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Coach Adam Pulford delivers actionable training advice and answers your questions in short weekly episodes for time-crunched cyclists looking to improve their cycling performance. The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast (formerly The TrainRight Podcast) is brought to you by the team at CTS - the leading endurance coaching company since 2000. Coach Adam pulls from over a decade of coaching experience and the collective knowledge of over 50+ CTS Coaches to help you cut throught the noise of training information and implement proven training strategies that’ll take your performance to the next level.
296 Episodes
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OVERVIEW Cyclists almost always report a discrepancy between the power output and/or perceived exertion between indoor and outdoor cycling. Typically, this means struggling to achieve the same power output indoors than can be achieved outdoors for common workouts like FTP intervals or VO2 max efforts. Even easier Zone 2 rides can have higher RPE values (i.e., feel harder) indoors compared to outdoors. In Episode 294 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", Coach Adam Pulford reveals why indoor...
OVERVIEW Should cyclists incorporate VO2 max work year round or focus VO2 max work on only select periods of the year? Coach Adam Pulford tackles this listener question in Episode 293 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast". Key ideas include the fact that VO2 max is influenced by training at several different intensities, so you can work on VO2 max without always doing high-intensity intervals. When it comes to high-intensity intervals, Coach Adam provides guidance on scheduling workouts and ...
OVERVIEW ERG Mode, or ergometer mode, is a feature on smart indoor cycling trainers that allows the trainer or connected app to set the resistance you experience as a rider. For interval workouts, for instance, ERG Mode will adjust the resistance so you stay at a constant target power output (e.g., 250 watts for 10 minutes). The downside to ERG Mode is that it can hinder your ability to conjure the internal motivation to achieve that power target, and if you can't maintain your cadence during...
OVERVIEW In Episode 291 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", Coach Adam Pulford answers a listener question about the relationship between FTP and VO2 max training, particularly how and why targeting training to improve either will typically raise both. TOPICS COVERED Think of training intensities as a continuum, not as neat little boxesDescriptions of primary energy systemsHow FTP and VO2 max are directly relatedHow to organize training to maximize both FTP and VO2 maxASK A QUESTION FOR A...
OVERVIEW Although this is "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", we recognize that not everyone is time-crunched. In particular, we hear from lots of older cyclists who have more time to train now that they've retired or cut back their work hours, or their children have flown the nest. So, how do we apply some of the TCC methodologies for athletes who have some more time available? Coach Adam Pulford coaches lots of athletes in this exact scenario, and he has the techniques and information you ...
OVERVIEW Endurance athletes are accustomed to building Annual Training Plans for the phases of their sport-specific training, but are less familiar with building annual training plans for strength training. If this is you, Episode 289 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast" features Coach Adam Pulford taking you through the steps of creating and managing your annual strength training plan. He breaks it down for novices/beginners, cyclists who are familiar/experienced in the gym, and athl...
OVERVIEW Annual Training Plans are big-picture, long term plans that map out training phases to bring the athlete into key races, events, or time periods with peak form and freshness, which helps optimize performance. For some, these can be fun to map out, especially if you like spreadsheets and planning. Others find it boring, confusing, time-consuming. Either way, in Episode 288 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", Coach Adam Pulford takes you through the steps of creating and managing y...
OVERVIEW The Holidays are just about over and the New Year is about to begin. If you had a ton of fun over the Holidays and you're feeling a bit soft around the middle and bit slower than you'd like, Coach Adam Pulford has some good news! You're fitness didn't disappear and those couple of extra pounds will likely melt away pretty quickly once you get back to normal training. If you've been piling on the miles over the past few weeks, he has some advice for how to start your year, too! All th...
OVERVIEW Anaerobic capacity is the work you can do above your lactate threshold. Another term for it is Functional Reserve Capacity (FRC), and it acts like a battery that contains a finite amount of energy that runs out quickly and must be recharged before a subsequent use. FRC is your high-intensity, explosive power for winning sprints, creating breakaways, closing gaps, and riding competitors off your wheel. In the final episode in this series with WKO Data Leader and Coach Tim Cusick, Tim ...
