? How do you stay focused as a team on your job and level up. huge for cat 3’s trying to become cat 1’s Nutrition Pre, post and during races or training Equipment What stands out to you as unique about your time trial set up Conclusion Best piece of advice for anyone trying to get faster! Contact Project Echelon: https://www.projectechelonracing.com/contact.html Follow Zach on strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/10545958 I'll take any leftover kudos lol https://www.strava.com/pros/5889 Full Blog With Training Tips: www.evoq.bike/blog Subscribe to Our Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ggRc4n EVOQ Training Packs: https://www.evoq.bike/training-packs TrainingPeaks Store: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/training-plans/search?language=en&sort.field=soldCount&sort.dir=desc&keyword=evoq&index=0 Lactigo: www.lactigo.com/brendan Zach Pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast/3-u-s-champion-fascats-explain-how-they-trained-for/id1381614039?i=1000575873388 Road To Gold: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263010572_The_Road_to_Gold_Training_and_Peaking_Characteristics_in_the_Year_Prior_to_a_Gold_Medal_Endurance_Performance

Interval progression: when do we add more watts, and when do we add more time? Let’s talk about 4 scenarios: FTP, vo2max, over unders and tempo. My former coach, Tom Bell, just spoke about this on That Triathlon Show. He talked about his strategy (which was used when I worked with him last season as an athlete) 25:50 * If only some workouts are optimal for the athlete, I think repeating the same workout design for a period is helpful. * You might add an arbitrary amount of repeats to a single interval, but no one knows if that is the right thing to do.   if you did 4 x 10, who knows if you could have done 4 x 12…. * We ask athletes to repeat the same protocol, with the difference of going long on the last interval (let the athlete find the right level of progression). We trained vo2max from a physiological aspect, not just adding watts. Progressive overload with steady state intervals is fairly obvious and what we were doing a lot of in 2009-2010 For the following examples, let's assume athlete has an FTP of 300W FTP intervals: 4 x 10m @ 300-315W, rest 5m between. Do we add more time?   max around 1hour. Other coaches will add more, I just don’t find the fatigue to create any more success for athletes. american athlete, listen to grant koontz 8-12m power is a big decider in road races. When do we ride at 330W? Higher level athlete, or one-off effort when feeling good. If you can knock out one, can you do two? Then what is the third? where does the athlete get dropped? is it at the end of the race on a 10m climb….then more important to get those repeats in. is it a random just lack of power, I want more watts! 4 x 8m over and over with higher watts until we hit 110%…. When do we PR? VO2max intervals: 5 x 5m @ 360W? How do we look at repeatability? When do we do longer but lower watts? (Variety and slow component…race specific, very supra threshold!) When do we PR? When do we focus on shorter and harder? (before races, super hard starts are nice) Over Unders: 3 x 12m with 30s @ 120% and 2m @ 75-85% Most hit a homerun with this Just elongating to 45s makes it much harder. Or: 4m @ 110%, then 1m @ 106% and 1.5m @ 70-80% let’s talk over unders: if it’s 3 x 12m, If they absolutely crushed them, I’m NOT going to 15m, i’m going to a little longer over….i might start them with a 3m min over, and then the work.do they have a big anaerobic capacity? we might really need to make the overs harder ATHLETE SPECIFIC….what is their event? TEMPO maybe 80m-100m over a 3-4h ride, 15-20m chunks, actually quite tough. Great muscular component quite fun ride really goes along quickly Email me with questions or comment below! Brendan @EVOQ. BIKE  training packs: https://www.evoq.bike/training-packs Full Blog With Training Tips: www.evoq.bike/blog Subscribe to Our Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ggRc4n Follow Me on Strava: https://www.strava.com/pros/5889

