Sound familiar? It’s not always about fitness. Often, it’s about how long you can hold onto your fitness once fatigue sets in. That’s where fatigue resistance, or durability, comes into play.

What Is Fatigue Resistance?

Fatigue Resistance, or sometimes referred to as “durability,” is your ability to produce power after you’re already tired. Not just at the start of a ride or in a lab test, but deep into an effort. After hours in the saddle, with thousands of kilojoules (kJ) burned.

Imagine two riders with identical 1-minute and 20-minute power values. One can hit those numbers after a long day, while the other fades. That’s the difference fatigue resistance makes.

How WKO5 Visualizes Fatigue Resistance

WKO5 takes this concept a step further by plotting your Power Duration Curve after a specific energy expenditure, usually measured in kJ. 

Check out the graphs below. The red line represents your standard, fresh power duration curve and the green line depicts your power duration curve after 1,500 kJ of work.  

Athlete 1: Poor Fatigue Resistance

For this rider, the green line is significantly below the red. The rider loses 35% of their 1-minute power after 1,500 kj and even more for other power durations. While they’re strong with fresh legs, they begin to fall apart later in the race. 

Athlete 2: Strong Fatigue Resistance

This cyclist’s graphs show much better fatigue resistance. The green line tracks closely with the red for this rider. They retain most of their power deep into the ride, making them more dangerous in late-race scenarios. As an example, this rider loses 9% of their 1-minute power after 1,500 kj.

What If You Don’t Use WKO5?

You can still estimate your fatigue resistance using TrainingPeaks. A practical method is to perform a full-effort test after you’ve burned a set amount of energy, typically around 1,500 kJ, which is a common benchmark.

Assuming you average around 170 watts (≈600 kJ/hour), this means doing the test about 2.5 hours into your ride. At that point, perform a 1-minute all-out effort on a hill—ideally the same segment each time.

Then compare this result to your all-time best 1-minute power:

• <5% drop = very good
  
• 5–10% drop = good
  
• 10–15%+ drop = average
  
• <1% drop = elite/pro level
  

This simple method gives you a good proxy for fatigue resistance without advanced software. You can do the same tests for different power durations and different Kj thresholds. 

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How to Train and Improve Fatigue Resistance

Improving fatigue resistance isn’t about pushing harder when you’re fresh, it’s about teaching your body to perform when it’s already worn down. This means simulating the demands of racing: long durations, high energy expenditure, and key efforts late in the ride.

Here are a few effective training methods:

• Fatigue-Prime Intervals –  This method mirrors late-race demands when the body is tired.
  • Ride 2 – 3 hours at endurance pace (~65–75% FTP) to accumulate 1,000–1,500 kJ.
  • Complete a 1-minute max sprint.
  • Follow with  2 – 4 intervals at 90–95% of that fatigued sprint power. 
• Add Threshold or VO2max Efforts – After a long ride, adding threshold or VO2max efforts helps to build sustained power under fatigue.
  • 2.5 hour endurance block.  
  • Finish with 2×12 minutes at 95–100% FTP.
• Hard-Finish Endurance Ride – Adding late sprints or surges offers excellent race realism.
  • Ride 3 – 4 hours at Z2.
  • Finish with 20 – 30 minutes at threshold or sweet spot. 
• Race Simulations – For advanced training, include race simulations.
  • Option 1: Start your ride steady and strong and finish with a hard, chaotic 30 minutes. 
  • Option 2: Back-to-back training days with tempo work one day and late efforts the next. 

At ProCyclingCoaching, we look at your fatigue resistance data and build intervals accordingly. You can read more about how we built intervals in this article. 

Don’t overlook fueling, which can impact your fatigue resistance significantly. Try to take in 40 – 90g of carbs per hour during long rides and recover well afterwards to support adaptation. 

Final Thoughts: Power When It Matters

Your best power doesn’t matter much if you can’t use it when it counts.

Fatigue resistance separates riders who simply survive from those who make selections, attack late, or win. Whether you’re a weekend racer or a serious competitor, training this quality can give you a competitive edge most riders overlook.

Start building it. Start tracking it.

And next time you line up, you won’t just be strong, you’ll be strong when it matters most.

The post Race Stronger, Longer: How to Build Fatigue Resistance appeared first on TrainingPeaks.

Whether you’re running the 10k or the 100-mile, the races cover iconic trails at high-altitude Rocky Mountain terrain, which is no easy feat. Set yourself up for success for your race with these tips to prepare for the altitude, heat, and distance.

Training: Find the Right Training Plan for You

Training plans can keep you accountable, on track, and able to reach your goals. The right training plan for you is tailored to your specific event, provides additional support, and allows you to track race readiness, fatigue, and more. 

Boundless Coaching, another Leadville Race Series Sponsor, specializes in endurance coaching for all athletes of all levels and provides race-specific training plans for all Leadville races. 

Boundless Coaching “encourages athletes to chase big, bold, even scary goals—not just for the finish line, but for what the journey does for the rest of their lives.”

“Training for Leadville often inspires better sleep, healthier habits, improved focus, and even better parenting, thanks to the clarity and calm that training brings. Leadville is truly special, and I’m incredibly honored to have both raced it and coached athletes in this amazing community,” says Ryan Krol, coach and owner of Boundless Coaching. 

Common Questions Regarding Training Plans

We reached out to the team at Boundless Coaching and asked them a few questions for more insight into the benefits of training plans and how to determine which one is best for you. 

Q1: How do you know if you need a training plan? What are the benefits of having a training plan?

A training plan is like having a roadmap to success. It allows you to show up on race day with confidence, knowing you’ve put in the work and followed a proven path that has led many athletes to that coveted finisher’s buckle. 

