EVOQ.BIKE Cycling Podcast

We get this question often from new riders...should I join a team?   Learn from our mistakes, as we've both been on teams that didn't align with what we thought we were joining. There are questions and information that you want to find out before joining a cycling team or cycling club.   Sounds super basic, but to start: do I like this group of cyclists? Would I hang out with them off of the bike?   Don't look at the free stuff or team discounts...those should only be the cherry on top.   Check out this EVOQ Cycling Coaches Chat as we discuss what information you should take in before joining a team. https://youtu.be/ieD9BmDgtA8 

A lot of us have been here, and it's the worst feeling.  You get injured or overdo the training, and have to take a break. When do you train through? When do you completely stop? What does the pause in training look like? How do you stay sane when you can't ride or go to the gym? Let's talk to Craig as we delve into what happened to him this November, why he thinks it happened, and what is the game plan moving forward? Be sure to check out the other videos that we've posted, as well as the Cat 4 Questions series and 5 Blocks To Racing! Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE Please like the video if it helps. The social proof is extremely helpful! https://youtu.be/EiHWnlYjOlg 

Full blog: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/masters-cycling-training  Email: Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE  Cat 4 Questions: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/cat-4-questions   Master’s Cycling is an awesome group of athletes. Massive kudos to everyone raising families and running businesses yet still carving the time out each week to train.   Whether you are completing your first Gran Fondo or going for a Master’s National Championship, YOU ARE AN ATHLETE and that’s awesome.   While we often view the P/1/2 race as the big race of the day, Master’s 35+ and 40+ are a different beast. Not only do you have skilled racers that oftentimes are competitive in P/1/2 cycling races, but you have a pool of experience that sometimes doesn’t exist in the Elite races.   This is obviously not always the case, but I first experienced this while attending the Southeast Regional Road Championships outside of Atlanta, GA.   It was an amazing weekend because there were so many “adults” out there absolutely shredding, with really good race craft, and a respect for each other that we all had lives to go back to when the race was over.    I was one of the babies, at 37 years of age then, and it’s so inspiring to see guys 5-10 years older dropping watt bombs and you’re feverishly throwing grenades back at their camp. FULL ON BATTLE ENSUED.   While master’s cyclists often come to me and say, “Oh I won’t beat that PR from 7 years ago”, I laugh, and more times than not, we absolutely destroy it.   How? The tools, cycling training techniques and computer algorithms that we have today are so much more effective that what was used 10 years ago, or when this cyclist was in their “hayday”.   There’s also this idea that we are supposed to get slower. I’m not picking fun at the non-athletes, but look at our society. Many adults get slower because we add weight through poor dieting, we consume a lot of sugar and alcohol, and our lives our solely focused on our children; we forget to take care of our bodies and get fatter instead of faster.   I truly believe you can be your Fastest Right Now.   Here are my tips for all of us aging cyclists that still want to be fast!   Continue Proper Training Schedules: Periodize and Rest   Lift Heavy   Keep The Cycling Training Intensity High   Get Personal With Your Recovery Routine   Eat Like An Athlete   Range of Motion and Stretching, Queue Yoga!   Be Competitive   Crosstrain In The Non Race Season   Have FUN!   Your Tips I’m a baby master, what are your tips that you’d like to share? Please email me and let me know, and I’ll update the blog with some recommendations.

This started as Road To Nationals checking in with Craig Polston, but we also had some good questions that athletes have approached him with, so it's a bit of a Cat 4 Questions as well. Question 1: How much intensity should I maintain over the winter? Question 2: Is it all Z2 base building? Question 3: When do I start doing intervals? Question 4: When should I start / stop lifting? Email your questions to Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE Some quotes: And then middle ground tempo is super beneficial. And people should look back at like the old Coggan sharp, like the adaptations you make from that, when when you're doing it for 40 minutes, 60 minutes, it's not easy, but you're not killing yourself. It's a very interesting ride. After lifting, I expected to just be, you know, not feeling good. But my legs felt totally opened up. I didn't even need to warm up, I got out and thought: man, this feels great. You're not going to get burnt out and crush yourself and overtrain as long as you're resting. When you prescribe training, you have to be realistic with with it. If you give somebody a tempo ride, and they go and do that, the next day, they're gonna want to keep it to endurance because they're a little tired. If you give people two endurance rides, they think: this is too easy! So They go out and smash with their buddies one day, and then they kind of do endurance the next day. They miss BOTH days optimization and then in reality, what they actually go and do too much. So tempo rides can actually help you pull things back, Whereas on paper, sometimes it might LOOK like too much at first, but if there isn't an Rx, people just go hammer; they get antsy. He's in the gym all year long. Thanks for listening, tell a friend! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYP_TsdWWXQ

