Ask a Cycling Coach (TrainerRoad)- Can You Get Faster Riding 3 Hours Per Week? And How to Recover & Measure Fatigue, Trainer vs Outdoor Riding, How to Actually Train

As athletes, we all know if we exercise, we’ll feel better and get stronger.  When you start adding in focus and structure, I like to say that you are no longer just exercising: you are training.  As a Professional Athlete myself, I’ve been through pretty much every scenario of trying different things in my training, I’ve been chronically overtrained, I’ve played with doing minimal training, and I’m always looking for the latest research and methods for improvement.  Today’s guests are two people I respect and continually follow for new information – they are the backbone behind the popular cycling trainer app: TrainerRoad.  I’ve personally used TrainerRoad to get me through the winters and I even train for long stage races indoors using the dynamite combo of Trainer Road and the Wahoo Fitness KICKR Smart Trainer.  This episode isn’t about riding the trainer per se, it’s about a lot of pitfalls and common questions that come up with any type of endurance sport.  We have the Head Coach at Trainer Road, Chad Timmerman here today along with Jonathan Lee.  Chad has devoted his life to researching the science behind cycling and testing ways to get faster on the bike with over a decade of experience.  Jonathan Lee is Level II USA certified cycling coach and the host of the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast.  His background is in motocross, but he is an avid and high level mountain bike racer as well.  He is a good friend and also posts some really fun stuff on instagram.

I love the Trainer Road Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast because Chad, Jonathan and also Nate Pearson (who started TrainerRoad) answer listener’s questions each week.  I also really enjoy their blog.  I wish I could sit and geek out about training with guys all day, but we had to condense it down to just one hour.  One hour where I took your questions from my facebook page and got some answers.  If I had to pick some key takeways from today’s conversation for you, it would be understanding the importance of recovery and what that actually looks like, trying to figure out your body so you can tell if you’re starting to get overtrained, how much you actually need to train to get faster, how to balance training with a full life, the key to success at stage races, and more.  As Jonathan said in the show, “Experience reigns supreme” so by trying new things and getting to know our own body and trends, we can be a more intuitive athlete.

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