OVERVIEW VO2 max or maximum aerobic capacity is your performance ceiling, but it is trainable and you can not only increase your VO2 max, but also the power you can produce at VO2 max, how long you can sustain that power, and the amount of work you can accomplish between lactate threshold and VO2 max. In Episode #285 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", coaches Adam Pulford and Basecamp's Tim Cusick discuss how VO2 max training works, the workout specifics necessary to increase VO2 max, an...
OVERVIEW Following their episode on aerobic training, CTS Coach Adam Pulford and Tim Cusick (Head Coach at Basecamp and TrainingPeaks WKO Product Leader) dig into Functional Threshold Power (FTP) training in Episode #284 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast". This is one of the clearest, accessible, and practical explanations of FTP training you'll ever hear. They talk about what's happening in your body, how long each phase of FTP training should take, what interval durations/frequencies/in...
OVERVIEW "How long is this going to take?!" Everyone wants to know how long it takes for the training you do today to result in performance improvements you can see and feel on the road or trail. To find out, we called upon Tim Cusick, an elite coach and one of the data gurus behind TrainingPeaks WKO product. Together, Coach Adam Pulford and Tim explain how training stress leads to physiological strain, which causes fatigue and then adaptation. In this episode they look specifically at how qu...
OVERVIEW We all know recovery takes time, but how much time and what is going on internally while "recovery" is happening? How do factors like the duration and intensity of a workout affect the recovery process? What about nutrition and hydration during and after training, and finally, what about those fancy recovery tools and gadgets? Coach Adam Pulford breaks down the science of recovery, what's going on in your body that constitutes "recovery", and how long it's going to take based on your...
OVERVIEW Nathan Cusack is an emerging talent in road racing, having won his first European race in 2025, racing for Team USA at Tour de l'Avenir, and ending the season by signing on with EF Education-Aevolo. Nathan has been a CTS Athlete coached by Adam Pulford for four years, and as he makes his transition to the U23 Elite ranks and a top international development team, it's time to take a look at what it takes to go from Junior to Pro in cycling. In Episode 281, Coach Adam Pulford and...
OVERVIEW Cyclists rely on their sense of hearing more than you might imagine, to hear traffic coming, to communicate with fellow riders during group rides and races, to listen for gear shifts and labored breathing from competitors, and even to discern wind direction. Dmitry Rossoshansky doesn't hear any of that, nor does he hear your pleas for mercy when he's crushing it at the front! In Episode #280 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", Dima and CTS Coach Adam Pulford, with the assis...
OVERVIEW Creatine is one of the most researched supplements available, it's safe to consume, and it has been receiving renewed interest in endurance cycling. Although it's not incredibly useful for improving low-intensity aerobic performance, it can be beneficial for high-intensity efforts in training and competition, may have cognitive benefits and some recovery benefits. In "Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast" style, Coach Adam Pulford provides the need-to-know information about creatine for end...
In 2025, Christopher Blevins won 9 UCI World Cup races and was the first American Male to earn the UCI Men’s World Cup Overall Championship in 34 years. He raced for Team USA at the 2020 (held in 2021) and 2024 Olympic Games and won the inaugural UCI Short Track MTB World Championship in 2021. Before any of those accomplishments, in the summer of 2021, Blevins was an early guest on this podcast. We're revisiting that conversation in Episode 278 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast" to showca...
OVERVIEW Can AI optimize your training by determining if you should do more or fewer intervals than prescribed today? Artificial Intelligence can do a lot of things, but it's not great (yet) at advising changes to your workouts in real time. Coach Adam Pulford details the factors he considers when deciding to scale up, maintain, or scale down an athlete's daily training. More important, he teaches you how to evaluate your workout in real time. TOPICS COVERED What makes up a good training plan...
OVERVIEW Timed-segment racing might be your new favorite competition format! Coach Adam Pulford and CTS Athlete Camilo Lopez discuss their experiences at Gran Fondo Maryland, which featured five timed-segments rather than a start-to-finish competition format. They reveal the key differences in effort level, physical demands, strategies, cycling skills, and even nutrition and pacing between timed-segment racing and start-to-finish racing. NOTE: The 2026 Gran Fondo National Series Calenda...
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