With challenging and long events like those in the Leadville Race Series, it’s common to feel anxious or unsure if you’re doing enough. A well-structured plan removes that doubt—it provides clarity, consistency, and peace of mind. Check out our TrainingPeaks Training Plans that will help you conquer any endurance feat.

Q2. When should you follow a pre-made training plan versus connect with a coach 1:1?

There are a few key scenarios where working 1:1 with a coach really makes a difference. 

If you have a demanding or unpredictable schedule—whether it’s due to work, travel, or family—a coach can adapt your training in real-time, helping you stay on track despite the chaos. 

The accountability piece is huge too: knowing someone is reviewing your workouts, analyzing your data, and meeting with you regularly can be incredibly motivating. At Boundless Coaching, we offer personalized 1:1 coaching to help guide you on your endurance journey. 

A coach is especially valuable if you’re tackling multiple events or disciplines, like the Lead Challenge. That’s where personalized guidance, especially from someone who’s been through it themselves, can be a game-changer. Our elite Boundless Coaching Team is the best in the industry—emboying the perfect combination of experience, passion, and education.

Q3: Do you have any advice for racing in Leadville?

Train your brain. Mental toughness—what we call “mental callusing”—is essential. The second half of both the LT100 Run and MTB is more mental than physical. 

After years of coaching, I’ve noticed that athletes who fully commit to their program—and consistently complete their workouts (we call that turning them “green”)—rarely fall short. Yes, it’s partly about the physical training, but the green workouts also represent grit, discipline, and resilience. No one wants to train in the cold, rain, or when they’re unmotivated, but those moments build the mindset you need in Leadville. Check out our webinar on Mental Performance here to help prep you for the upcoming race season!

Q4. What separates your Leadville training plans from other Leadville or general distance-based plans?

First and foremost, our plans work. We’ve had countless athletes cross the finish line and earn their buckles following these exact programs. But beyond that, it’s the specificity. 

Our plans are tailored to the actual demands of the Leadville courses. Take the LT100 MTB, for example—we build in long, grinding tempo intervals like 3 x 18 minutes to replicate the effort of climbing Columbine. That kind of specificity is hard to find on platforms like Zwift or TrainerRoad, but it’s essential if you want to be ready for race day.

Nutrition: Fuel Your Body for the Terrain

One of the golden rules of nutrition is to never try anything new on race day. You never know how your gut will react, and you want to keep the variables that may affect your performance as low as possible. 

Even if you’re planning on carrying your own nutrition, it’s in your best interest to train with what’s on course a few times during your training block just in case you need it. It’s not unheard of to accidentally drop fuel, need extra, or want something different than what you’re carrying. 

Check out the athlete guides on the Leadville website to find out what nutrition is available during your specific race.

Heat and Elevation Affect Fueling Needs

Heat and elevation will likely affect your fueling and hydration needs. Make sure you’re adequately hydrated the day of and the days leading up to the race, and fuel up on nutrient-dense and antioxidant-rich foods.

Some studies suggest that protein and carbohydrate needs increase at altitude, along with faster increased fluid loss. Consider increasing your nutrition leading up to and on the day of the race, along with maintaining adequate hydration levels by drinking throughout the day.

Mitigate the potential of hyponatremia, which is caused by drinking too much plain water before and during exercise and/or too much sodium loss during exercise, by adding sodium to your water, or consuming a drink mix with sodium. Sodium needs can differ based on your own personal sweat rate, but one gram of sodium per hour of exercise is recommended for athletes with heavy sweat loss.

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Course Elements: Train for Heat and Elevation

Racing in heat and elevation is not for the faint of heart: there’s a reason why nearly half of Leadville participants don’t finish. But don’t worry, there are ways to prepare. 

With Leadville sitting at 10,000+ feet, most runners feel some sort of effect or change from the lower oxygen availability, unless they already live or train at altitude. Leadville is sometimes cool temperature-wise, because of the elevation, but it usually gets pretty warm during the day. 

Tips on Heat Acclimation 

If you’re racing a longer course running later in the day, it’s a good idea to incorporate heat training to help you prepare. Plus, heat training can even boost performance when racing in the cold. 

If it’s available to you, heat training camps are a good option, or you can make simple changes to your training routine. For example, taking regular hot baths or sitting in a sauna immediately following moderate exercise can help acclimate to heat.

For more on heat training, check out The Benefits of Training in the Heat and How to Do it Safely.

Preparing for Altitude

Altitude training (AKA hypoxic training) has been used by athletes for several decades. If you’re able, consider doing a training stint at altitude. Not only will it prepare you for what to expect, but it will also help with training. Studies show that altitude training helps increase red blood cell production, enhance oxygen delivery, increase capillarization, and more. 

To learn more about these benefits and how to maximize your training at altitude, check out Your Guide to Altitude Training: Benefits, Preparation, and Measures of Success.

If you aren’t able to do an altitude training camp, it’s best to arrive at the race at least a few days in advance. In fact, one study showed that aerobic performance decreased by 11.3% within one to three hours of arrival at altitude. However, half of that performance, 5.7%, is received after about 45 hours of acclimatization.

Conquering Leadville takes more than just physical fitness—it demands smart planning, mental toughness, and respect for the terrain. By following a structured training plan, dialing in your nutrition, and preparing for the altitude and heat, you’ll give yourself the best chance to succeed.

References

Deng, L., et al. (2025, February 17). Impact of Altitude Training on Athletes’ Aerobic Capacity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/2/305

Zurawlew, M., et al. (2019, August 27). Post-exercise Hot Water Immersion Elicits Heat Acclimation Adaptations That Are Retained for at Least Two Weeks. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.01080/full

The post Conquering Leadville: Training, Fueling, and Altitude Prep Tips appeared first on TrainingPeaks.

