EVOQ.BIKE Cycling Podcast

3hour ride, given different amounts of rest or temps, the same ride on a different day could be 10bpm higher than it was previously question is: even if the perceived exertion is similar, physiologically does it make more sense to shoot for HR instead of power? part 2, what about shooting for different targets within the zone, low or high zone 2? More on this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m1nT-4n99Q I like this because he’s focused on not going too hard, and also staying within the proper zone. this is a topic of contention between people. some will shoot more for HR but as you said, so many things can affect it: sleep stress caffeine TEMP etc....so it's better to use RPE in my opinion. are you SLUGGING IT OUT to hit zone 2 #s? If so, you're going too hard. dial it back. is the HR 10bpm higher but mainly because of heat and a long ass ride, but you feel fine, keep pedaling. Power within zone: same thing. if you are dying trying to hit 75%, its too hard that day. chill and ride at 60%. you will get a better sense of this as u get more expefienced. some days endurance is hard, and thats okay. for me, if I’m super fresh, I know my HR is going to be higher for z2 rides, but also really hard efforts. so as I get fitter, the HR drops a bit and is stable across z2 rides, and if I go and do some z4-5, it’s not skyrocketing. To me, that is GOOD. I don’t want my HR beating out of my chest.I’ve had athletes that get fit and then say “I couldn’t get my HR up, I wonder if I’m tired”. Well, are you? Do you feel tired? Are the watts suffering? If not, it’s just fitness! Lower HR is good https://youtu.be/OcQXo_2yp7o

Produce more power by burning more fuel  1  why do you want a strong aerobic metabolism for short 1 hour races? 2. who wants a high anaerobic capacity or high VLaMax 3. what does the big aerobic base do for you besides long endurance rides? This might surprise you. 4. interval trick that i learned from inscyd Endurance video link: https://youtu.be/4uld9mAlF7Y   Training Packs comments and critiques! https://www.evoq.bike/training-packs  riders generate lactate every time they jump out of a corner when produced by glycolysis glycolytic metabolism produces lactate. aerobic metabolism consumes lactate. you’re always producing lactate. even on an endurance ride; but it’s such a small amount, and the aerobic system gobbles that up. road racing repeated attacks; criterium racing. back to the race; you produce these big bouts of lactate, and then it’s consumed in the less intense moments (as long as you keep pedaling) when it’s transferred from fast twitch fibers to the slow twitch fibers. head nod to Sebastian Weber  so #1, if you have a BIG aerobic base, you can make this huge glycolytic efforts, and your aerobic system will still consume the lactate. You will have a better sprint at the end versus someone who is not aerobically trained; they will be more fatigued and you will have greater fatigue resistance. said differently, if you are poorly trained aerobically or have a high vlamax, you can throttle insane watts but don’t have the metabolism to consume this.   2. who wants high vlamax? PURE SPRINTER or kilo rider (they want HUGE power output from glycolytic system, raw power, because their race is over after the last sprint or one mega effort) high vlamax, u need a big vo2max, because lactate is the fuel for the aerobic metabolism. 3. the more aerobic you are, THE MORE FUEL YOU BURN; the more you burn, the more power you have.  Cooling system on a car; you want to get more oxygen in to burn more fuel and produce more power 4. keep pedaling between intervals what’s next: How to structure base miles; redesigning 5 blocks to racing. It’s not sexy, less intervals. I know athletes “want to train”, but it’s AEROBIC TRAINING. Go Ski! https://youtu.be/vKrfmur8yP8 

Why did we ride at threshold ? Why should we still ride at threshold? What should we do to increase ftp? Training Packs mentioned, with new time crunched athlete pack on the way: https://www.evoq.bike/training-packs Why did we ride at threshold? * Riding solely at threshold in order to increase our lactate threshold is somewhat of an outdated training philosophy. I’m not knocking it! I was brought up on a threshold model, and did well, but I now know that it was not optimal. So, why did we utilize so much threshold training? We were under the impression that this was how we would increase it: ride at threshold, you’ll adapt, come back stronger, and push higher watts. * This does not improve the lactate threshold which is related to your FTP Lactate threshold is the inflection point where lactate exponentially increase, whereas FTP is the power you can put out in a quasi-steady state for around an hour why ride at threshold? * Increased endurance at this power * Increased muscular strength * Familiarity with tolerating these levels of lactate. What should we do instead Vo2max intervals over unders some threshold test #s at threshold Constant power intervals should still be in your training diet for most of us, but NOT the main driver of FTP improvement. Training Peaks Store with Pre-Built Workouts and access to some training guides: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/training-plans/search?language=en&sort.field=soldCount&sort.dir=desc&keyword=evoq&index=0 Brendan @EVOQ. BIKE https://youtu.be/_Vn4kficu5I

