Today we're going to lift the lid on five things pros actually do in the winter. No fluffy stuff like stay motivated. This is the real playbook >> and I'm here to ask all the stupid questions as per usual.
Anthony. >> Hey Sarah. So yeah, wintertime is it's not just business as always for pro bike riders.
It's the one time of the year where things are slightly different. They have a little bit of a slower life because they don't have to constantly be traveling. Team training camps haven't really kicked in.
We don't see those until maybe middle of December for the first time. So, right now is a key part in the season for executing the stuff we're going to go through. And this stuff, I would say it lays the foundation for a successful season ahead next year.
And without it, as we go through, there's been some catastrophic failures through the years with guys who just neglected this. >> And it's not just for the pros because it's important that I take a winter break that, you know, regular cyclists who have other commitments in their life that they take a winter break as well. But a winter break is not just kind of like, you know, tools up for three months while the weather is absolutely crap and then kind of try and get back into form.
So, let's talk about what the pros do that us mere mortals can do as well. >> Okay. Well, you kind of spoiled my first one.
So, it's a winter break is the first thing I think that people should do. And I think, you know, through the years we've seen a lot of different schools of thought on this and it all seems to come back to this idea that yes, you should take a winter break. And it's frustrating, I know, because you're a part-time athlete.
You're balancing work with family. You've worked so hard all summer to gain fitness and you experienced this with Badlands >> where you worked so hard to get that fitness and now it's like you need to let it go. >> But letting go the fitness is like it's a natural part of you know everything has seasons.
The life of a bike rider has seasons as well. And if you want to get faster again in the spring and the summer you need to let go of some of that fitness before we start to rebuild and get into our winter preparation. >> And that was it.
I was, you know, you kind of think my fitness is going to fall off a cliff. I think I took probably about 3 weeks totally off the bike this winter, which is maybe a little bit long. I'm I'm not too pro, but when I came back, remember the first session we did together?
And I mean, it was a session that I would have been able to do easy peasy previous to kind of that winter break. And I mean, I struggle. So, I did lose some some fitness.
Definitely, >> you definitely do lose some fitness. I think 3 weeks is just about on the long end of what I recommend to clients. The kind of >> 10 to 21 days seems to be a good break for most people.
But in that period, it's not, and you've done this quite well because it's not time that's totally off. It's time where you can cross train. It's time where you can, you know, Quinn Simmons is playing ice hockey at the moment.
Wonert's over in California playing basketball at the moment. It's a time when you can stay active, hike, do a bit of yoga, maybe bank a little bit of collateral with your significant other, like, you know, going and doing a yoga class, walks in the morning, hiking, extra walks with the dog. >> Go to those uh Saturday morning.
What are they? We never go to them. You know, the >> farmers markets.
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> I have even forgotten the name for them.
It's been so long since we've been to one. Do what normal people do. But I I think the thing is as well like we seen this uh last year one of the guys in road map I think he went ice skating and broke his leg >> like you on a stag.
>> Yeah. On a stag. >> Yeah.
Like you don't want to do that. >> That's literally a winter break. Excuse the pun.
>> Skiing would be an example of something I don't know if I would do in the off season if I was, you know, had big cycling goals. >> Yeah, I agree. Okay, so give us the breakdown of what it looks like dayto-day.
I think it's really just no structure. You don't want to be waking up for this 10day to 21 day period and checking your vector or your training peaks account to see what session is planned for the day. You're looking to have like a cognitive downtime as well.
And that's just like not the pressure of getting up. Like I've seen this getting back into training now, getting back into structure training for the past few weeks. It's very different waking up and having to train and choosing to train.
They're two different things. I was waking up for a long time looking out the window and going, "Oh, it's kind of cold. I won't train today.
" That's very mentally freeing when you don't have an expectation that you need to train every day. So, that's what we're looking for during it. We're not looking at metrics.
We're not looking at workouts, mileage targets, wattage targets, none of it. We're looking to just like move most days. gentle movement, hiking, walking, swimming, and yeah, that's that's really like my main thing is like take that break.