down about training or racing? wow, I got in my head on racing for a bit...a combination of a lot of missed races due to broken equipment and freak things (shearing off a crank before the early races in FL), then cancelled races in NC, then covid, then a seized seat post and missed the race with Bodo, then covid dragged into a horrible nationals, then on the road for 10 weeks waiting waiting waiting to move into my house, just got exhausted. then, started thinking "Wtf am i doing with my life. Riding training racing....but I'm an amateur, why spend so much time doing this?"  the race in ecuador, and therefore not much offseason, really just strung things out too long for me.  just Went for 3 weeks with no bike, didn't miss it, and that worried me a bit. Had i been blinded the past few years with all the riding?  so then i looked back at what I'd been doing, why did I start racing., what did I do before racing? Thinking back not as a whole, but season by season, it was nice to think of the different events and accomplishments. also to realize, It doesn't take many races to feel like you've had a great season. With social media, there's a race nearly every day it seems, and when you're only doing 10 events, it's like "I'm not even racing".....10 weekends of racing IS A LOT.  Came home, got on my bike, a 2h ride is quite difficult, and going back to normal human fitness, it really made me appreciate the rewards of being an endurance athlete....being fit, being able to ride 5 hours in one day (I could not do that yesterday if i wanted to), feeling accomplished.  So why post this????? If you are feeling down, or questioning your training, look back in small chunks at all that you have accomplished. Look back at life without the bike and honestly ask yourself, was it better? Look forward to maybe some new events, new adventures, NEW GOALS. Gotta have goals!   Then go ride for the sake of riding. It really just helped make everything click.  xo

Love that people are planning their next seasons! Planning equates to success. Athlete reached out with “What’s best way to make offseason gains? aside from weights” I asked him, what do you think? His initial response: Recover a bit and look back at season. Assess Strengths, weaknesses, and set goals For racing, training, and key improvement areas. this is my first true off-season from “real volume and racing.” Last year any time on the bike was almost good time so this year I’m going to focus more. by mid October base miles, find some tempo, and get the lifting form down. November and December longer tempo. Heavier lifting progression 2-3 days a week, and sniffing first low end efforts toward late December (I think). January start itching for motivation so find some vo2 or super shorty Zwift races for fun and opening things up… lifting still, more focused and a hair lighter but higher volume. Feb- getting back to specificity. My reply: yeah this all sounds pretty close to good. Some things I'd change are a bit less long tempo; really focus on hours at endurance as much as u can handle if it's mainly indoors. Lift heavy even as race season approaches; scratch the lighter/higher volume; that's usually very tiring with a lot of residual fatigue. Zwift races sparingly are great to keep the motivation going. MOTIVATION FOR THOSE WHO FOUND CYCLING LATER IN LIFE. Please watch from 07:30 and on after he said, "I Am 37 so I know I have a little time left in the legs and lungs." A LITTLE?!?!?! Man, I am Fastest at 40!  and listen in on Bodo crushing Leadville at 50!!!! brendan@evoq.bike tempo post: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/tempo-cycling-important training packs: https://www.evoq.bike/training-packs Full Blog With Training Tips: www.evoq.bike/blog Subscribe to Our Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ggRc4n Follow Me on Strava: https://www.strava.com/pros/5889 Please like and subscribe, it helps us so much; we're close to 3k subscribers!

A great question from our discord. If you aren't there, join the conversation today! https://discord.gg/ThTYry6kuE  How to use Post-Race, Pre-Winter months for cycling training. I could use some advice on where to take my training at this point into my 2nd season... I initially built towards a 40k TT in May, then did tons of unstructured Z2 (60-70 hrs/month, only high-intensity was on a weekly group ride) to build for a 12hr event in mid-August. 1. Now I have a couple more 100-200 mile gravel races I could do early to mid October, but on the fence about those. 2. We've got about 2 months till winter here, at which point I'll shift to primarily lifting. But I don't know what to do till then. Is there a point to high-intensity this late in the season when I've already neglected it for so long? 3. Can continuing z2 now still benefit me for next season? 4. Also considering using it to just lose some weight without worrying too much about specific training. Or start the gym early. Tl;dr how can I effectively use post-race but pre-winter months? What are his strengths and weaknesses? If he’s a huge anaerobic beast, then no, I wouldn’t use this time for high intensity. Anaerobic Capacity Blog:  https://www.evoq.bike/blog/anaerobic-capacity-cycling 1. do the long gravel if they’ll be fun because long rides are gold, and it could be a blast. 2. If he needs work, this is a great time; learn how to go super deep. USE KOM’s. I use this time for more familiarity with these efforts; HOW TO RIDE above threshold, really hard 5-8, efforts. Just death tolls. 3. Endurance: z2 will benefit you forever. seriously. i still ride z2 and i'm 150,000 miles into training. IT NEVER SHOULD STOP (sorry for the yelling). Why ride endurance video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uld9mAlF7Y He’s NEW, keep riding! can't be adamant about that enough esp since you are SO SO SO NEW. i'd go for some free rides, KOMs, and a little less structure....keep it fun, just riding will benefit you massively. 4. LOSE WEIGHT in November and December. ALSO focus on making lifetime changes, not just losing weight! YEARLY HOURS: we’re only talking about 2 months; what about an 80h goal or bump up hourly hours by 10h. don't burn out from workouts, it's a long road ahead. 🍕 🍟 🍺 Season Planning Blog: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/cycling-season-planning Anaerobic Blog: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/anaerobic-capacity-cycling

