EVOQ.BIKE Cycling Podcast

Original Post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaIlPhHxOJY Many times athletes go out and mark their ride as "endurance", but they have 40% of time in Zone 1.   Or, a ride goes out and SMASHES a group ride, has an average power in Zone 2, and calls it endurance.  Meanwhile, there's 60% Zone 1!   Zone 1 (less than 55% FTP) is recovery.  Zone 2 (55% - 75% FTP) is endurance.   They serve different functions, so make sure you keep them separate.   Take a look at some of Craig's rides. The pure endurance rides have massive chunks of Zone 2 work, a little z3, very little z4 or higher.   Minimize your coasting and the zone 1 time.  Try for less than 10% of z1 time (caveat: if you live in the mountains, COAST down steep hills. DO NOT KILL YOURSELF).   At 2:38 Craig discusses a group ride with hard efforts. While he calls this a recovery ride, the big thing to note is that he's doing hard efforts earlier in the morning, so because of that ride alone, it's NOT a RECOVERY DAY; the evening ride is a less intense ride, but if there are hard efforts, it is NOT a recovery ride.   Make sure you ride in the zones you're supposed to ride in!   Email Craig with questions: CPolston@gmail.com

Original source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_nmMCIDPjU Rolly Weaver is a crafty cyclist, and this is why I asked him on. He knows when to light the match and when to hold back. He brings up some great tactical race topics, but also hits on training: how obsessed the culture has become with JUST WATTS, and forgetting how to learn the tactical race craft.   Rolly has raced professionally all across the globe, from China, Taiwan, Uruguay, Dominican Republic and many more international locations. He's won numerous state championships in multiple disciplines.   Topics included:   Crit with a hill; when are you pulling? Rolly dives in.   How can you tell when your competitor is getting tired?   Don't shadow a faster rider in a race! We've discussed this before, but another great reminder. Get away from the fastest guys!    VOLUME. Rolly is a big fan of volume and we chat about hitting 15,000 miles in September.  C ross country trip on bikes; this is a solid maybe.   Rolly warns you about the cut and paste programs; they don't work!   Failing intervals is okay. Often times, you're finding a weakness! We live in an instant gratification society and cycling doesn't work that way.    "The mind always goes first: I can't do this." How to elevate your mental game so that you can WIN!  Racing is so much more than watts!  Watts are improvement, and a GREAT thing to focus on, but don't go overboard and let the power meter TOOL dictate everything.   Thanks for listening and share it with a friend.   Blog: www.evoq.bike/blog  Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE   If you haven't heard: Lactigo, Code Brendan20. I've been setting PR's like crazy on this stuff!!   Hit me up on strava!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXdavfCUIH0 B Money Racing, now known as B Dazzled, shed a lot of light across many disciplines of cycling and bike racing.  As a BMX rider turned Mountain to road to gravel racer, he's covered a lot of ground and territory. As a fellow cycling coach, he's helped athletes in a ton of unique situations, and I immediately jump out the gate with the question:  "What are the top 3 things holding athletes back."  Athlete's mindset pops up in our conversation a couple of times, and he drops a lot of gems on how to get better on and off the bike.  Brandon is traveling around the United States with his family, Lindsey and Abner, and living that van life that we've all read about. You can follow their journey at: @bmoney_racing @meanderingmelotts_ @rising.rooted (Lindsey's Account)  I'll definitely be watching this one again.  Thanks for coming on B! Can't wait til we get a ride in again when our paths cross.  Don't forget to Like the video, and comment below what tip is going to help you reach the next level.  Thanks for watching!  Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHx6-1C1aQU What's the difference between training for an A race or trying to train for an entire series?   There's a big difference when you're going for one or two really big peaks, as opposed to pretty good results over a longer period of time.   The concept of overloading and tapering are a big factor that create the differences in these two way to approach the races.   This is what can happen when you try and simply do too much without a solid plan in place:  "@EVOQ. BIKE  thanks for the detailed response and excellent tips... i asked because this balance is often a struggle, taking part in a season-long series, so rather focusing on specific events its about maintaining a decent level without compromising either fitness or fatigue in either extremes to be ready almost every weekend April-September. I totally fail at that.. 95% and racing tired pretty much always. Maybe i need to reassess and work out what is really 95%... probably overdoing it and its really 99%. Training blocks often ends up being a mixture of the routes.. some weeks backing off to mini taper and some weeks training through it... but that creates very inconsistent blocks. Please keep up the great content! I really get a lot from the "Cat 4 questions" series."   In the second question, we look at Zwift racing versus VO2Max intervals; yes, you can do, and should do, both! Just make sure they're in your training plan at the right time.   "Hi Brendan , I'm Zwift racing once a week on Saturday for 75 mins and then on Tuesday doing a 7 x 3 @ 120% , now on the Zwift race as you're more than aware your HR goes through the roof and stays there for virtually the entire race 95%+ if you don't you'll get dropped , the thing is even though you my HR is sky rocketing in the Zwift race there isn't that much power in the Vo2 max region compared to 7x3 @120% , alternatively during the 7x3 the accumilated time the HR is above 90%+ is way lower compared to the Zwift, which is best ? should i do both ?"   Email me your questions to Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE and please help us out by: Liking the Podcast, Subscribing to the Channel, And sharing it!