And if you wanted to go really a little bit nerdy on why we're taking the break, like we could debate the training peaks model, but the performance management chart where we have fitness and we have freshness and they kind of intersect to give us form. All season we're trying to build fitness, but with with that we're building a lot of fatigue. This is like a great opportunity to do a total fatigue reset.
Fatigue will reset a lot faster than fitness will reset. Now, it necessitates you letting go of a little bit of fitness to shed that fatigue, but you're not letting go of all your fitness. You're not starting from scratch again.
But you are letting go of a chunk of fitness that you want, but you'll build back higher. Don't worry. >> It's funny, isn't it?
Because you kind of think, "Oh my god, I'm going to get a winter break. This is going to be amazing. >> I don't have to get up before work and do a session for a couple of weeks.
" But people do really actually struggle with taking this and you'll hear people doing, you know, sneaky sessions and not telling their coach that they've been out for a 4-hour ride, all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, I don't know, maybe that's another psychological problem. >> Yeah, I I don't know.
People just get addicted to the to the endorphins and they get addicted to >> the calorie burn as well. They kind of feel like, oh, if I ride, I can eat a bit. >> I was just going to ask you about the food the food element of taking a big kind of winter break for three three weeks.
Look, I don't think you can hold race weight all year round. Uh, look, I don't think you should go. It's not as cycle is not as old school, even if you're an amateur as it used to be.
Like, you know, big Yan Olick and stuff. Uh, people have let us know in the comments what weight you used to get to, but he'd go on the piss eating pizza and burgers all winter, come back in January and start taking the weight off. And this was very typical for a lot of pro cyclists where they come into January in really bad shape, race their way through the springs, and then they'd be fit by maybe Jeralia in May.
M >> we don't really see that anymore. Cyclists hold closer to race weight all year round. >> Yeah.
I think professional sport I mean the most famous example that I always think of for is not in the cycling uh industry at all. It's Ricky Hatton the boxer who passed away sadly. >> He was crazy man for the Chippers and Points of Guinness.
I mean he would balloon in the offse and then would come back and shed it all within a matter of months. It was insane to see. But I think the professionals do tend to stay closer to that line all year round now, don't they?
>> Yeah, but there's definitely a bit of downtime like the I'm not sure if you watch that Vizma Lisa and Bike with WS off season. >> H I was watching on the trainer yesterday. It's good.
W's over in California and he's just doing rides and catching up with Red Bull and playing basketball and stuff, but he's at a basketball game and like he's eating burgers at the basketball game. >> Yeah. >> You know, W's not eating burgers in the middle of the season.
You know they're using I know they're using Athletes Kitchen >> and so everything is weighed, everything is measured all season. You were over for Lumberia with Visma Lisa bike. You know how dialed it is.
>> Every gram, every gram is counted for >> and W's arguably top not arguably he's one of the top five riders in the world. >> Uh so you know he's doing that to the nth degree and I think you know it's just an example where he is kind of slightly letting his hair down in the offseason. >> Okay.
So how do I know? We spoke about my kind of uh longer break, but really quickly, how do I know how much time to take for a winter break? I mean, how do you calculate that?
>> I think that 10 to 21 days is a good little marker. And then how cooked are you? You know, you went with three weeks, you came off bad lance, you were pretty cooked.
>> Yeah. >> You know, your fingers and your toes weren't working too well. So, some obvious indications you're pretty cooked.
Have you had a long season? You know, one of the young lads I'm coaching, Daniel had a long season. I don't know how many races he had, but like he raced basically twice, three times every week, all year.
There's a lot of travel. There's a lot of, you know, just mental fatigue with getting ready. Like, you're constantly getting ready, >> cleaning bike, getting ready for the next race, cleaning bike, getting ready for the next race.
So, yeah, that needs time to decompress. So, I think how long you take off as a function of how fatiguing the season was, both physically and mentally. You know, I'm genuinely proud of my little man cave, my [snorts] escape, my safe place.
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Building the better athlete in all of us. >> The next one we're going to talk about, I think, is something not a lot of people will know or think about the importance of. So the second piece I think that a lot of people skip on and this is like this kind of maybe came around as a result of Mark Cavendish.
