Living and riding in the Pacific Northwest wet winter weather, my family sets up trainers in the sun room to start indoor spin season. I catch up on watching race coverage while turning the cranks. While watching professional road races, I …
Category: Life Balance
Surgery and Recovery Around Training – A Coach’s Experience and Analysis
Competitive cyclists are constantly making risk versus reward calculations. Often, these are momentary decisions that have immediate near-term consequences such as making a move in a race or choosing to eat or not eat before a workout. Other times, the …
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Even With Motivation, Unconscious Anxiety Blocks Improvement of Habits
All living things are driven to avoid pain. Unconscious systems compel them to select – without awareness – choices that have become familiar and proven safe. Human beings are no exception. They are motivated to avoid pain, including psychological pain, …
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Is Your Relationship with Food Undermining Your Athletic Goals?
Relationships with food are complex, particularly for athletes. Adequate and ideal nutrition for health, appearance, and performance can suffer when the focus primarily is on reaching a fixed “ideal” body weight. While a high power-to-weight ratio is essential for success …
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Adding a Triathlon or Running Event to Your Cycling Season
By Liz Varner If you are primarily a cyclist, adding a triathlon, duathlon, running or other multisport event to your year is a great way to cross train, refresh a season or just try something a little different. Some coaches …
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The Five Disciplines of Triathlon – A Balanced Approach
Everyone knows about the three main disciplines of triathlon: Swimming, cycling and running. Diversity of activities and cross training multiply the benefits while dividing the risks. Swimming, a physical activity done weightless, reduces stress on the bones and joints, while …
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Six Tips for Safer Solo Backcountry Mountain Biking
Sometimes we have that elusive day off from all our responsibilities and a hankering to get away from it all with a ride on rarely used trails, but no buddy to play hooky with us. Riding alone in the backcountry …
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Your 2017 Season Starts Today! With…Resting?
by Jami Min That’s right. You’re going over your season in your mind, reviewing all those spots where if you’d just been a little stronger, a little faster…if you’d had just a tiny bit more endurance it would have made …
How to Recognize Burnout in Your Sport and Regain the Passion
Relighting the Flame After Burnout in Cycling In June of 2016 I went on a road ride by myself and noticed a pleasant change: for the first time in a long time I enjoyed riding my bike. It wasn’t until …
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How Was Your Ride? The Importance of Attitude to Recovery and Success
Effective recovery only happens if you relax. Without recovery, training gains are minimal, and you can even weaken despite working hard. The blissful rush felt when sitting calmly after hard training corresponds to a hormonal shift from work mode to …
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See You Next Year? Knowing When to Stop Racing
The end of the road-racing season has arrived. Even the most serious roadies are relaxing, having the annual beer, and taking a few easy weeks before resuming training. In the coming months, they will connect with teams and coaches as …
It’s Okay to Make a New Year’s Weight Loss Resolution
So many people approach the New Year with diet resolutions that it often becomes a joke, with the long-term fitness crowd viewing their gyms and classes full of “resolutioners” as a temporary annoyance before those folks give up on their …
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Life is Not Fair, and Other Good News About Being an Athlete
This article by Scott Saifer, M.S. first appeared in ROAD Magazine in April of 2014. “Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give …
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Returning from a Major Cycling Accident
On April 2nd of 2011, I was racing the criterium stage of a regional stage race in The Dalles, Oregon. It was a nighttime criterium, and I was feeling positive about my chances of achieving my goal of winning the …
Composing for the Bicycle – Achieving a Relaxed State Before Riding
This article isn’t about writing music directly; I’m referring to composing oneself for optimal calmness, balance and efficiency when riding a bike. Most of us are probably pretty good at this most of the time, but a relaxed state can …
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