Training Babble: Off-Road Insights for Mountain Bike and Gravel Cycling
Unlock your endurance potential. The Training Babble Podcast takes a deep dive into the strategy and science behind training for off-road cycling and gravel racing. Host Dave Schell brings over 20 years of coaching and racing experience, including as former Director of Education at TrainingPeaks.
Each episode features interviews with experts and insiders to inform your training on topics like physiology, nutrition, mental toughness, equipment selection, and race tactics. Expect an informative yet lighthearted conversation filled with practical tips to up your performance. Special guests from across the cycling world join to share their hard-earned wisdom.
Whether you're an amateur looking to reach new heights or a coach wanting to refine your craft, The Training Babble Podcast offers a master-class in endurance training. Challenging conventional methods, busting myths, and digging into the latest research, this show equips you with the knowledge to train smarter and unlock your full athletic potential.
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Training Babble: Off-Road Insights for Mountain Bike and Gravel Cycling
Dominating Endurance Cycling on 10 Hours a Week with Alex Grant
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Alex Grant is a father to two young girls, a business owner, and closing in on 40 but he is not showing any signs of slowing down. In this episode, I talked to Alex to find out the secret to his success. Alex discusses the importance of strength training, quality over quantity, and prioritizing rest and recovery.
After the episode, I followed up with Alex because I still had some questions regarding what his typical training mix might look like. Alex mentioned that lunch rides were central to his plan as a busy athlete and that riding road probably accounts for 50-60% of his total cycling time each week. This is distributed among a gravel bike with fenders in the winter, riding his mountain bike to the trails, and pure road riding in the spring.
In regards to a typical training week, he says that he generally sticks to a structure consisting of a Monday rest day, two days of quality structured work and then on the other days a short recovery spin and a light, short endurance ride. The weekend would generally be a hard Saturday designed to simulate the next goal event with an endurance ride Sunday.
When asked about his favorite workout Alex replied, "...endurance/recovery spins are the most consistent and important workouts I do. As for the real work, well I guess hot laps might be one of my favorite for XC MTB and Cyclocross training. They can be structured in a variety of ways, but they are race-specific and fun."
To hear the rest of the interview listen to the full episode!
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