It's dental checkups, dental hygiene checkups. I would have never thought about going to the dentist in the offseason. I only really go to the dentist if I have a problem with my teeth.
But Kavesh had a nightmare in the 2010 season. I think it was 2010. Maybe someone will correct me down below.
his whole winter training preparation was like ruined with dental problems. He couldn't train because of the pain in his teeth for like a good chunk of the winter and he was the best rider or the most winningest rider in the world at the time. Cavendish went into like La Prima Vera first race of the spring uh Milan San Ramo almost every year as favorite or one of the favorites because all he has to do is can he get over to Pio.
If he gets over to Pio, he's going to win. And I'm not even sure if he raced it that year. If he did, he had a stinker because his preparation was so bad all the way through winter.
He missed team training camps and he ended up having to get that surgery in the middle of the winter. So since then, most teams now insist on a full dental checkup for all their riders in the offseason. >> Yeah, makes sense.
I know for I know one person who always goes and get his gets his teeth checked. He's got the shiniest teeth in the whole pallet. You can see them from outer space.
Neil's polish, you know, he's at the front [gasps] and he all he can see is like his his teeth sticking out. >> This is true. [gasps] >> It's just something I've always noticed very different things.
>> His teeth are so white and large when he's like working really hard for uh Pogy and he's at the front of that train and he's kind of grimacing. Yeah. His teeth are they're extra >> because it's super like disruptive to your training.
Like it blasts up that you have a podcast on sympathetic nervous system. Like it blasts up your sympathetic inflammation. It wrecks your sleep.
It totally crushes your training adaptations. So in this new era of everything is controlled and cycling, it's just one of the things that people can control. So they go and they control it.
>> Yeah. I mean, if you're a regular rider like us, kind of coming back to normal people, you've got training, you've got work, you've got family, you've got a social life to try and, you know, squeeze in when you're training. >> Your social ro is your group ride.
>> That is we were just saying that this this week that my social life is the group spin. I That's terribly sad. Maybe we can get uh that cut out of the show, but it's true.
But when you when you've got so many things going on in your life, you do tend to ignore these routine checkups like going to the GP, get getting your bloods done, getting your prostate examined, all of these kind of fun things that every, you know, men in particular tend to push off like week after week after week. So, this is a good time, isn't it? This winter break to start scheduling these things.
A great example of this is h if anyone's listened to the podcast like a couple of years uh you'll remember obviously Sarah I had a small cut on my forehead when I met you I thought it was a small cut on my forehead and I kind of explained it as it sat right on the brow on my helmet line and I was like it's abrasion from the helmet just rubbing >> and it was like a small scab it wouldn't go away and it started out like really small like quarter the size of my fingernail >> and it gradually just got bigger and bigger and bigger and I ignored it for like maybe like 18 months and it just got bigger and bigger until I eventually went to the doctor with it. But >> yeah, but you went to your GP who I always call Dr. Nick from the Simpsons and he was like, "No, shout out to him.
Worst GP in the world." >> He's like, "It's grand. You're fine.
" And then about another six months later, we were like, "Okay, we got to get you to a specialist." >> Yeah. like why that hap not justifying my laziness here but it's like you're saying when you're balancing training around family around work the windows for getting this sort of stuff done are very small like I should have been addressing that in the off season and because I let it roll into the season now it's easy when you're super busy to just roll onto it'll be grand it'll be grand it'll be grand and eventually it ended up being like a benign skin cancer that I had to get operated on and I was off the bike for >> like a long time >> good good while I couldn't get a helmet on my is swoll short.
>> Oh, your whole your whole face is twice the size of it that it usually is. >> Where's a picture of a stick? >> I have to try and find those pictures.
I've tried to forget about that. It is funny though, isn't it? Because you're feeling fit, you're so active, and you have this healthy lifestyle, but we ignore those other things, you know, like exactly what you were speaking about.
The other thing I wanted to mention as well about teeth is all of the sugar that you eat as a cyclist. I mean, we're eating simple carbs, i.e.
sugar daily, even if it's in drink form, gel form, Haribo, wherever you like to get your carbs. So, you are exposing your teeth to a significant amount of sugar. So, I would say dental, definitely go and get that checked out.
