Endurance Unlimited

Coaching both a track racing cyclist and a mountain biking cyclist requires an entirely dual approach. On the mountain biking side, Kristin is working with Hayley Batten’s innate lack of fear to ride the most technical of sections as well as encouraging her through her racing despite inconsistent results. On the track side, she is focused on transitioning Emma White from cyclocross racing to pushi...

The 2020 Olympics are quickly approaching and thousands of swim/bike/run training hours are about to be put to the test for five triathletes on Team USA; Kevin McDowell, Katie Zaferes, Summer Rappaport, Taylor Knibb, and Morgan Pearson. Listen as High-Performance Advisor for USAT Triathlon Ryan Bolton discusses topics such as preparing for the heat of Tokyo, racing/drafting tactics and the unique...

Ryan Cooper knows something about everything, especially in the realms of swimming, biking and running. In this episode, Ryan and Dirk discuss everything from how wind direction should dictate when you eat and recover during a bike race, how to feel out a connection between heart rate and your personal RPE, as well as technical skill-building. 

Unbound Gravel sits comfortably at the top of the gravel racing food chain. In this special Sprint Episode, Dirk chats with Ian Boswell about the training volume, strategy and nutrition planning that enabled him to take the win. 

Racing bikes as a person with diabetes may seem like a great challenge for some, but Phil Southerland has always seen it as an opportunity. Diagnosed at seven months old, Phil's love of bikes has enabled him to think about glucose management and training in ways that few others ever have. He believes that the bike is a great way to create heroes for young, aspiring, diabetic athletes. He is the fo...

On the 50th episode of the CoachCast Dirk chatted with Dr. David Martin about his 35 years of experience training professional and Olympic level athletes. Listen as they delve into the fascinating career of Cadel Evans as well as the evolution of nutrition and training technologies such as glucose monitoring, HRV, heat adaptation and supplement categorization.

In this episode of the CoachCast Dirk and Jen dove into what Dirk refers to as "podcasting therapy." They explored the topics at the center of Jen's new book "Self Motivational Strategies for Women" including family, fitness, creativity and more. Listen as they delve into expressing gratitude for our sport and environment, how creativity is manifested in sport and learning to let go.

Kevin Poulton, coach to some of the best cyclists in the world including Caleb Ewan, Alex Dowsett and Matthew Hayman, has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Lucky for other coaches, he's a total open book and more than happy to share his learnings and insight into the sport with anyone who cares to listen. Listen as Dirk and Kevin talk heat adaptation, carbohydrate manipulation and making serio...

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 com...

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 eve...

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...

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-t...

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...

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 Tr...

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 ta...

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 col...

This week Dirk sat down with Registered Dietician Patrick Wilson to discuss the common gastrointestinal issues that plague endurance athletes. Together, Dirk and Patrick cover everything from beverage osmolality, leaky gut syndrome, the benefits of periodic fasting and why more women are vexed with bloating and constipation during competition than men. They also cover which kinds of sugars are eas...

Winning the Tour de France is no easy feat, and when you dig into the science behind coaching a champion, the task only looks tougher. This week, in a special 'Sprint' episode of the CoachCast, Dirk discusses Tadej Pogacar's recent TDF win with his coach Iñigo San Millán. Listen as they discuss maximizing mitochondrial function, building glycolytic capacity and the dedicated focus that lead to a 3...

This week Dirk sat down with renowned Coach Jim Miller and the very talented mountain biking athlete, Christopher Blevins. They explored topics such as the athlete-coach relationship, Christopher’s recovery process and the reality of racing during COVID-19.  Christopher also dove into the reasoning behind his decision to commit to mountain bike racing over road and why he’s happy with the current...

It goes without saying that 2020 has been rough on everyone, not excluding Pro Cyclist Ayesha McGowan. Her career was gaining serious momentum after years of hard work and diligent training with her coach Jim Lehman, then, all of that went out the window with COVID-19.  Nevertheless, Ayesha has taken this time to rediscover her love for riding bikes and allowed herself to mentally process the curr...

If you want to feel inspired, look no further than Coach Joy Miles. She is a fitness instructor and triathlon coach based in Chicago and has a palpable passion for helping members of her community be the very best version of themselves. She guides athletes through every step of their training journeys, from getting comfortable in the deep end of a pool to finishing their very first triathlon. Her...

Race Director Gabriela Gallegos gets, stuff, done! She puts on a multitude of races in Texas as well as Arizona and is on the Board of Directors for USAT. She trained for her first triathlon as an adult and found the finish line experience totally transformative. From then on, she was hooked. Gabriela strives to share that experience with many others in her community, particularly women of color v...

If there ever was someone with true expertise in endurance training through a pandemic, it would be Jeff Sankoff. As a doctor of 21 years, with a specialty in critical care, he has deep insight into the physiology behind triathlon training and racing, in addition to a well-informed perspective on the current status of race safety in the time of COVID-19. Jeff is also a triathlete with many Ironman...