Billing Your Athletes in TrainingPeaks

When I heard about TrainingPeaks’ new integration with Stripe that helps coaches automate payments from their athletes, I jumped at the chance to join, hoping it would simplify my life and get me out of spreadsheet hell. After using it for a year, it’s easily the best thing I’ve added to my coaching system since… I don’t know, maybe getting into coaching? 

Now, athletes add their card on file, not me. When it’s time to bill an athlete, TrainingPeaks Payments does it automatically, not me. If payment fails, the athlete automatically gets an email informing them that they need to update their card, not me. In other words, everything runs inside TrainingPeaks without my input, freeing me up to do what I got into coaching to do – coach more. Or, heck, maybe get a workout in myself?

Another thing that got me in the past was that money collected by other payment processors could sit in limbo for what felt like an eternity. Through Payments, all the funds billed from athletes’ deposits are directly deposited into my bank account of choice within a few business days at an industry-competitive transaction fee.   

If you’re still billing your athletes outside TrainingPeaks, you’re making your life harder than it needs to be. Sign up, set it up, and let it work for you so you can do more of what you like doing. 

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If you could use a bit more setting it and forgetting it in your coaching business, here are a few more TrainingPeaks features you’ll find useful:

• Create and store your own Custom Zones using your preferred training methodology.
• Athlete Groups and Group Calendar Planning seamlessly allow you to plan workouts for similar athletes at once.
• Use the Bulk Copy and Paste functionality to repeat a workout on an athlete’s calendar so you don’t have to add a new one every time.

• Use the Race Reports chart to view all of your athletes’ event results in one place.

The post Managing Payments Through TrainingPeaks appeared first on TrainingPeaks.

Kristen offers practical strategies for coaches and athletes to identify red flags, reframe food as fuel (not a reward or punishment), and prioritize long-term health alongside results. From race-day fueling to an off-season mindset, this conversation challenges outdated norms and empowers listeners to pursue performance with compassion, curiosity, and balance.

Standout Quotes

The Role of Coaches in Athlete Development: “I always feel like and think of coaches as the mentors and the guiders for athletes. So, athletes absolutely look up to their coaches. They want to appease their coaches and do what they can to be the most successful in their eyes, and so it’s a really great, exciting opportunity to provide a positive influence on both athletes for their performance and also their long-term development.

“Coaches are in a powerful position. You don’t need to be a nutritionist, but you do need to be aware of what messages you’re reinforcing. Saying things like ‘you look fit’ or praising weight loss without context can unintentionally cause harm.”

Rethinking “Good” and “Bad” Foods: “It’s not really that any of these foods are good foods or bad foods, but some have more nutrients. So vitamins and minerals and others have more energy. And so explaining foods in a way that you are emphasizing the context of when that food makes sense is a really great way for parents and coaches to communicate, like healthy performance-focused eating habits.”

Perceptions and Mindsets of Endurance Sport: “I think we need to stop glorifying suffering. Endurance athletes already train hard, but there’s this belief that if you’re not constantly grinding, restricting, or feeling depleted, you’re not trying hard enough. That mindset burns people out and wrecks their relationship with food and sport.”

Warning Signs of Disordered Eating in Young Athletes: “The most common [warning signs] for young athletes, again, it kind of depends on the setting you’re in, but the strongest predictors are one, accumulating list of food restrictions. So there are athletes who make choices to be vegetarian, vegan, things like that, for a lot of reasons. And that definitely doesn’t mean they have disordered eating tendencies, but as those restrictions accumulate, that’s when we need to start paying attention. [Two], if athletes don’t want to participate in team meals. So we know that having breakfast together as a team, having a pre-race dinner the night before — these are really great bonding activities. But certain athletes will opt out or make excuses. [Three] restricting food specifically for body weight or size changes. So if they’re communicating that they aren’t eating or they’re only eating certain types of foods for body reasons, that’s another red flag.”

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Environment and Language Guide for Discussing and Managing Physique
• USOPC Sports Nutrition Resources for Young Athletes
• Directory of Registered Dietitians
• Sports Nutrition for Women E-Course
• HEXIS App
• Fulein App

Kristen Arnold Online

Website
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The post Beyond Carbs & Calories: Healthy Food Relationships with Dietitian Kristen Arnold appeared first on TrainingPeaks.

Both Basic and Unlimited coaching subscriptions come with the same coaching features and business tools, and both allow you to add Coach Paid Premium athletes for $9 per athlete. The main difference depends on whether you upgrade your athletes to Premium or allow your athletes to use a basic TrainingPeaks athlete account. Let’s take a deeper look at the two. 

TrainingPeaks Basic Coaching Subscription

The Basic coaching plan is great for new coaches and experienced coaches alike. It allows you to pay as you grow ($9 for each Premium athlete added), so you never pay for more than you need. 

What You Get:

• One free Premium athlete account (which can be used on yourself)
• Four Basic athlete accounts
• Access to the workout builder and calendar tools
• Communication and feedback options with Premium athletes
• Viewing metrics and historical data

Best For:

• Coaches working five or fewer athletes 
• New coaches looking to pay as they grow 
• Experienced coaches who customize training for each athlete

TrainingPeaks Unlimited Coaching Subscription

Like Basic, the Unlimited Coaching subscription gives you full access to TrainingPeaks coaching tools and one free Premium athlete. It also allows you to add more Coach Paid Premium athletes for $9 per athlete. The main difference is that you get unlimited Basic accounts, making it ideal for individual coaches or coaching organizations that don’t include Coach Paid Premium in their coaching packages. 