>> But also, and just to finish off on this point before we move on to the next one, I don't think I would confine just dental like we're saying with me, that's like a medical screen. But some stuff I would definitely get done. It's dental, it's medical screen, and it's a full blood work because iron deficiency or even if you don't, you're not quite as far as deficiency, but you're just low on iron.
That's literally >> the easiest fix to gaining more power and more watts. Like I've seen riders add 150 watts onto their threshold by just fixing an iron deficiency. Like it's insane because you can't transport oxygen your in your blood if you don't have iron present.
So getting your bloods checked, especially if you're experiencing like symptoms of chronic fatigue all the time or low motivation or low libido, these are things that you need to get that checked for because that could be as simple as a proper supplementation routine and you're a totally different rider and person next season. >> But with with your libido when it's back up and running but that exactly that happened me again before I met you, I was feeling really fatigued. I actually almost felt depressed.
I was get really hard to get out of bed in the morning. Never mind the libidos. That was so far from the front of my mind.
And when I went to the doctor, I was like, I think I'm, you know, I'm depressed or something. And she did my iron and she's like, oh, you need to go to the hospital because your your iron is so low that you could give up. >> You're just depressed.
>> You'll be fine. [gasps] >> Okay. So, the next thing that we want to talk about, I did a full podcast on this years ago.
I'll try and link to it, but it's so many years ago. I can't imagine that the quality is very is very good. But this is all about reviewing the season that you had and then setting goals moving forward.
This is really important, isn't it? >> Yeah. I I think look, if we don't look where we've been, we're kind of doomed to repeat those mistakes as well.
Like it's a nice road map of what worked, what didn't that we can replicate. And that's why multi-year relationships with clients are always brilliant because you can go, you have the benefit of hindsight of going, we tried X, Y, and Zed and only X worked. Let's carry X forward and try two new things with that.
Some like it's not a cycling is not a one-sizefits-all for everybody, especially amateur athletes because their lives are so complex and so dynamic. But I think you could definitely have a really high level analysis of what went right, what went wrong, what's next and to try to keep it unemotional. And this doesn't need to be a massive manifest though.
like >> you're [clears throat] just jotting down wins like and I'm not talking >> like actual results but a result if you do have results in your thing like you for Badlands that you were super proud of the performance or rift >> going back and seeing what were the habits that led to those wins and documenting them. Maybe it's like a consistency streak, maybe it's new skills you learned in the run-up to it or processes that you nailed on the way. And similarly going back unemotionally and looking at Badlands and going what's the gaps here like was it a fitness problem?
Was it a missing skills problem? Was it adaptation to training? I think is the biggest one I see when I review this stuff with clients.
It's like yeah you can get 10 12 hours a week in as a parent running a business but maybe you'd be better off with nine hours a week and actually adapting to the training. Like you see sometimes the scatter I'm in to get on the bike to come back for a podcast to come back for a meeting whatever it is >> jumping on a flight. Sometimes you need to push through but also you need to look at this objectively and say sometimes actually be pulling back here and just ride a little bit less to give yourself more space for >> relaxing like your whole day can't be boom boom boom onto the next.
>> The goal is to get faster not just to complete training sessions. >> Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I think taking a kind of a critical look, not critical, crit critique, your have an honest conversation with yourself. I love that. And just jot it down.
And then what about goals then? Because this is actually something that I'm struggling with at the moment. The way that my brain works and what motivates me to get on the bike or get on the indoor trainer or go out when it's absolutely lashing rain is having something that terrifies me in the calendar a couple of months away.
And that speaks to me. I know I know that's not what works for everyone, but talk about goals and how to kind of set those or >> I think an interesting way to approach this and something I've just started playing around with like if you take your wins, you take what you didn't think worked, the gaps and you throw it all into AI >> and ask AI to evaluate the opportunities based on the wins and gaps. it'll suggest some opportunities for improvement on next year and taking like your current strengths with these opportunities then and looking at it and going as an follow-up prompt now based on if I successfully execute on these opportunities and maintain my current strengths what are some goals that are in reach for me I think that's an interesting way to look at it >> I just I try to jot down interesting races as well like I have notes on my phone every time I listen to a podcast and I hear an interesting race.
