For the unacclimated endurance athlete heat can be a massive hindrance. During exercise in the heat our performance decreases with the increase in our body temperature! There are numerous ways to help limit this performance decrease such as training in a heat chamber, training outdoors in hot climates, hot water immersion, sauna usage and interestingly,…
Quite often, at this time of year, domestic riders will take flight to warmer climates and longer climbs. Be this using up some of your annual leave or coinciding your training camp with holidays from school or college this is a valuable training tool and when used correctly can kickstart your season in an…
It’s that time of year again. The leaves are covering the roads, there’s a chill in the air, the club WhatsApp is gaining more and more traction (or annoyance) for groups getting together on the weekend. Winter training has started, we’re about to set the foundations for what will come next year. Frankly a lot…
The UCI Europe Tour is a ferociously competitive world. This is the breeding ground for the vast majority of talent that goes on to graduate into the professional continental ranks and onwards to world tour, the level is high and the racing plenty. For this feature we’re going to take an athlete we work with…
The purpose of periodization is to maximize training overload while bettering the stress:recovery relationship¹.This is shown in the image below. Before we begin we should state that the evidence base for effective periodization approaches is thin and possibly unreliable due to the high level of individual variability and the accumulation of “non-sport” stress such…