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To celebrate a half million podcast listens, we roast some of the earliest training plans Kolie wrote almost a decade ago. We get into lessons learned and how the coaching has changed, changing training fads, working with natural talents, and listener questions on "the science", impactful events, and advice for new coaches.
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To celebrate 400,000 podcast listens, we answer your questions submitted in the Empirical Cycling Instagram stories. We discuss high and low volume training and progressive overload, 3 things every cyclist should do, low CHO training, FRC for mountain bikers, supplements for athletes, our best non-empirical cycling advice, and much more. The full questions list is available on the website.
Show Notes If everything boils down to volume then why do I want to end endurance rides higher than I started with? Vs going harder than I should for the time. And finishing weak at the end. Time on the bike would be the same because the route gets decided before walking out the door. E.g. intervals or group ride then endurance riding. Listened to the Rich Roll Norwegian tri pod? Thoughts? Are you their coach with the pen name? How true is it that fasted training “teaches your body to use more fats”? What’s the connection between a long anaerobic effort (>60”) and the use of oxygen in vo2max Track sprint: any value in double days (gym morning, track evening) for general adaptation? Generally not? 1 change that mr lockwood made to get better No question, just looking forward to the 420.60k ama Block or linear periodization pros and cons? It’s ok to split z2 work time in two when short on time… same with tempo/sst/threshold? <5h a week to ride, what to do More mitochondria and larger surface area are two different adaptations? Favorite watch? Is it a seiko? When you talk about 30h/wk cycling, can that be replaced by other sports? How do pros progressively overload? They are already at max volume? Would you rather: sprints 3x/week before a crit or set next ftp block with ramp test? Name 3 things that every cyclist should do Congrats! What would you do differently if you had to start the podcast over? After 400k listens you have a good idea of questions asked. Your best training advice to us? How much more focus would you give FRC work for a mountain biker vs roadie? Yes or no: American road cycling is dead Agree/disagree: if you’re not a competitive power lifter, stay away from straight bar deadlifts What is meant by “hitting my openers” in cycling? Who you got beef with in the coaching world? & research world? Hot take: surges only suck when you’re not a sprinty boy or gal? What something you are constantly questioning about your own training methods What’s your sports science/coaching holy grail you wish you could figure out before you die? What can negative decoupling during an endurance ride mean? Time for you and Kyle to bring on athletic greens. It’s not selling out, topics can get more geeky Inigo and Rx of intervals after z2 being optimal. Fact, fiction, or just optimal for race specificity After A event how many weeks off the bike before getting back into things. Motivation is high! Thoughts on low CHO aerobic training accentuating pgc1a translocation and activation? BFR for aerobic adaptations? some research coming out with increased vo2max Your top 5 contributors to exercise phys research? Can be applied, mechanistic, etc No question but thanks for shaming me into resting and riding easy What is your best non-empirical cycling advice? Is there any point to protein supplements for endurance athletes with balanced diets? Bonus Track: Kyle explains Poynting vectors!
Can we really replace volume with intensity? We discuss the dos and don'ts of training on low volume, time crunched training, the principles that should guide you, and some tips to make sure the training time is being maximized. We touch on whether you should plan via TSS, how many hard days per week, polarized vs pyramidal and sweetspot, why and how RPE is incredibly useful, and more. Plus we answer your questions from Kolie's Instagram!
Kolie spent yet another year on Instagram (@empiricalcycling) answering questions in the stories for 51 out of 52 weeks to add a bright interlude to doom scrolling. This podcast contains 32 questions under the topics training intensity, periodization, adaptation, and general. Timestamps for the headings are below.
Show Notes Timestamps (approximate) for question groupings. Intensity related: ~2min
Podcast listeners voted on our topic to celebrate 200k listens! In this purely editorial episode, we list our top 5 best and worst workouts, discuss what makes them good or bad, and how one might fix them. On the lists are ramp tests, group rides, using FTP as an anchor intensity, all out efforts, and many more.
In this episode we answer questions asked on Instagram and r/velo. The podcast isn't dead!
Show Notes Episode questions to be published soon. Kit images! Email or DM if you're interested. 
To wrap up 2020, we went through all the questions asked for Kolie's weekend story AMAs and picked our favorites to expand on. The list of questions are in the show notes on the website, in order of appearance.
Show Notes 1. What was the most pivotal moment where your (you, Kolie) philosophy around coaching changed? What precipitated the change and why did it make such an impact? How did it create different results for your athletes? 2. Most overlooked “low hanging fruit” training? Most hyped marginal gain training? 3. How important is regular blood testing, and what should you get tested for? 4. Best single metric to track the short term regular progression of increased stroke volume? 5. Where does fat oxidation during cycling originate? Closest fat cell? 6. Is it true that becoming more fat adapted retards your body’s ability to use carbs? 7. Discuss balance between lactate production and combustion (aerobic/anaerobic) 8. How long does a sweetspot interval need to be relative to FTP TTE for maximum effectiveness? 9. Effect of increased muscle mass on FTP/VO2 for simplicity all other things equal 10. What’s the minimum time in z2 to promote adaptation? 11. Is there any significant difference in doing z2 at the top vs bottom of your “zone”? 12. What percentage of FTP do you consider z2 and how important to stay in range when training it? 13. How to keep my strength gains achieved this off season while shifting priorities to cycling? 14. Aerobic = long but also short + hard for 4-7min above anaerobic threshold = max aerobic. How? 15. Is there any truth to the endo/meso/ecto morph stuff? 16. What’s the most underrated training tip or strategy most people miss? 17. I know you’re all about #watts but do you have thoughts on HRV for measuring fitness? 18. Is there a benchmark number a cyclist should be shoot for for squats? 19. Any tips for recovery weeks apart from sleep? I always seem to come back flat.
To celebrate 100k podcast listens, we asked for questions on r/velo and we got some great ones! This is a wide ranging and fun episode that covers how Kolie and Kyle feel about steady z3 rides, whether anaerobic capacity or FTP is the limiter, a few controversial training opinions, lifting, sprinting, the indoor equivalent to outdoor, and many other things.
Today we discuss the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on cyclists. We start with basic virology and why it's through this understanding that we recommend even healthy people take extreme precautions. Then address group rides, and things to consider for your current training or re-planning your 2020 season for races that may or may not happen.
Show Notes Background on corona viruses https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-019-1182-0 How long COVID-19 lives on various surfaces https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/20/sars-cov-2-survive-on-surfaces/ Homemade masks, efficacy and breathability https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258525804_Testing_the_Efficacy_of_Homemade_Masks_Would_They_Protect_in_an_Influenza_Pandemic Analysis of early outbreak in Lombardia https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.09320 |
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