I'll jot that down. I know everyone gets kind of obsessed with the the race like our club at the moment. Everyone's kind of on a Badlands buzz after you coming back from bad.
>> Everyone's like Sarah did it. I can do it. It must be this easy.
>> And actually a lot of people didn't get in. [gasps] They started sending out the 4,000 applicants apparently. >> Oh wow.
Wow. >> So a lot of people didn't get in to Badlands, but there's loads of cool events out there. So, I'd be looking at that sort of I'll call it a new way of assessing versus what I would have typically done the old way of assessing like one just talking to writers and going like what interests you?
What excites you? What do you like? >> What would you think would just be so cool?
Because it's your story. It's a blank page. If you were the author of this story and you're the hero in it now, like what's a really cool story that you want to write?
Yeah. >> Come up with a list of events based on those two. And then to add a third layer to that trifecta, I would lean into data then as well and say, "Okay, well, what are your strengths and weaknesses relative to your peers, >> you know, for you, you don't love going [snorts] up hills, so maybe if we're to look back at Badlands, it's like we picked a very hilly target.
" Yes. >> I think you had a lot more fun at Rifts because it's a flatter race and you won your age group there as a result. >> So, it's like looking around at that >> kind of trifecta, I'll call it.
>> Yeah. I see it's a balance, isn't it, of okay, I want to sign up for things and have goals [snorts] that already align with my strengths and I want to get stronger at those, but then I also what's really interesting is getting better at stuff that I'm a little bit crap at at the moment. So, it's kind of like balancing those, isn't it?
And >> yeah, but like you don't want to lean like you don't need to lean too much into getting better at your like, you know, you're 5 foot 10. You're actually 6 foot. You claim to be 5 foot 10.
>> I'm 5'10. >> But you know, you're never going to be a 48 kg Colombian climber. So it's like you could look at Yasper Philipsson and say, okay, what he needs to get better at like climbing.
>> Why are we trying to get the fastest man in the world better at climbing? >> But look at this as well. like the Ben Healey interview that we released a couple of days ago, you and him actually spoke about this in so far as is he going to be working on his sprint?
And he was like, well, like a little bit. I'm always trying to improve everywhere, but it's a balance. I I'm I'm not a sprinter.
Yes, I need to have a faster finish, but climbing is kind of what I'm what I do. So, yeah, I totally get that. I take your point, but yeah, it is a personal thing, isn't it?
Goals. >> Yeah. Yeah.
And I think like they can also split down into different types as well where like you know you have an outcome goal. I want to finish top 10 in X race. You have a performance goal.
I want to hit 250 watts for my 20 minute power. I'm always skeptical of those ones cuz like why like >> why are we trying to hit 20 minutes? Because often it's like if you want to get better at 20-minute efforts just do more 20-minute efforts.
>> Exactly. >> I think performance goals should fit more into outcome goals. I'm not even a huge fan of if I'm setting with an athlete.
I'm not even a huge fan of an outcome goal. I prefer to have an outcome goal set like you with bad lands so we're directionally correct but once we know where we're sailing then it's back to process. >> Yeah.
>> And you can almost forget about that and it's about coming back and going let's get through today. Let's get through this week. Let's get through this block.
>> One of my big goals I'm going to put it out here on the podcast is to stick with the fast group on the Saturday spin at some stage this year. That is has been a goal of mine for a long time now. And yeah, I'd love to kind of pull that one out of the bag.
It's even a tricky goal, isn't it? Cuz it's like >> it depends who shows up. >> That's the thing.
It's like you're benchmarking your goal against other people that show up. It's like >> Yeah. Like I know that there's certain people who show up and I'm obviously not going to stay at the front, but I would love to be able to hang in there until like the big climb and stuff.
So, for me, that would be a huge huge kind of thing going big pat on the back if I got to do that. The next thing and I this is something that I avoid like the plague because I feel like I don't test very well. I get very nervous.
You put a you put a an FTP test and you actually don't do this. Put testing in for me anymore. You just kind of review my files and and figure out kind of where I am based on that.
But testing testing your V2 max retesting your zones. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah, I think this is this is changing slightly with the move from threshold power up to critical power.