I made a post on Instagram that I didn't think anyone should be on a Sweet Spot Plan. This is not a shot fired at anyone. I got messages like, “Oh, you gonna go IN on [so and so]?”. No way. EVOQ is positive output only. Please watch the video. Shout out to FasCat and TrainerRoad. I get a lot of emails from people that were like, "hey, I've done two months, three months, four months of sweet spot in the offseason, I've plateaued and this is horrible!" Frank Overton does not want you doing sweet spot all the time. I believe he has a SIX WEEK plan, NOT FOUR month plan. But as cyclist, we do one block and find some success, so why not do three?? If you want to get aerobically fit, you can do sweet spot. If you're super crunched on time, do some sweet spot. But this will NOT get you race ready. My methodology is based around: •Consistency: No matter what you do, if you don't do it often, it won't work •Workload: kj's; pedal the damn bike •Rotated Interval Blocks: 2 blocks in a row of the same thing Max. More on that in the video. Don't plateau. •Preseason Progression: I don't believe that you need progression if a race heavy block. •Event and Athlete Specific Stimulus. I have nothing but respect for those people helping so many people get on a bike. I hope that I've never put out a video that is throwing punches or jabs at somebody. I'm here trying to share what I've learned, through coaching a lot of people through and chatting with thousands of you around the globe. GRATEFUL. Might sound corny AH but I'm just keeping it 100 with you. Ok, go crush the day and LET'S ALL GET IT!!!! https://youtu.be/KUo8qka5vqw

Original Post: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/andy-chasteen-interview Want to start a team? Want to dive deeper into the cycling industry? Andy shares some thoughts on how to make these crucial relationships and get your foot in the door!  He was actually a solid nudge for me to go full time with EVOQ.BIKE, and start the media side of blogging, YouTubing, and the podcast.  I first met Andy Chasteen as we were warming up for the Crosswinds Classic in 2017.  “Who the hell are those guys?”, I asked as we rolled past DNA Racing from Oklahoma City.  I think Andy turned his head a little to the side to ensure I’d get an airborne tail-whip from his flowing locks, a la mullet.  The air of those guys rolling was legit. I’ve taught my inner self to not become intimidated before a race; that can happen too easily. But instead, recognize, and keep them in the back of my mind. That team is rolling.  I want to go off into some prose here about pre-race feelings, but I’d be typing for hours. Damn I miss road racing so much.  Anywho, we became teammates and I look up to Andy so much, not in just a bike sense, but in how he lives his life as an entrepreneur entrenched in cycling, climbing, and business branding / aesthetic.  He does it all: branding, strategy, photography, content, social, copywriting.  I was sitting at his house a year later in 2018 with one foot still in medical device sales, one foot in social media management, and another in EVOQ.BIKE. I hadn’t fully made the leap to the cycling industry.  I told him that I was considering doing EVOQ.BIKE full time, using social media, A BLOG, YouTube, and a podcast to share knowledge that I’ve accumulated over 130,000 miles of riding and a TON of races.  “You should totally do it. It seems like you and Patrick have a good thing going.”  That nudge helped. Others had been nudging. My husband was the #1 supporter from the get (I love that expression).  Anywho, here we are, 2 years in, over 100k blog readers, 50k YouTube views, and we’re just scratching the surface. I can’t wait to tell you about THE SHOW, but we need COVID to depart before that happens.  Let’s get into ANDY CHASTEEN!!  Some topics and quotes from the interview include:  You have to be okay with people's misunderstanding of what you're doing.   For my business, I never could make a good living, just shooting photos. I had to add to that; I had to add to the total package in order to become successful at what I wanted to do.   I don't have a degree in any of this. You know, it's all self taught.  You're in the industry, you seem to always have a great recommendation for: how do I reach out to this company and start a relationship?  I made really good money, but I hated what I did. I wore a suit every day to work.  I tell people I'm doing right now what I would do for free; I would do what I do right now for free because I love it like that much; I love it that much.  How do you build these relationships? How do you go out and meet these people? How do you show value? How do you make something to show them when you don’t have a big portfolio? How do you really get your foot in the door?  I think that if you really want to get a start in that, especially in photography, you have to work for free, you just have to do it. And you're gonna upset some people who are well established photographers out there, because they don't work for free. And they “value their work”, you know what I mean?  Where’s your excess in life? Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE

Full post here: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/cycling-block-periodization  Please Leave Us A Podcast Review! Thank you!  Email your questions to Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE   The first question came from an athlete that just watched Dylan Johnson's Video on Block Periodization; cliff notes, I have a similar view. Block periodization is what you need to do in order to truly peak, which every athlete shouldn't be trying to do, which I covered in another post.   Question 2: Hey, your season planning videos came at the right time. My biggest weakness is sprinting peak power and getting that acceleration for that short, strong separation move or finish sprint?   Does it help me to do a few high intensity efforts during my base training rides? Not like intervals, but some outbursts? Or should I show those for December, January?   There are some short climbs here, like one to two minutes, maybe those would be helpful? And, if so, would you do it in the beginning even near the end of the long ride?    Question 3: I just re-read your blog and I'm why obsessing over your CTL can ruin your race season and I have a couple questions.   My takeaway is to stick to a plan and take rest as needed if your body is feeling it but I'm wondering how you know if you've got enough rest.   If you can get on the bike after Recovery Week at the end of a build but I feel toasted all week, but get through the workouts, that's not the vibe I'd want to ring in a new block.   I guess I'd usually tell myself I got enough rest in that week and I should be good.  I've been trying some trainer road stuff and I finished the high volume build phase and I ended up adding some fun riding for volume. But since I have finished, I've been kind of dusted.   My power is fine, but my heart rate is high when rested and riding.  How do you know when to get back to intensity if you're not relying on metrics?    Question 4: Couldn't find the answer in your blog, breathing well sprinting. What is beneficial for those 10 to 20 second all out finish line sprints?   I get the idea that I'm so caught up in pushing the pedals that my breath control is bad. When I start to realize that I go into the track sprinter pumping type of breathing, so short and heavy in and out, if that makes any sense. Am I overthinking this? And should I just let the body do its thing?

Full post here: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/maintain-ftp-gains-cat-4-q We are back with Episode 11 of Bike Racing Cat 4 Questions! Let’s get right to it. We're going to be discussing: Maintaining FTP gains Where to place the VO2Max workouts in your calendar 2 x 25 intervals in relation to your FTP Alternating high volume and low volume training weeks based on an athlete’s life schedule

Laura took some time out of her VERY BUSY schedule to shed some light on life's balance and smashing Zwift races. She really sends an inspiring message through her actions that there is ALWAYS time, somewhere, to get a quick ride in. I truly believe that no one is too busy. Oh yeah, Laura is also a Mother, Wife and Orthopedic Surgeon. https://www.evoq.bike/blog/laura-matsen-ko-interview

Your MAIN FOCUS is still improving your strength in the gym. I know, I know, we are cyclists and the gym doesn't sound fun, but it will help you put out higher wattages, not only in a sprint, but during maximal aerobic power at VO2Max and even during FTP type efforts. View the full season planning post or head to YouTube for Block 3 details! These five blocks will help you through "Base Period", and no, that does not mean 4 months of only endurance. Everyone comes out of the spring from lifting saying, "I just have another gear that I never had before." While lifting, you'll progress through some Sweet Spot intervals and get into some race type efforts that include Criss Cross Intervals and Stair Steps. The stair steps can be 3 x 15m, where the first 5m @ 80-85%, 2nd 5m at 88-93%, then last 5m at 98-105%. Rest @ 50% for 10m. Next up could be: Stair Climb: 3x15m with: 5m @ 90-93%, 5m @ 98-102%, 5m @ 105-120%. Rest @ 50% for 10m. There is NO REST between the 5m intervals. You work for 15m then rest 10m. Then repeat twice more. Weekend rides are base miles at endurance or low tempo pace. I don't really see a massive need to hit the super long aerobic stuff on the weekend because the midweek rides are getting tougher and will take up more physical energy and mental focus. Enjoy the weekend rides with friends, but PEDAL THE BIKE. Lastly, get a one hour test done in there as well. Email me with questions: Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE Don't forget to increase your training workload AND speed up your recovery with Lactigo!! Go here: www.lactigo.com/brendan or use the code Brendan20. You will LOVE IT and it's 100% guaranteed. https://www.evoq.bike/blog/cycling-season-planning