Empirical Cycling Podcast

This is a conversation between Kolie and epidemiologist Dr. Traci Carson, RDN and cycling coach Dr. Namrita Brooke, and MD and cycling coach Dr. Fabiano Araujo, in light of the Kristen Faulkner disqualification at Strade Bianche for wearing a continuous glucose monitor. We look at topics of whether CGMs actually confer a performance advantage, where their true utility lies, their shortcomings, thoughts on the UCI rules and Faulkner's DQ and the role of a team or dietitian, and health issues surrounding endurance athletes like RED-S and LEA.

This episode goes into Kolie's philosophy on programming and structuring over/under workouts. Duration of overs and unders, intensity guidelines, additional manipulation like cadence, how to progress them, and suggestions for disciplines like CX, MTB, crits, and track. We also discuss some alternative workouts to achieve some of the same touted benefits of over/unders such as better buffering capacity, and your listener questions.

The host of benefits associated with over-under workouts includes improved lactate oxidation and clearance capacity, great expression of MCT enzymes, as well as improved tolerance of associated metabolic byproducts over threshold. We look at the established mechanisms behind these phenomena and find that over-unders, as well as lactate presence and oxidation itself, probably don't have a unique adaptation unavailable to other types of training. The follow-up episode, Ten Minute Tips #27, will discuss how Kolie views and programs over-under workouts, as well as alternative workouts to achieve the same ultimate effects.

This is an in-depth discussion on weight loss diets for endurance athletes, with Dr. Namrita Brooke. The conversation includes guidelines on finding your starting point and how to adjust energy intake, avoiding crash diets, performance expectations and markers when dieting, the effect of off-bike activity, and reasonable loss rates. We also discuss energy balance vs hormones, demonizing food groups and the role of each macronutrient, the best times of year to lose weight, and your listener questions on diet aids, recomp diets, calorie estimates from wearables, finding a good performance dietitian, and more.

This episode is a coaching perspective on the upsides and downsides of when you just want to "set it and forget it." We cover pacing adjustments, mental state, fatigue and threshold feedback, and putting the "max" in VO2max intervals. Plus a couple scenarios where erg mode is an excellent tool.

Dr. Patrick Smith and Kolie sit down to discuss the athletic and coaching implications of Karl Friston's free energy principle of the brain, the right approach to bridge the gap between expectations and observable reality in training, and the right amount of sensitivity to this feedback. This dovetails with the appeal of quick fixes, miracle intervals, and silver bullet training principles. We also discuss what practical solutions are, setting yourself up for success, and your listener questions.

This episode investigates the scientific relationship between size and power (allometry), both vo2max and maximal strength and power, and what it can teach us about sound training methods. How do w/kg and w/CdA scale? Why can't gaining muscle add aerobic power? Why can FTP seem to drop when dieting? Why do we rebound from crash diets? Why do most Tour de France winners seem to fit a certain size and weight? We answer all these questions and more, plus your listener questions.

Does overtraining cause mitochondria to dysfunction? We look at data in the Flockhart study on excessive training and compare them to the headlines, a similar overtraining study using proteomics, and a published response to Flockhart. We break down mitochondrial function, what various measurement methods actually tell us, why your mitochondria are probably just fine, and why these studies raise more questions about mitochondria's role in overtraining (if any) than they answer. Finally, we answer your listener questions on the Flockhart study, mitochondrial function, and overtraining.

Kolie sits down with Cory Lockwood to discuss breaking the U.S. 40km ITT record, going under 45 minutes. Cory also talks about what's different working with Kolie from previous training he's done, along with observations about rest, FTP and VO2max training, training during race season, and reflections on what it means to be both an athlete and coach.

This episode answers the question: is there something unique about endurance riding that is unavailable at other intensities? After discussing "zone 2" definitions, we look at adaptations and dose relative to other training intensities, fatigue, and volume. We look at the relative necessity of endurance riding in both very low and high volume training, and answer listener questions, including if there's a lower limit for endurance pace.