What You Get:

• One free Premium athlete (which can be used on yourself)
• Unlimited Basic athletes
• Access to the workout builder and calendar tools
• Communication and feedback options with Premium athletes
• Viewing metrics and historical data

Best For:

• Coaches who don’t include Coach Paid Premium as part of their coaching packages
• Coaching teams or businesses with a high volume of low-touch athletes
• Experienced coaches who customize training for each athlete  

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Pricing and Value Breakdown

A Basic Coaching Subscription starts at $21.99 a month and allows coaches to pay as they grow. Unlimited starts at $54.99, and, like Premium, allows you to add a premium athlete for $9 per athlete. 

However, once you start to add more than 10 athletes, you’ll start to unlock better discounts. The more athletes you add, the bigger discounts you receive. This is true for both Basic and Unlimited subscriptions. 

Here’s a breakdown:

< 10: $9

10 – 19: $8.55 (5% discount)

20 – 49: $8.10 (10% discount)

50 – 99: $7.65 (15% discount)

100-199: $7.20 (20% discount)

200-499: $6.30 (30% discount)

500-999: $5.40 (40% discount)

1000+: $4.50 (50% discount)

You can determine your price by using this estimated cost calculator.

Why Pay for Premium?

The real value for both you and your clients comes with Coach Paid Premium accounts. 

Why? Premium features add value to your business, and Premium athletes stay on the platform longer. Simply put, they are more invested and less likely to churn. Premium athletes have access to:

• Metrics such as Form, Fatigue, and Fitness
• Notifications and alerts when you leave comments, notes, or update an athlete’s training plan
• TrainingPeaks Virtual for indoor cycling

Many TrainingPeaks coaches add the cost of Premium to their coaching fees. For case studies and examples of how Coach Paid Premium can boost your business and coaching experience, check out this article: Why Coach Paid Premium Is More Valuable for Coaches and Athletes

The post TrainingPeaks Coach Edition Basic vs. Unlimited: Which Is Right for You? appeared first on TrainingPeaks.

Alex shares his journey from motocross to recently catching the “running bug” and how structured training, especially via TrainingPeaks, helped him transform his racing career and life after retirement. He just raced the 2025 Boston Marathon, finishing at 2:48:35, just shy of a PR, with plans to run several other big races in the coming months.

From building marathon fitness as a busy dad and coach to balancing strength, endurance, and recovery in high-risk motorsports, Alex shares an insider’s look at taking advantage of experience and science to advance the art of coaching unique athletes.

Standout Quotes

Structured Training Changed Motocross Career: “…when I started using TrainingPeaks and got a legit [coach], I had one of the best years of my career in 2016. I had the points lead after the second round and won a couple of races that year and finished second in the championship. And a lot of that was just from actually having structured training instead of just showing up to the track and being like, “I’m gonna ride for an hour today.”

The ‘Running Bug’ and New Training Goals: “Honestly, I just love running. So I have two kids now. My wife and I, we have two under two. So it’s been quite a busy last couple of years. But I was like, I don’t wanna, like, bike for three or four hours a day, you know? And so for me, running was, like, bang for my buck time-wise. I can go out and get a pretty good workout running for an hour. And I decided to sign up for the LA marathon a couple of years ago, and I kinda just got the bug, the running bug with marathons.”

Developing Coaching Methodologies : “The tricky part is, and I think people are still figuring [training] out in our sport, is like, how do you program strength, the fast switch intervals, and [still] be fresh on the dirt bike? Because if you’re not fresh on the dirt bike, that chance of injury is so high. And so I kinda just adopted, like, a lot of volume and tried to keep the heart rate low and build that aerobic foundation. And then the intensity came on the dirt bike.”

Alex Martin Online

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Troll Training
Troll Training on TrainingPeaks
Troll Training Instagram
Troll Training YouTube

The post Racing Pro Motocross to Running the Boston Marathon with Coach Alex Martin appeared first on TrainingPeaks.

Coaching started for me the same way it starts for many others—with a deep personal investment in the sport. 

I was the athlete who asked too many questions, wanted to understand the “why” behind every workout, and found myself just as energized by helping others hit a PR as I was about my own goals. Over time, this curiosity turned into a calling, and that calling has since become a business, a lifestyle, and a way to give back to the sport that shaped me.

Starting a coaching side hustle isn’t just about turning your passion into income—it’s about stepping into a role of service, mentorship, and education.

I’ve coached everyone from first-time 5K runners to Boston qualifiers, marathon medalists, and elite youth athletes. And the most rewarding part? Watching an athlete begin to believe in themselves because you helped them get there. 

That’s the “why” behind everything we do.

Do You Need to Be Certified?

This is one of the first questions I get from prospective coaches. The short answer: No, but it helps. 

A certification isn’t required to be a great coach, but it does show that you’re committed to professional development and standards. I hold multiple certifications, including USATF, UESCA, and TrainingPeaks Level 2. Each one offers something unique—from biomechanics to performance metrics to nutritional considerations. That said, certification is only the start.

The best coaches I know are lifelong learners. They read, attend clinics, ask questions, and stay current on emerging research. A cert might get your foot in the door, but your curiosity and commitment are what keep you growing. 

If you’re just starting out, choose one certification that aligns with your philosophy and clientele. I also highly recommend reading this TrainingPeaks article on certification pathways that breaks down where to start and how to grow: What Certifications Do I Need As a Running Coach?

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What to Offer and How Much to Charge

Determining your coaching fees is often a challenging task for new coaches. 

Begin by evaluating factors such as your time commitment, level of expertise, and the specific clientele you aim to serve. 

Offering a spectrum of services—from static training plans to fully personalized, one-on-one coaching—can cater to diverse athlete needs. 

Static plans provide a passive income stream, but may lack the individualized feedback many athletes seek. 

Implementing a tiered pricing model based on the degree of interaction and customization is often effective. For instance, TrainingPeaks’ Coach Match program offers structured packages that can serve as a reference:

These packages illustrate how varying levels of communication and plan customization can be structured to meet different athlete preferences. 