Critical power has some kind of adaption built into it based on previous sessions so it starts sliding. Testing's like in the offse to reset zone something that a lot of people really like. I never loved the idea.
It's like okay I've had 21 days off the bike. I know I'm going bad >> now. I'm going to jump on and I'm going to start the season like with no morale, no motivation, no momentum.
I think I like a more common sense approach to setting zones where we're like we're going to do a little bit of two, three weeks getting the body back moving and then we can retest and we can reestablish zones for that first period. >> Yeah. Now, if someone's coming in new, I do like to test them straight away because I don't have a data point to set zones.
But once we get over that kind of training to train phase, >> it depends on it really. I hate the answer, it depends. It's so like you get nothing from it.
But if I'm bringing an athlete in and they're going through a reverse periodization phase for me. So that means they're starting a four-week sprint block, then a four-week V2, four-week threshold block, which is like a typical structure of bring a working athlete through because it just fits so like there's so much good data around periodization, but it also fits so well with the working athletes lifestyle that the days start getting longer as your sessions start getting longer. But I like to test sprint power at the start of a sprint block and sprint power at the end of a sprint block.
It just feels really tangible then. It's like, hey, I done a four-week sprint block and look, the improvements there to see. I done a four-we V2 block.
The improvements there to see. >> People like to go into the lab, they like to have V2 max tests. I've never been a huge fan.
I've just seen so much poor data on someone going into labs because they just get this like lab anxiety, especially if you don't test there, right, >> very often. There's like you have a mask on, you've strangers there, you've people prodding your fingers, your heart rate's elevated before you go there. You're kind of building it up as an event.
I think the new like of a full podcast with Alex Wailbborne on this which is worth going into if you're moving over to the vector model of testing critical power. I think the critical power testing model is a good one or you can still go old school Joe for real which I still do with most of my clients and test off a standard 20-minute test. >> Okay.
And you mentioned the lactate step test there at the m like is >> I've never been a fan of lactate tests. Well, >> because you do talk about the inflection LT1 and LT2 a lot in the podcast. So, >> yeah, it depends on who the conversation is with.
>> Okay. >> But [snorts and clears throat] like it I see like you know the typical bro Science dudes on Instagram will do lactate tests >> and they're like no it's the only accurate way to you know measure zones and then I'll have a conversation on the podcast with like one of the best coaches in the world like Olaf Bu >> I don't know his standpoint on lactate tests. No, but he's he's more of a kind of not old school, but I don't think he does a lot of the super technical stuff, does he?
>> Um, not sure, but I definitely for sure remember Olaf Buu doesn't like lactate tests. And his reason being that it's super hard to get clean data from a lactate test. >> Okay, >> that he said it's the easiest test to contaminate.
And then he calls this an up a bad upstream data point. And I love this idea because if you take a bad upstream data point, now you have cascading bad downstream data points. Now you're you're misjudging training load.
You're misjudging fatigue. You're misjudging recovery scores. So like if he's not doing lactate tests, you know, I'm not doing them.
Like I don't think I have a superior skill level >> to Olaf >> to Olaf. So, no. And again, he's not the only one, but he's the only one that I know I'm not going to rip misrepresent this opinion because it it sticks in my mind.
Vasillus and you know, Steven Sailor, I'm sure, have thoughts on it, but I just can't quite remember exactly what they are. >> Okay, so let's move on then from the testing and talk about something that I have to confess I have been skipping and that is my strength and mobility training. And I know that this is prime time in the winter to be getting stuck into this.
>> Yeah, look, I've gone through a little bit of a rock a rocky period with my uh strength condition for the last couple of weeks. Just with travel, I found it super hard to manage the different schedule and my strength and condition. Like I've been pretty solid on figuring out how to get my bike sessions in, being creative around like we're going to, you know, can we tell everyone where we're going on Sunday?
We're going to Monaco to do an interview with Froom. Uh by the time this comes out, you know, we'll be >> this going out Friday. Yeah, we're going Sunday.
So that's cool. >> So send us uh some Instagram if you have any questions for him. Yeah, >> that'll be cool.