https://youtu.be/UTFPBn0g6e0 1. Racing Alone  2. "New" Teams  3. Racing To Athlete's Strengths  4. Race Planning   All Episodes Can Be Found Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJMEQDVj0dQ&list=PLiOww7FfCwdlxB81LpvWOMgqxORlfL-RW    Check out the BIG BLOG: https://www.evoq.bike/blog   Email Me: Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE

In this new series, we'll follow along with fellow coach and Level 4 athlete, Craig Polston, who is making a big comeback after 5 years off of racing. The first call is catching up as to where he's at with training and a big general overview of where we are taking this ship and training series. Craig has well over Cat 1 w/kg, and with the kids in college and some free time around his work responsibilities, he's going ALL IN on his first 45+ Master's Nationals Race. What does his power profile suggest? What does the power profile NOT tell us? What weaknesses do we need to address? Cliff Notes: measuring hard, repeatable efforts late in the race. Endurance Foundation is SO IMPORTANT. Seeing the benefits of the longer 1X rides are highighted. #NoCoast Why get a coach when he's clearly done really well as a self coached athlete? Variety within a physiological system is so important to avoid plateaus, which aren't necessarily a bad thing. email us with questions to Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE Check out our coaching programs: https://www.evoq.bike/programs Brendan has a few spots left at Level 2, 3 and 4 for 2021!

Full post here with the checklist to review: https://www.evoq.bike/blog/cycling-season-planning Email: Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE Hey Brendan, I’ve got a question for your cat 4 series. I’ve actually never had a coach through the off season because I’ve historically been burned out by the end of the season, and stop using one before the actual off season. So, my question is how do you approach the off season after your last block of the season? Do you take 2 weeks completely off the bike and lifting before starting over with lots of endurance rides and lifting again? I took too long off a few years ago (5-6 weeks), and lost so much fitness. I don’t want to do that again, but I figured it might be necessary to lose a bit to rebuild, and make new gains. Thanks! Here's what I send to my athletes to get the creative bike racing juices flowing IN AUGUST for the next season! Long email, not urgent, please read when you can review and give it some thought. There are questions at the bottom that I'd like you to send back once you've considered this. While 2020 isn't totally dusted, it is time to start thinking about 2021. Why? We want to lay out your calendar now so we can see the roadmap and figure out what's coming. If someone is starting to race B priority races in February, we need to start this in 6 weeks! I just want those creative bike racing juices to get flowing. While you may not have an EXACT date for the biggest event, starting this process is still a good idea to get an idea of where we are taking this ship. If you are looking to upgrade, you may decide to not have an "A event", but rather a big month with a lot of upgrade possibilities. These nuances we will discuss, but I want you to get a sense of when you're starting to race and what's important to YOU. The Power Phase of building strength and aerobic power will take us 16 weeks plus 4 more of speed work before the first race. That's 5 months! We clearly need to start planning for your goals! Gym Work: linear progression works well, and the strength gains are no joke. We will be using GZCLP again (minus bench press), and 2 heavy lifts a week. As you read below, if we started foundation in October, we would be early race ready for B and C races by February. If you live up north, we would probably start this in November so you are race ready in March. Race ready does not mean peaking with multiple specific cycles to getting you absolutely shredding. It does mean toeing the line, ready to race and be competitive, while also making it through the entire season. Foundation 8 weeks: aerobic foundation, extensive aerobic focus. (Base miles, tempo, long tempo of 150-200% TTE) Pull the curve to the right. Just below FTP power and just beyond TTE time. Gym Heavy 2-3x a week Build 4 weeks: aerobic build, intensive aerobic focus (faster tempo, Sweet Spot, FTP) Gym Heavy 2-3x a week Raise 4 weeks of VO2max raise, MAX Aerobic (FTP/FRC and Max Aerobic); race prep, shaking out the cobwebs. Zwift Racing Gym Heavy - athlete dependent, at least 1x per week heavy Early Races / Group Speed Rides 4 weeks: FTP efficiency (repeatability) and economy (FTP Speed Work and Racing) Back to threshold, in speed development (RACE, motor pace, ultra fast group rides) Zwift Racing Gym Heavy - athlete dependent, at least 1x per week heavy Go check out the full blog for more! https://www.evoq.bike/blog/cycling-season-planning

