79 episodes

Host Dirk Friel, Co-founder of TrainingPeaks, talks with expert guests about endurance training and racing topics. We’ll explore coaching methodologies, compelling research and leading tools that can benefit sport performance for coaches and athletes.

To learn more about how TrainingPeaks can help your training goals, visit us at trainingpeaks.com.

TrainingPeaks CoachCast TrainingPeaks

    • Sports
    • 4.4 • 56 Ratings

Host Dirk Friel, Co-founder of TrainingPeaks, talks with expert guests about endurance training and racing topics. We’ll explore coaching methodologies, compelling research and leading tools that can benefit sport performance for coaches and athletes.

To learn more about how TrainingPeaks can help your training goals, visit us at trainingpeaks.com.

    Dynamic Loading, Physiological Testing and Effective Range with Gordo Byrn

    Dynamic Loading, Physiological Testing and Effective Range with Gordo Byrn

    In this episode, Gordo Byrn explains the importance of base training, which he defines as "the ability to move for the duration of your goal event." Highlighting that athletes should focus on building general capacity before moving on to specific capacity training. He believes that many endurance athletes make the mistake of focusing too much on specific capacity training and not enough on general capacity training, which can lead to overtraining and injury.
    Byrn has been called the Tony Robbins in a Speedo because he is a self-help guru and an ex-pro IRONMAN athlete with seven sub-nine-hour IRONMAN finishes. Byrn is also a past winner of the Ultraman triathlon in Kona, Hawaii. He is a coach and author of the book "Going Long." He has taken about a decade off to focus on his family and is now focusing on being fit after 50. Still, the lessons he shares in the episode apply to any athlete at any age.
    Listen in as Bryn and Dirk Friel also discuss the importance of recovery and adaptation. Breaking down how Byrn uses a "5:2" training approach in combination with physiological testing to ensure he and his athletes get the most out of training and a readiness test he performs each morning and night to determine how his body manages the training load to dynamically guide subsequent workouts. 

    • 1 hr 10 min
    Manaslu and Ultrarunning at 75 with David Babbitt and Coach Land Heintzberger

    Manaslu and Ultrarunning at 75 with David Babbitt and Coach Land Heintzberger

    David Babbitt is an American ultrarunner living in Nepal and racing some of the most difficult multi-stage races on the planet. He's doing this at age 75. With the help of his long-time coach, Land Heintzberger, the duo have focused on core training basics to keep David in races and finishing faster than many younger competitors.
    Babbitt completed the seven-day Manaslu Mountain Trail Race, which covers 122 miles, 35,000 feet of elevation gain and tops out at 17,000 feet above sea level. He finished in 41 hours and was nowhere near being in last place.
    Listen in as Dirk Friel talks with Babbitt about his journey from cycling and inline skating to World Championship duathlons and ultrarunning. Plus, how Heintzberger has advised Babbitt for almost 10 years on load management and recovery after connecting through the TrainingPeaks Coach Match program.

    • 50 min
    The Habits to Running Healthy and Lifelong with Coach Amanda Brooks

    The Habits to Running Healthy and Lifelong with Coach Amanda Brooks

    Listen in as Amanda Brooks and Dirk talk pre-hab, fueling as an aging runner, perimenopause and menopause and how she prescribes intensity even to those 60 and 70+ runners.
    Amanda Brooks is a running coach and author who has helped many runners achieve their goals. She is a perpetual blogger and author of several books, including "Run to the Finish: The Everyday Runner's Guide," and has contributed to several publications, including Runner's World and Women's Health.
    She focuses her coaching and leadership on those runners regardless of pace. She understands that most runners do not dedicate all their free time to training like elites and pros. And she works to guide her athletes to continue to run injury-free and for as long as possible. 

    • 42 min
    NVDM's Secrets to Training Triathletes with Natasha van der Merwe

    NVDM's Secrets to Training Triathletes with Natasha van der Merwe

    Originally from South Africa, founder, CEO and head coach Natasha van der Merwe has built a unique coaching business in Austin, Texas. 
    NVDM Coaching has seen explosive growth over the last two years, and while catering to athletes of all abilities, many have gone on to win age groups or podium spots in a number of Ironman races. Van der Merwe and her coaching staff have also developed a special knack for helping athletes build a lifestyle around their sport through careful training management, testing and periodization.
    Listen in as she and Dirk Friel dive into training methodologies, tips for success and how pulling back the focus from race results to personal development leads to better athletes. 
    Quoted:
    "The last year [of my career] was my best year because I was after personal development. I wasn't after race results anymore. I was after, "How could I be the best athlete, and what did that look like?" And then, in turn, I saw myself becoming the best person and the best coach. And so we try to kind of hit that early on."

    • 44 min
    How Zone 2 Biochemistry Powers Athletes' Biomechanical Energy with Iñigo San Millán

    How Zone 2 Biochemistry Powers Athletes' Biomechanical Energy with Iñigo San Millán

    Dr. Iñigo San Millán is a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, performing clinical and research work in cellular metabolism, especially in diabetes, cardiometabolic disease and cancer. He has been testing and coaching world-class endurance athletes for over 25 years. He is also the Head of Performance for the professional cycling team UAE, where he is the personal coach of two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar. 
    San Millán's focus for his athletes is training the biochemical systems to empower the biomechanical systems. Using lactate and heart rate as the guiding biomarkers, he has developed protocols to train various energy systems for the best performance possible. 
    Listen in as Dirk Friel asks for details on how these systems work, when a Zone 2 ride is no longer a Zone 2 ride and how to train effectively on only 10 hours per week.  

    • 1 hr 1 min
    Training for World-Class Skimo and a Leadville MTB 100 Podium with John Gaston

    Training for World-Class Skimo and a Leadville MTB 100 Podium with John Gaston

    Though coming to the sport later than most, John Gaston is the current U.S. National Ski Mountaineering champion and has won multiple prestigious U.S. events, including the Audi Power of Four 10 times. He is arguably the country's best ski mountaineering, or skimo racer, and competes on the world stage in the winter. 
    During the summer, Gaston mountain bikes the trails near his home in Aspen to maintain fitness and revel in the high alpine environment. In August, he placed second overall at the Leadville 100 mountain bike race, ahead of a stacked field of the world's top professional cyclists. 
    Listen in as Gaston reveals his training philosophy to compete at the world-class level in two different sports, balancing a growing family with running an apparel brand and the potentially limited future of elite-level skimo in the U.S.

    • 49 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
56 Ratings

56 Ratings

Amanda24TN ,

Always a Great Way to Learn More

Thanks Dirk for sharing information that is so usable for me and my athletes with whom I work with as a Functional Medicine MD for athletes. Franklin, TN

BooVT ,

Interesting info, but poor sound quality

Maybe it’s just me but the guest volume is very low with poor sound quality and the interviewer is very loud with good sound quality. It is rather annoying.

njl1 ,

Polarized training saved my cycling life!

Episode 9. After listening to Steven Seiler (on this and other podcasts) as well as Steve Neil (on another podcast) my cycling life has avoided recurrent over training & burnout phases. I started cycling about four years ago using TrainerRoad; HIT sessions were great at first but I soon realized that the method TR offered was biased toward selling their HIT product. Their advice devolved into distracted babbling.
It led to recurrent overtraining with decreased performance which was demotivating. Now with Polarization in my training I continue to improve and feel great. I only wish TrainingPeaks would offer an app to view and perform workouts (from workout-builder) on an iPad. I could finally drop my TR account! Please.

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