The F dog >> going full long form. Joe Rogan style >> in Monaco. Excuse me.
Let's go and get my hair and my nails done before I go. >> So I've been bad with that sort of thing. Like going to Monaco, I'll figure out how to get sessions in, but I haven't been good on the road.
about that figuring out how to get the strength conditioning in. And Arto Connor, who's helped me with my strength conditioning, is going to kill me for that. But I promise once I get back now from Monaco, I'm going to get a good run at consistently being at home or a good training environment and I won't neglect it because I know how important it is.
And you know, we have those podcasts with Arto Connor where like he lays out exactly how important it is for me. >> And the main thing he's taught me about strength and conditioning is >> don't get injured. Yeah.
>> Like cycling's dangerous. We do mad stuff from cyclross to gravel to ultra races in the middle of the night. It's dangerous enough.
Don't get injured in the gym just trying to go >> more more more weight. >> Leave your ego at the door 100%. >> So if you are going into strength and conditioning, I think it is important.
We have a really good strength conditioner plan. You might link it below, but there's loads of other good strength conditioner plans out there. Arto Connor is another great resource for any of his stuff or our old podcasts podcasts on it.
Like there's you it's not too dissimilar to your training like you have phases to your strength and conditioning as well and you have goals within each of those phases like I haven't really got out of that train to train phase for my strength conditioner where I almost need to revisit that >> still in the general general strength phase and we've been in that for a long time. >> Yeah. So like you got to get to that point over the winter where you can get two gym sessions per week.
And this is like again it's back to that actual what we talked about there from Olaf Bu. It's upstream. So you got to be super clear on what you're optimizing for.
So if you're optimizing for like if you're a world tour rider listening to this podcast right now and you're optimizing for high performance, brilliant. If you're an Olympic athlete optimizing for performance, brilliant. But just know that downstream from performance isn't always health.
>> Exactly. >> You don't always make the healthiest decisions when you're putting everything on the table to go for performance. >> I think most of us should be optimizing for health.
And downstream of that is performance. Maybe not to the same degree, but strength and conditioning. I think it works for cycling.
The data is pretty good to support that. The data is unequivocal in it works for anti-aging. It works for longevity.
It works for bone density. It works for posture. It works for just looking better.
It works for being better when you hit the ground bouncing a bit better. It's just all around a good idea. >> So, two sessions I would say is minimum effective dose a week >> maybe as we experienced the kind of the gain seem to happen on that third session.
>> Yeah, I agree. And I'm not going to get bulky. I mean, I think this is like a really something cyclists who their weight is so kind of important and at the forefront of their minds when we talk about performance, it takes so long to put on bulk in the gym or even to be lifting super heavy.
I mean, we're not talking about doing that. It's more to go in and, you know, improve to a certain point. You don't have to get jacked on steroids and, you know, start screaming into the mirror at yourself at the gym.
It's literally just going kind of for health. Okay, I think that's very much doable. The very last one then, Anthony, and this actually really surprised me when I saw it on the list because I'd never really thought of it.
And that is to go and get a bike fit, which is a little bit confusing because it feels like, okay, I've spent the entire year on my bike. I feel super comfortable on it. So, why would I bother working out for a bike fit?
>> Yeah. Like you most likely don't have wear the same dress or the same suit jacket or same suit pants all year round. Like you grow, your body changes shape.
Your elasticity, your muscles changes with training. They change with age. And it's good to revisit that because you're putting a lot of repetitive motion into the pedals.
So a millimeter out for some people it can be the difference. I've had to spend a bit of time with uh Phil Burke recently who I've had on the podcast. He's the old team Sky British cycling bike fitter and we're going to travel over and do a really cool podcast and >> [snorts] >> uh bike fit section with him in Manchester hopefully in December at some point.
But one of the things that Phil Bert has been talking about to me is like we have these macroabsorbers. Some people aren't affected by bike and >> Oh yeah, that's you. >> It hasn't annoyed me too much in the past.
Like I jump on our Wahoo Zift bike to do a session like last week and I didn't even notice that your saddle height was on it for like two hours. It just it's not something that bother me. But some people are very very sensitive to even a centimeter, a millimeter in cleat change, handlebar height, anything like that.