Effectively communicating your value is crucial. Beyond delivering workouts, you’re providing accountability, strategic planning, emotional support, and a roadmap to help athletes achieve their goals. 

Athletes invest not just in a training plan but your expertise and guidance as well. By clearly articulating the benefits and support you offer, you can justify your pricing and attract clients who appreciate the comprehensive value you bring to their athletic journey.

For tips on how to showcase your value as a coach, check out this guide: How to Identify and Create Value as an Endurance Coach

Growing Your Roster: Tools & Systems to Stay Organized

Once you’re coaching more than one or two athletes, systems matter. 

I’ve tested many platforms, but for running coaches, TrainingPeaks is still the gold standard for monitoring and delivering workouts. It’s intuitive, powerful, and athlete-friendly.

You can build structured workouts, analyze HR data, power, cadence, and more—all in one place. It also makes it easy to scale, so you can go from coaching a few runners to building a full roster without compromising quality.

But beyond the tech, you need a workflow that allows for consistency. I recommend blocking off time each week to review data, adjust plans, and send notes.

The Power of Simple Systems

For the past seven years, I’ve relied on a single tool to track and manage “the long view” of my athletes’ training: a simple Excel spreadsheet with conditional formatting. 

At one point, I managed a roster of over 30 adult athletes and another 15–20 high school and collegiate athletes across the country. Having a streamlined system was essential. 

In the spreadsheet, I mark each week I’ve planned with an “X” and add short notes that hold meaning for me. I’ll include race names, note rest weeks, injuries, illness, or anything else that might impact training. It’s a mental shortcut—a quick reference that helps me stay dialed in before an athlete call and keeps me grounded in where each person is in their journey toward their next big goal.

Delivering the plan is one thing—but providing context and support is what sets you apart. If your athletes feel seen and supported, they’re more likely to stay and refer others. 

Finding Athletes and Marketing Yourself

Finding athletes begins with finding your niche. 

When I first started, I wanted to coach everyone. That worked for a while, but the moment I narrowed my focus to endurance runners—particularly those chasing PRs and Boston qualifiers—I saw my business grow faster and more sustainably. 

Specializing allows you to speak directly to the needs, language, and pain points of a specific group of athletes.

When it comes to marketing yourself, having an online presence helps amplify your voice. You don’t need to go viral on Instagram or launch a YouTube channel right away, but you do need a digital footprint. 

A simple website, a few well-written blog posts, and a consistent presence on a platform where your athletes spend time (often Instagram or Strava) is more than enough to start.  

Share tips, insights, and testimonials. Authenticity will always outshine flashy marketing. If you have something meaningful to say, your people will find you.

Retaining Your Athletes 

Athlete retention comes down to two things: results and relationships. 

Helping athletes reach their goals will always be the best marketing tool you have—but building a strong relationship is what keeps them around long after the race is over. 

Ask about their life outside of training. Check in on their recovery. Let them know you care about them as a person, not just a performer.

Coaching Is Personal—But It’s Still a Business

From a business standpoint, it’s crucial to stay organized. Use contracts, automate payments (which you can do in TrainingPeaks), and protect your time. Set clear boundaries around availability, response times, and scope of service. 

Coaching is deeply personal work—but it’s stil work. Treat it like a business from day one, and you’ll save yourself countless headaches down the road. 

There are dozens of resources out there—from books like The Business of Coaching to online forums of fellow endurance coaches. Don’t go it alone.

The Coach’s Business and Community Handbook is a great place to start. 

Final Thoughts: Build Something Meaningful

Coaching is a beautiful way to pay forward the lessons you’ve learned through sport. It’s also a craft that requires patience, humility, and a willingness to keep learning. 

If you’re considering launching your own side hustle in the running space, I encourage you to start. 

Start imperfectly. 

Start small. 

But start with intention. 

There is no greater reward than helping someone unlock their potential—and there is no better time than now to build something meaningful.

Whether you’re guiding first-timers across the finish line or sharpening an elite athlete’s race strategy, your work matters. And if you do it well, it won’t feel like a hustle—it’ll feel like home.

The post Starting a Coaching Side Hustle: Tips for New Running Coaches appeared first on TrainingPeaks.

This was definitely the case for me last fall. 

Enter the bike tour: A reason to train (because who wants to show up to a tour and feel like it’s their first day back on the bike?) without the pressure of a race. 

But for me, it was about even more than that. 

How a Bike Tour Reignited My Drive

A former competitive cyclist, I shifted sports to ultrarunning a few years ago, only to find myself hobbling with my right ankle in a boot after a disastrous/embarrassing fall during the Leadville 100 last summer, which ultimately led to a DNF and an ER visit complete with crutches.

Though my fitness had never been higher, my motivation had never been lower. Honestly, I just wasn’t in a good place. But the one light at the end of the tunnel was a bike tour scheduled for 10 weeks post-race.

It was supposed to be a victory lap, a relaxing adventure. But it turned into so much more than that. 

Turning Leadville Fitness Into Chianti Strength

The inGamba Chianti Classico tour was the perfect blend of enough mileage to make me feel fulfilled, but not so much that every day would be a sufferfest. There would be wine and fantastic meals, a post-ride massage, a gorgeous villa in a small town—and we’d get to hit the gravel and cover chunks of the famed Strade Bianche course. 

As it got closer, I admit, I started to get a little nervous about my preparation. Not only was I coming back from injury, I hadn’t been on the bike much before that. I had fitness—but bike fitness? I wasn’t sure. 

The tour became a reason to train and to keep my fitness up at a time when I was seriously questioning my commitment. 