"These Vo2max workouts typically give me major anxiety but I didn’t let it get to me this time - just got it done. Let the numbers be whatever they were. And they ended up being pretty good. Dug deep for sure."  Me: Ooooh man that is a break through! don't overthink these, and happy to chat about this if needed. a good podcast! when u wake up, whatever numbers you're going to put out are set. it's not like you're going to think harder and worry about them and have 20 more watts. Just show up and rip it. I'd rather you spend that mental energy on talking through a rehearsal of how it will go, or positive talk (altho this doesn't work for everyone).   i just think, "I'm going to go really hard today, and i know if will hurt, but it's only for x minutes. That's so freaking short. And if i want to win something this year, this is what it takes. I'm doing this workout to win."  Then it all seems worth it, and I'm hungry to try my hardest, versus being worried about it.  Please Like and Subscribe to the channel!  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  Full Blog With Training Tips: www.evoq.bike/blog Subscribe to Our Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ggRc4nFollow Me on Strava: https://www.strava.com/pros/5889

Cat 4 Questions returns, with 4 solid Q's from an athlete before our monthly zoom call. I really dug these, and have been asked them before, so thought it would be helpful to post. 1. Don’t really feel like I need a “physical” recovery week, but maybe a base week would be helpful for a “mental” recovery. 2. You said that a 20 minute effort isn't that long of an interval. What’s a long interval, and how do we work toward that? 3. I was doing a punchy little climb the other day. Typically, I start feeling it burn and I back off the gas. But I kept pushing through this time and let the legs burn up. Recovered a bit on the descent and then got back to pedaling. How long/hard should I be pushing through efforts like that? 4. At a point now where it’s becoming very difficult to fuel for harder workouts AND stay in a calorie deficit. So do we need to do base for a bit? Does it make sense to mix in some efforts here and there on occasion? Or do we really just need stick with one or the other? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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

The point of this video is that if you are thinking about lifting this year for 2023, here's your nudge! Do it! There are no doubt a ton of physiological benefits, from added strength and hormonal changes that take place, but there's also the anecdotal "extra gear" that you develop. It's hard to describe until you witness it yourself. While there should be no denying that getting stronger will make you a better cyclist, everyone doesn't believe this. I'm not here to convince you to lift or strength train; that argument is exhausting. If you think just pedaling will make you strong, go for it. However, muscles push watts. No, you're not going to get bulky and weigh too much; you're going to get strong. A new athlete made an interesting initial comment and I just crushed a big KOM here in North Carolina after 2 months back in the gym post-COVID. Here's your push to start crushing some weights. https://youtu.be/gXYoRp3-yuc

A gravel racer, a Cat 3, a Cat 4, and Brendan walk into a bar. JK.   An athlete had some end of day 30s efforts that got me thinking about his fatigue resistance.  I started looking at other athletes charts, and started to see some interesting "ballooning" where there might be some weak spots in their training, IF it applies to the events that they are doing. ie, this is probably not very important for cyclocross or track riders!   If you have more info that you've found useful on this topic, please share it in the comments on the YT video, link below!   https://youtu.be/Tv4jb7Nh29w ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++   Full Blog With Training Tips: www.evoq.bike/blog  Subscribe to Our Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ggRc4n Hit Me Up on Strava: https://www.strava.com/pros/5889

We need to improve our position so that we don't get dropped when the big girls and big boys HIT IT HARD. It's really hard to "out watt" bad positioning, especially if you aren't the big hammer. Hopefully this video gets the juices flowing as to how you can improve your positioning to stay at the pointy end of the group ride or race. Positioning, cornering, strategy, energy conservation...Then drop the watt bomb!! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 https://youtu.be/RVnpyRBqObk

Hopefully this helps us all bring our A++ motivation and game if we truly want to get faster!   ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++   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

Common question about what your next training block should be. But, how can anyone answer that when they don't know what you've BEEN DOING, and what you are PREPARING FOR. What are your strengths? Weaknesses? Upcoming race details? etc etc Some questions that you can answer to help guide your training more accurately. It just takes a little ownership of your training! 00:00 What should I train next? 00:10 Your race is in 2 weeks?! 00:45 Just finished TDF Route. 115 mile Road Race at the end of August. 01:10 Use your training buddy!01:45 Should I Work on Speed? More Rest? Long weekend rides? 02:25 how do we give him a good recommendation? 03:20 Things we don’t know. Past 6 months; past year; how good is he actually? 03:35 The biggest worry in making a recommendation that is responsible 05:05 What CAN we give him as a tip? 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