And if you are one of those people and you're growing and you're shifting throughout the course of the season, it is a good idea to revisit it once a year. Since getting back into training, the biggest thing that's hit me isn't fitness, it's fueling. I used to finish rides totally wrecked.
I'd come through the door, collapse on the couch, scroll through Instagram, and call it recovery. But now that I'm actually fueling properly, and that's anywhere from 80 to 120 grams of carbs an hour, depending on the session, it's a completely different story. I'm coming home from training feeling fresh, and my power data throughout the ride supports this.
I can actually function when I get off the bike. It's honestly blown me away how big a difference that proper fueling makes. When I started fueling, right, I realized just how good I could actually feel on the bike.
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I'm going to put the link in the description down below. >> And what about indoors? I mean, we should have our indoor bike exactly like you mentioned the Wahoo, but we should have that to the exact specifics of our bike fit and our outdoor bike because I got on the indoor bike last week or the week before and when I got off my shoulders were completely cooked just because I haven't dialed it in like I should have.
>> Should it be identical? Uh >> I I don't I'm going to say I don't know. Like >> I would say yeah, but I also don't I also wouldn't be sure cuz we obviously have different >> like I can give you slightly different pedal stroke dynamics on the indoor bike.
I also think you get out of the saddle a lot less on the indoor bike. Whether that affects I'd have to defer to Phil Borton and back on to maybe answer that. We do >> and maybe somebody in the comments will have had experience with this.
Yeah, I think that's a that's actually a really interesting question. Another one we're playing around with at the moment is the Wahoo rollers, which Phil was telling me is really interesting data on the Wahoo rollers if you're suffering for saddle sores because the Wahoo rollers have you clamped at the front now, which is really cool. Like when I had the podcast conversation with Lackla Morton, I was asking his favorite piece of kit and he's like the Wahoo rollers because you can jump up with any bike, but it clamps the front of the bike.
where Phil's been saying it's really interesting as well, especially for girls. >> You there's a lot less pressure on the saddle area and that is giving a lot less saddle sores. It's given a lot less discomfort and it's allowing people that suffer from that sort of pressure to ride much longer indoors without feeling that pressure.
So, that's really interesting >> because that's a huge problem for me. I mean, anyone who's listened to the podcast knows that this is an ongoing issue that I'm having and it's one of the main reasons that we're heading over to Phil so he can help sort out my saddle sore issues which are reoccurring and very nasty. But it's a real trigger, you know, when I get on the indoor bike.
It's huge for me. And that's actually really interesting just to like bring people a little bit inside this and we I don't have all the details on and we'll do with the podcast with Phil but the the way he explained it to me was the technology from prosthetics like when people are wearing prosthetics and I know a little bit about this from my time on the parolympic team and getting to see some of the guys loading up their prosthetics. Prosthetics have a silicone uh section around it to stop friction between the prosthetic and the limb.
They've taken that silicone technology now and they're building shammies out of it. And so he's building custom shammis for a lot of the female riders who are suffering from saddle sores. >> Yeah.
>> So, and you're getting a custom shammy on this. But I think it's really interesting for girls listening that are suffering from saddle sores that that is an option that it's not an off the stock shammy isn't your only option. >> And it's not normal.
So, it's funny because I've been quite open about saddle sores and I've so many women who come up and chat to me about their journey with saddle sores and how they just feel like there's no end to this plight. And again, we'll cover this in more detail as we go get get our content done with Phil Burp, but we sent a video of me on the indoor trainer uh riding my bike and he could immediately see one of the reasons why I was getting saddle sores. And this is all very fixible stuff.
It's not just part of the sport. Girls, listen up. Like, you should not be in agony.
Every time you go out on the bike and getting these reoccurring saddle sores. So, watch the space because we are going to be doing uh a lot of podcast and content around that. It's something that I'm really, really passionate about.
[snorts] >> Thanks for tuning in, folks. I hope you enjoyed this sort of guide to your winter training. If you did enjoy this, there is another video up here which is five fixable reasons your heart rate is high.
Definitely more essential winter train and viewing. Hope you enjoyed. Catch you next one.