Since I couldn’t run or even walk without serious pain, I didn’t necessarily want to train. But after a week in the boot, I was cleared to gently spin. And then pedal. And before I knew it, the bike brought me back—and thanks to the countdown to the trip, I didn’t lose any of the fitness I gained prepping for Leadville. 

I channeled my fitness into getting ready for the trip, where I knew I’d likely be one of the only women in the group. And I was determined to be able to keep up with the boys.

Bike touring gave my fitness a second life, and allowed me to enjoy training without stress. I love bike touring, and I think you will, too. 

Bike Touring vs. Bikepacking

In recent years, bikepacking has become much more popular, and it often gets confused with bike touring. But there are major differences between the two. 

When you’re bikepacking, you’re toting all of your gear along with you—clothes, sleeping bag, tent, food, everything. You stop and pitch a tent for the night, cook dinner on a camp stove or chow down on an entire pizza after a long day on the bike. 

Bike tours, on the other hand, usually refer to guided rides organized by a professional outfit, where you’re riding during the day and staying in a hotel at night. 

Bike tours vary in difficulty. Some are incredibly beginner-friendly while others tours can get pretty intense. For example, inGamba has an adventure led by former WorldTour pro Ted King that definitely isn’t for new riders! 

The amount of support varies from company to company as well: on an inGamba, from the minute you’re picked up at the airport to the moment you’re dropped off, everything is organized and provided for you: the cycling kit, the perfectly dialed-in bike to the rides led by professional guides, and every delicious meal. 

Also, some tours are lower key: you’re given a bike, a hotel room, and a cycling computer with ride routes loaded in, but you’re mostly on your own. 

It’s up to you to decide what kind of adventure you want, and there isn’t a right or wrong answer. 

Bike Touring as a Woman

For me, the decision to choose a guided bike tour like inGamba was easy. 

I’ve been in the cycling industry for a lot of years, I have friends and colleagues sing their praises, and I’ve even done some work with them in the past. 

But I’ll be candid here: Part of why I wanted to do a bike tour with a group rather than another trip to a cycling destination where I’d be riding solo was simple. I’m a woman and riding alone in an unknown place comes with a huge amount of stress around personal safety. 

And I’m not alone in this. According to Strava’s 2023 survey of 3,000 cyclists, women were 73 percent more likely to feel comfortable riding with other cyclists versus riding alone. I’m willing to bet that this number is even higher when riding in unknown areas.

And sure, if safety isn’t a factor for you, you can certainly plan a bike tour on your own, booking your accommodation, planning your routes, and prepping for all the logistics. But if you’re a busy person in your daily life (again, shoutout to my fellow Type As), the idea of adding more logistics and prep to a trip can be downright unpleasant. Not to mention, the odds that you miss out on a great secret route or the perfect gravel climb or the best local restaurant in the area are pretty high. 

If you’re going to do the thing, why not do it right?

Effort Without a Finish Line: The Spirit of a Bike Tour

Bike tours aren’t inherently competitive, nor do they need to be. You can absolutely go on one at whatever pace you’re comfortable with. But throw a bunch of cyclists together on some of the best roads in the world, and it’s likely that, while you’re not racing to the top of the climb, there’s a bit of effort involved. 

Cyclists are going to try to bring out the best in themselves on any given ride, and by nature of doing that, we bring out the best in each other. 

I was, as I predicted, the only woman in our small group on this particular inGamba trip. I was determined to not get left behind—partially because I firmly believe that when it comes to endurance and long days on the bike, women are certainly able to keep up with most groups of men, but also, because I wanted to prove to myself that one injury doesn’t define a year of training.

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Preparing for Your Bike Tour

Preparing for a bike tour varies hugely from tour to tour, especially where gear and planning things like hotels and food stops are concerned. 

If you’re booking a bike tour with a company, do your research before hitting ‘book now’ so you know exactly what you’re getting. Some questions to ask yourself include:

• Will you be riding with a group, or is it every man or woman for him or herself? 
• Do you need to bring your own bike? If not, what bike will you be riding? (For example, at inGamba, you’re not stuck dragging your bike through the airport, you’re riding a Pinarello Dogma in their fleet.)
• Are meals included? 
• Is there support on the route if you get a flat or your electronic shifting dies? 
• Do you need to BYO snacks, or will they provide ride fuel? 

Depending on the tour, you may need to pack some extras like your saddle bag or a burrito-style bag for the front of your bike to bring snacks. (That’s not the case with inGamba—if you’re hungry, just wave a hand and the follow van will drop you a bar if you don’t have one in your pocket!) 

Training for a Bike Tour

While bike tours are done at your own pace, it’s more fun if you’re feeling ready for it. 

A bike tour like inGamba doesn’t require a base level of fitness. But to maximize your enjoyment of the trip, I think having a fitness goal for the tour makes lots of sense. 

Research shows that pre-vacation anticipation, including planning and preparing, can actually be as happiness-inducing as the trip itself. That’s right: Training for your bike tour, especially when it’s a bucket list trip like an inGamba Chianti Classico tour, can give you feelings of satisfaction and happiness long before your flight to Italy even departs. 

That’s part of what I felt, and I can attest that it made the experience better knowing I had prepared for it in the best way possible. 

So, how do you get in shape for a bike tour?

Terrain, Elevation, and Group Style: Planning for Success 

Start with research on your bike tour so you know how to best prepare. Here’s what to consider:

1. Check the distance elevation stats. 

Not all bike tours are created equal! Even within a company, daily distance and total elevation can vary from trip to trip. 

Some of inGamba’s tours are climbing-focused, like the adventures in the Dolomites, while some are a bit more mild, like the Le Marche tour along the Adriatic Sea. 

A good touring company will share distance and elevation stats for each day on their website so you can compare and consider what makes sense for you. 

Use that information and compare it to your last few months of riding, looking at your log on TrainingPeaks and your riding activities.

