Episode 189: Is Your Training Plan Crap? Defining High-Quality Training with Alex Hutchinson, PhD

The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS

In Episode 189 of The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast, Outside Magazine's Sweatscience columnist Alex Hutchinson joins Host Adam Pulford to discuss the details that separate crappy training from high-quality training. Whether you're balancing your passion for cycling with a demanding schedule or aiming to refine your training routine, this conversation offers invaluable insights into achieving peak performance.
Key topics in this episode:

• What is "training quality"?
• The role of device data in defining training quality
• How to adjust training on the fly, during workouts?
• Indicators of training quality
• The role of iteration and reflection on personalizing training for you
• How do you know if your training plan is crap?
• Four indicators your training plan isn't working

Resources:

• Youtube video of this episode (includes visuals described in audio version)
• Alex's Twitter(X) @sweatscience
• Website: https://sweatscience.com/
• Resources:
  - Alex’s Article on Outside: What Makes Training High-Quality—or Not?
  - Haugen et al: Training Quality—What Is It and How Can We Improve It?

Guest: Alex Hutchinson, PhD
Alex Hutchinson is a National Magazine Award-winning journalist and Outside’s Sweat Science columnist, covering the latest research on endurance and outdoor sports. His most recent book is the New York Times bestseller Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance. Before becoming a journalist, he completed a PhD in physics at the University of Cambridge and worked as a researcher in the National Security Agency’s Quantum Computing group. He also competed for the Canadian national team in track, cross-country, road, and mountain running. He lives (and runs) in Toronto.

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Host
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for more than 14 years and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.

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Capitole

1. Episode 189: Is Your Training Plan Crap? Defining High-Quality Training with Alex Hutchinson, PhD (00:00:00)

2. Training Quality in Cycling Performance (00:00:07)

3. Training Quality Framework and Self-Determined Coaching (00:09:22)

4. Key Elements of High-Quality Training (00:16:00)

5. Training Quality and Plan Evaluation (00:28:31)