Fast Talk

It wasn't long ago that most athletes, in the grand scheme of training, neglected the importance of nutrition, prioritizing time spent on the bike.   Now, nutritional periodization and other methods of manipulation are rapidly rising in popularity. Many people strongly believe that significant performance gains are being left on the table if they neglect nutritional manipulation.   Today, we sit d...

Today we first take on the complex subject of coaching junior athletes, including everything from building aerobic base in a healthy manner to dealing with overbearing parents.  We tackle a very interesting question on the base/intensity relationship from Danielle in Monument, Colorado: “Does aerobic output after intensity still have the same effect? Or does it have an even bigger effect due to su...

Unfortunately, concussions and traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, are far too common in cycling. Whether training on open roads, racing at high speeds, or facing off with rush-hour traffic on your bike commute, cyclists often place themselves in vulnerable situations. Head injuries are becoming increasingly diagnosed among the two-wheeled crowd.    What’s more, there’s a good deal of misunderstand...

We can learn a lot by looking back. And one of the best parts of being an athlete is planning ahead, setting goals, and choosing your next adventure. [For more on this, check out episode 140: How to Set Training and Performance Goals.] In this episode, the Fast Talk team, plus frequent guests, share the lessons they learned from a challenging 2020, and then declare their big, scary goals, races, a...

If you’ve listened to Fast Talk for a while, you’ve likely heard us mention “cardiac drift” or “decoupling” in several episodes. It's a favorite topic of Coach Connor's. The terms refer to cardiovascular drift, which is a "drifting" in heart rate and stroke volume over time. On the bike, we measure it by looking at a rise in heart rate relative to power. Many causes have been theorized including d...

Welcome to 2021. And what better way to kick off the new year than to answer some questions from our devoted listeners.   Today we take on a series of questions that deal with a dilemma many athletes face: deciding which rides or workouts to sacrifice when you’re short on time.   We tackle a question about zone 1 rides and whether you get them on the mountain bike.   We also discuss how to change...

Welcome to the best of 2020.  What a year it’s been. In so many ways, 2020 was a challenge—sometimes big, sometimes small, but always a bit more challenging. The same goes even for this humble podcast. But we stay connected, virtually, across time zones, across international borders, and despite waves of pandemic disruptions to bring you what we think are some incredible conversations with excepti...

Is yoga just fancy stretching? Nope. Today we’re going to go into the specifics of why cyclists should consider yoga, from the physical literacy it can provide, to the strength and conditioning element it offers, from the potential for an improved inflammatory profile to better recovery and relaxation.   It turns out yoga is far more than fancy stretching or breathing techniques, it can be a power...

Time to bust some myths about nutrition. Head coach Ryan Kohler and Coach Trevor Connor both have degrees in nutrition and decades of experience working with athletes on all manner of sports nutrition topics.   Together, they discuss some of the major misconceptions that regularly enter any conversation on what to eat when training and racing.  Are macronutrients all that matter?  Do carbs make yo...

What a strange and chaotic year it’s been. Despite the disruption to our lives, times like these afford us an opportunity to look farther ahead. It just may be that, from a training and racing point of view, this is just what some of us have needed.   That’s because, sometimes, you can see greater gains by looking not just at next year, but by gazing two or three years up the road. Whether you’re...

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...

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....

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...

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 ki...

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...

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...

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...

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 auth...

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 im...

How do you, as an athlete, combine your understanding of sport science and your training and racing experience to most effectively map out your training? That question is the basis for today’s episode, one in which we drift between the philosophical and the practical.   Essentially, we’ll dissect the different ways science and experience can influence how we train. Where does the science shine? Wh...

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, bre...

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...

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 fo...

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...