Have you done similar rides, or will those climbing days be your biggest ever? Some people love a hard challenge on a bike tour, others want to simply enjoy the time on the bike.

Make sure you understand what you’re signing up for—this helps you prepare accordingly. 

2. Check group ride status. 

It’s important to know if you’ll be riding with a group or if you’ll be on your own. 

If you’re riding with a group, you’ll want to spend some time brushing up on your group riding and drafting skills if you’ve been mostly riding solo. 

If you only do group rides, but this trip will be more ‘at your own pace,’ you may want to do some solo rides ahead of time to remind yourself of what riding into a headwind solo feels like. 

3. Check the terrain.

Now that gravel riding is becoming more popular, more and more bike tours are offering gravel cycling tours. At inGamba, there’s a new gravel trip that’s a twist on the classic Tuscany trip, focusing on the white gravel roads that made the Strade Bianche race the legend that it is. 

Gravel roads on your tour mean you should have some experience with handling a gravel bike on rough roads—and you’ll need to remember that 50 miles of gravel will go slower than 50 miles of road.

If you have a bike tour on the calendar and are looking for a plan to get you to Day 1 feeling prepared, following a bike tour training plan like the inGamba 3-Month Tour Preparation Plan can be extremely beneficial for any cycling trip. 

While many base training plans assume you have 12+ hours per week to train, this tour-focused plan focuses on the most efficient training schedule and assumes that the people joining the trip are busy and have minimal time to train, especially during the week—perfect for someone who wants to build up to big goals in cycling again, but needs a bit of a break from hefty training hours.

The Joy of Suffering Without a Start Line

While the pace never pushed me out of my comfort zone entirely, the eight-week training block I’d put in that focused on long, meandering climbs and remembering how to ride in a group paid off in a big way. 

Not only was I more comfortable even on the days when the weather turned on us—naturally, the gravel ride was a mudfest in parts!—but I felt confident on the bike again. And yes, I loved the mud. I felt confident as an athlete again.

For me, it was the exact break I needed from a racing goal to reinvigorate my training. It was enough of a ‘finish line’ that I still had a goal and a reason to show up for myself on the bike every day, but not so much that I felt like I was getting stressed as the day approached. It was the right stimulus to leave me feeling excited, not jittery.

When you crest that big climb on the queen stage of whatever tour you’re on feeling strong, feeling like you earned the views, you’ll only be wondering only one thing: Where can you go next?

The post Why Bike Tours Should Be On Everyone’s Bucket List appeared first on TrainingPeaks.

I was newly engaged and building a life in a new city on the West Coast, thousands of miles away from the support of my family and the friends with whom I’d grown up. As many of you do, I woke up early, shoehorned workouts into tight spaces (my students would see me rushing back to class, hair wet and reeking of chlorine, and ask “do you actually enjoy that?”). I’d then finish the day juggling another workout, a mountain of papers to correct, and pedestrian concerns like, you know, feeding myself and my fiancé, along with making sure she and I were getting the time necessary to continue building a life together.

Whether you’re new to triathlon (or any endurance sport) or are an experienced multisport athlete, you’ve discovered how time-intensive training is. Poor time management not only leads you to sickness, injury, or burnout in your sport, but also negatively impacts your primary relationships, family, and career. 

But managing time as a multisport athlete is easier said than done. Here’s how to develop a sustainable plan that allows you to achieve your goals without torpedoing the other aspects of your life. 

But first! A meeting.

Your Goals Impact More Than Just You

If your goals are lofty, such as qualifying for a major race like Kona, you’re about to embark upon a years-long journey that will take up the focus of a part-time job and cost you tens of thousands of dollars. 

No way to sugarcoat that. 

If you have a partner, a family, or a job (or all three), you need to get your shareholders on board: spouse, children, colleagues, and supervisor are all possible allies and possible victims in your endeavor. You must meet with them before making a decision that will affect the next few years of their lives. 

Properly done, these vital members in your life can support you on your journey. Incorrectly done, you will spread resentment and mayhem everywhere you go, which does not bode well for your long-term triathlon career, marriage/partnership, or job.

On the other hand, if you’re simply starting out, your time commitment to the sport might be lighter, but there’s always the possibility that this fascination of yours will bloom into full-blown obsession. 

Setting expectations with your shareholders early in your multisport journey lets your family know that this is a priority to you and that it’s important to you that they’re involved. 

Involve Your Inner Circle in the Process

Try to remember that your family wants to be engaged with the things that are important to you. If you begin the process believing this whole thing is a burden to them, you might try to shield them from the stress, but this approach almost surely backfires. Instead of feeling shielded, they might feel excluded and wonder why you’re creating distance between the two of you. 

Unexplained distance is a kryptonite to a relationship, so put on your big-person pants and have a tough conversation. Explain to them the scope of the project and that you want this to be easy on them, but you’d also like them to be a part of the journey. Do the same with your children, colleagues, and supervisor. 

Map It Out: Life, Work, Love, and Training

Build an alliance—this is a crucial step that will help later. But during that first meeting with your partner is when you’re going to bang out your training week. Draw a table that looks like this:

Doing your best try to fill in regular family commitments: who drives the kids, who picks them up, who’s on duty for midnight child duty, what FUN are you going to have together, and identify  when that all needs to happen. Repeat the process with both of your work commitments, and then make sure you figure out time for the two of you to connect (there are way too many Iron Widows and Iron Widowers out there and it’s a bad look).

Finally, you will have the leftover time for training. This is a great moment to use a trick often reserved for budgeting: whatever leftover time you came up with, subtract about 10%. So if you think you have 12 hours to train a week, it’s probably more like 10:45 or so. 

Now that’s out of the way, let’s build your week!