Ugh, the answer is, it depends, but in part two of our chat, we look more at what happens when someone goes after an FRC increase...Can you feel that anaerobic wattage bump in an FTP effort? After all, you might still be making 10% of your power anaerobically. Does it make sense do quickly get that 10% bump?  (Please subscribe to the channel and LIKE the video!)  What about time trialist Tony Martin? Why is he sacrificing anaerobic watts?  Leadville racer: how does depth play into performance a year later? While a max effort might have physiological benefit, CAPACITY might make you a MUCH BETTER RACER!!!  What can you expect when you work on one aspect of your cycling and how it relates to yourself as an overall cyclist.  Criterium vs Gravel vs Zwift vs Road Racing...in the end, figure out how YOU can win!   Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE - upper cube Patrick@EVOQ.BIKE - lower cube www.evoq.bike www.evoq.bike/blog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhfaB_6cdnM 

The goal of this series is to explore the balancing act of training. If you focus a block on PMAX/FRC, your FTP goes down. Can you afford to do that? Conversely, if you focus solely on FTP, how do you know if you'll have the kick to win the sprint at the end of a road race? Check out all of our blogs here: https://www.evoq.bike/blog Cost/Benefit -What are we talking about WKO5 Terms- understand physiology Pmax FRC mVO2max mFTP Stamina TTE Pmax/FRC Raise only both, your stamina/tte/mftp would go down Train only this, you will become more and more of a “track sprinter” mVO2max This will make your ability to crush short stuff go up, but is really fatiguing. Requires an intense dose to work mFTP Higher is better, but worth it if it costs you your punch? Absolute watts vs w/kg Stamina (riding at high percentage of ftp past 75m or so) Very trainable, and important to being able to do a lot of events with sustained output, Think long sweet spot Cost: pace changing gets hard/ frc and pmax would both go down TTE Good for 40k tt’s/long hill climbs If your events are less than an hour you wouldn’t need a longer tte

Can simply working on your mindset improve your performance? YES Training science has come a long way but understanding how to get the most out of yourself for both that soul crushing interval session or your target event is an art!  Patrick recently posted a great Fast Dad Friday on our YouTube channel, check that out here! https://youtu.be/SmdTSmIFeuE We start to unpack mental toughness for cycling: digging deep in intervals and showing up to your event with the winning attitude to get the most out of yourself.  Part of cycling is metric related (how many watts, your vo2max, etc), part is understanding the dance, aka the actual race, and another aspect is understanding your thought process, preparation, and using the mind to get yourself across the line in FIRST PLACE. Mental Toughness- What is it? How do you find yours? Should it be different for training vs. competition? Part 2 coming soon! Sorry for the abrupt finish, but daBaby woke up and hey, 45 minutes is long enough!