YT: https://youtu.be/jpzcq03Re0o I wanted to go for a mega climbing day out of Blowing Rock, NC in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I made a route with 17,500 of climbing, and hoped to do it in 7-8 hours. Someone asked me to discuss the recovery from a 7,000kj day, but some other pearls popped up as I started to put that together for them. Hope this video helps you ride farther and ride faster! Goal: complete 17,500 foot day in 7.5h Pacing: 3-4 hours of tempo or higher avoid zone 5, muscular strain. I did’t want to be wrecked, I wanted to ride half the ride the next day (different route, but 50% of the distance and elevation) Strategy: Tempo+ goal, thinking of the last 15 miles (hot, climbing nonstop.). Avoid VO2Max efforts. Research Comparison: Gravel Nationals 2019 5.5h, 104m, 430tss, 5600kj Gravel Worlds: 7h, 150m, 476 tss, avg 278, np 332, 7000kj…4th hour the hardest, 381w NP, 22m of vo2max or higher Final stats of this ride: 8h, 131m, 18,500f elevation, 7300kj, 440 tss, 302NP, 251W Topics: 1. Looking at all the climbs 2. Gearing on bike (how steep are the climbs?) 3. Preparation: some simple additions of stretching and lifting were key! 4. nutrition carb goals 5. Pacing strategy 6. where in training i’d put this (only if racing this…2 solid recovery days after) 7. how to recover from it Breakfast: Oats, banana, honey, almonds, chia seeds, COFFEE! (Follow on IG if you like coffee) carbs for the ride: 1050g 3 bottles 170g 350g syrup 6 gels = 132g 120g extra drink mix leave house 772g planning to get 300g more = 134 divided by 8h = 134    7.5h = 143g per hour Taper before? Not even close to needed. How to recover from it -planning post ride relaxation - reishi https://www.realmushrooms.com/ - cbd: https://www.hellobluecbd.com/ (Code Brendan) - Lactigo: www.lactigo.com/brendan - foam roll - stretch - healthy food - water! - Walk - Massage gun - cerave: https://amzn.to/3TEnX02 SUNDAYS ride: 4.5h, 80 miles, 9500f, 240 tss 1600tss week, 26,000kj ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Full Blog With Training Tips: www.evoq.bike/blog Subscribe to Our Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ggRc4n Follow Me on Strava: https://www.strava.com/pros/5889 EVOQ Training Packs: https://www.evoq.bike/training-packs Chapters: 00:00 Welcome! Big Ride! 01:43 The Climbs (the huge ones) 03:54 Final NP, 302W NP 04:06 Comparing to Gravel Nationals or Gravel Worlds!? 05:25 Tactic for Pacing? 06:36 Gearing 08:06 How Do We Get Dropped? 08:36 Carb Goals, 1000g+ 09:58 Where would I put this on Training Calendar 11:46 Rant on tapering 12:50 Recovery: Post Ride Planning! 16:08 2023 Plans

Unfortunately, there is no perfect equation; but hopefully this video helps you with YOUR art of coaching. Some show notes/bullet points: Grossly untrue: Athlete with a CTL of 85 will last longer than an athlete with a CTL of 70 https://youtu.be/-nRcySlOJ40