How to Structure a Balanced Training Week

When we talk about building a week, it can be easy to fall into explaining everything about training and exercise physiology. We don’t have the space for that here (and TrainingPeaks offers reams of content on this topic), so forgive some bigger-picture principles that will help us build our weeks.

To progress as an endurance athlete, you need to balance three significant physical pillars: speed, fatigue resistance endurance, and recovery. 

Speed training raises your performance ceiling, giving you more gears. Fatigue resistance trains your body to maintain those different gears for longer, and recovery gives your body the break it needs to actually absorb the training stimulus and adapt. 

Here are the principles that will help you build your effective week:

• Speed when you are fresh, fatigue resistance when you’re…fatigued. Recovery as needed to be fresh for speed work.
• Training cycles, whether micro (the week), meso (a collection of weeks), or macro (months or seasons) work on a stress and unload pattern if we’re adhering to the principles of progressive overload and supercompensation.
• If we want a week to go well, we need days that add stress and days that remove stress. Triathlon makes this both more complicated AND easier because we have four different ways to stress our bodies: swim, bike, run, and strength. 
• Heavy lifting makes it hard to achieve speed in the 48 hours that follow a heavy session, and lifting should always be the last thing we do in a day, since if we lift first and then do an endurance session, we wipe away a lot of the strength signaling.
• Weekends are often more fatigue-resistant because you have more time

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Swim Training Is Its Own Track

Swimming helps us unload the legs but continue central adaptations (heart/lungs/nervous), while loading the peripheral systems of our chest, back, and shoulders, so you might want to think about your swim program as working in parallel with your bike/run training, rather than as another piece of the bike/run puzzle. 

You should swim between 3-6 times per week, depending on your goals and the level of your competition. Cycling and running will make you tired for swimming, so prepare your pool times to suffer as bike and run volume pick up, but the best way to think about the swim is as a separate developmental track. Space out your swims as evenly as possible and make sure that the minimum week contains:

If you have more time available to swim or swimming is a weakness, you can add up to three more sessions, prioritizing endurance, then threshold, then speed

Required: one technique session (if your technique is already strong, this can be a combination technique/endurance session)

Required: one longer endurance/Z2 session

Required: one session focusing on threshold intensity.

Building Your Workout Week

1. Start With Your Long Run 

This is the workout most likely to injure you. If you are a stronger cyclist than runner, then put the long run before your long ride because you want to be fresher when you’re doing the sports you are less good at.

Since the long run is more endurance and HR-focused, it can be on the day after a heavy lift. Often due to time, it makes sense to do long runs on the weekend.

If you have a traditional weekend, the long ride goes on the other day.

If you’re a stronger runner than cyclist, then flip-flop the above advice. Let’s add your long run and ride to the plan, which now has sub-sections for each sport:

2. Plan Recovery and Swim Days

Next, after that pair of longer days, you should have an easier day to unload the legs. This day might be an off day if you are brand new to the sport, but if you’ve been training for a few years, it could be as much as an endurance swim, recovery ride, and mobility/bodyweight strength and conditioning session.

This day should build you up rather than break you down. While we’re at it, let’s add our swims to the week, following the guidance from the “Principles” section.

3. Add Speed

After our easy day, you’ll likely feel fresh and ready to add in speed. If speed on the run is what you’re working on, let’s add a speed session to Tuesday, ideally early in the day so we can do another sport that evening.

4. Follow Speed Days With Fatigue Resistance Training

That speed day is ideally followed by a fatigue resistance session in the other sport that wasn’t speed-focused on the speed day, so maybe that’s a tempo run, a sweet spot/threshold bike session, long hill repeats, etc. 

If you have the availability, another easy/moderate day in the speed sport from yesterday can go on this day.

5. Moderate/Z2 Training Days

At this point you should only have two days left to program, You need one more “moderate” day this week, but this day can also be just a Z2 day. 

If you’re already swimming on this day pick the sport that needs the most endurance work, either bike or run, and add that. If you’re not swimming this day, both your sessions are Z2 sessions.

6. Include Final Day of Recovery/Rest

The final day of the week should be another day that unloads your legs, so this can be a long swim, a lift (remember that since the weekend is fatigue resistance, heavy lifting is OK today), and maybe a recovery ride or easy run.

Color Code Your Schedule

I find that color coding your week helps check your work, making sure nothing gets left behind. You can use the following rubric as a guide:

1. Speed and heavy lifting = red
2. Fatigue resistance and your “long” sessions = yellow
3. Everything else = green

At least half your week should be green. You can have up to two red boxes per week, but three is acceptable if you’re in a heavy lifting period. 

For this athlete, I might add some speed to the long run on Saturday, making that session red instead of yellow. The rest of your sessions can be fatigue resistance, but you should be looking at a lot of green (not unlike how your TrainingPeaks calendar should look most of the time).

Consistency Over Chaos

Elite coaches everywhere agree: moderate volume weeks that the athlete can achieve consistently win out every time over a “boom and bust” pattern of training.

The boom and bust pattern never works, and it often makes your life more unmanageable. Unfortunately, this type of athlete usually always doubles down, beginning a slide towards divorce/separation, career trouble, family estrangement, or chronic fatigue and injury.

Seems extreme? Believe me, I have seen all of the above in triathlon, and I do not want that for you.

Finally, please remember that what is listed above is meant as a way to illustrate the principles in this article and show you how you might approach it yourself. The examples are not intended as coaching guidelines or what I prescribe for every athlete. 

Do your best to see through to the principles herein, rather than the individual sessions. In my experience, endurance athletes on the internet tend to miss the forest for the trees.

Happy planning, you Type A athlete!

The post Sustainable Triathlon Training: Build Your Week Without Burning Out appeared first on TrainingPeaks.