It’s RACE DAY. It’s 90 minutes to race time and you ate your breakfast 1-2 hours ago (allowing 3-4 hours post breakfast for digestion). You’ve been following a sound nutrition plan and you have rested and fueled properly in the last 48 hours to assure your glycogen reserves are full. So what to do in the last 90 minutes before go time?

Some of you may have seen a recent commercial on television from an investment company that poses a question like “….what can a hula hoop teach us about investing…”. I want to take a page out of their book and ask a similar question, “What can the stock market teach us about training and competition?” One answer, of course, is to make a fortune on Wall Street, quit your job, retire, and train all the time. Unfortunately, although that may be a correct answer, it’s not exactly the answer I’m…

If music is the soundtrack of our lives, it is also the lifesaver for indoor training. While everybody grooves to their own drummer, is there an actual ergogenic effect from playing music during intense efforts? And what can studying music and exercise tell us about how we psychologically cope with intense efforts?

We have all been inspired over the years watching John Howard win championships and set records that demonstrated a seeming invincibility. In recent months, John has had a couple of setbacks that many of us face at some point – major injury. Something noticeable to those around John is that he carries the same fire and focus when dealing with an injury as when he trains and races.

Due to falls on the shoulder and relative high speed, a common injury in cycling is clavicle fractures. Although any part of the clavicle can be broken, they most commonly occur in the middle of the clavicle. What’s the typical diagnosis and prognosis for return to cycling?

Yes, it is only January, but doubtless your mind has been wandering around to the idea of the race season if not actually engaged in the rigors of structured training yet. This is a great time to adopt some of the traditions of the baseball World via some Spring Training.

I have identified five keys to building confidence in your cycling that will create an upward spiral of positive thinking and belief in your riding abilities. Each key alone can enhance your confidence, but if you use all of them together, you’ll find your cycling confidence growing stronger and more quickly.

Part of any good training program is a period of rest, recovery, and regeneration from a hard season of riding. Of course, some of us can take it a bit too far over the holidays, with a bit of gluttony and bad weather conspiring to reduce activity and fitness. What’s the physiological process of detraining, and how has it worked out for Miguel Indurain?

With cold and flu season upon us, it’s important to keep our immune systems functioning as well as possible. Athletes need a strong immune system; this is key to a consistent season. A few weeks off the bike here and there adds up and can have a lasting impact on your training cycles.