Imperfect Progress with Anne Guzman

Welcome to Imperfect Progress!! We're talking all things KNEE PAIN today with Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Howard Luks who specializes in sports medicine.

Dr. Luks was Chief of Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy at New York Medical College for over 20 years, where he taught the next generation of Orthopedic Surgeons about the needs of athletes of all ages. 

Inside the podcast I ask the burning questions about:

• When you push through knee pain, and when is it a sign to dial it back?
• The complexities of inflammation and pain management.
• When knee surgery might be necessary and who is a suitable candidate.
• Mysteries of joint health and aging. Are your joints really "torn" or wearing out?
• Why can some people run marathons well into their 80s, while others struggle with joint agony in their 40s?

Dr. Luks shares insights into the impact of factors like excess weight, diet, and lifestyle on inflammation and joint pain, offering a holistic perspective on the issue.

We explore intriguing new research emerging from GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, which show promise for alleviating joint pain (this is INTERESTING!).

Dr. Luks provides valuable advice on steps patients can take before considering knee surgery, emphasizing the importance of holistic approaches to joint health.

And finally, we confront the realities of aging and joint pain, discussing how individuals can navigate these challenges while maintaining an active lifestyle.

If you're anything like me, you NEED this episode! Tune in today and embark on this enlightening journey with Dr. Howard Luks, uncovering the secrets to managing knee pain and optimizing joint health.

Have you ever pushed yourself to the limit in a ride or race, only to be held back because you're struggling to breathe? You're not alone - as many as half of athletes face respiratory issues. During this episode of the Imperfect Progress Podcast, Dr. James Hull, a pulmonologist and Professor at the ISEH- the Institute of Sport Exercise and Health at UCL unpacks what athletes may be struggling with and why a diagnosis can be complicated.

We'll explore the differences between asthma and exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction - EILO - and why the sensations and solutions differ. Dr. Hull shares how misdiagnosis can hamper athletic careers when the root cause goes unaddressed. And how conditions are influenced by factors like local pollution levels and lung infections.

When you listen you'll gain tools to advocate for your own respiratory health evaluation. Proper diagnosis is key to treatment maximizing performance potential long-term. Don't let breathing hold you back - tune in to improve your understanding and keep advocating for yourself with this knowledge in hand.

Osteoporosis, the "Silent Thief," erodes bones without a whisper. Whether you're an athlete or just cherish mobility, your bones are partners in every adventure. During this podcast we unveil the secrets of your skeletal strength, embracing aging gracefully and embracing life's potential.

Your bones are always building and breaking down, shaping your strength, agility, and health. Your choices matter: what you eat, how you move, genetics, age – they all impact your bone health.

Today, we dive deep with bone health expert Dr. Lora Giangregorio. She's a Professor in Kinesiology, a member of Osteoporosis Canada's Advisory Council. This isn't a dry lecture, but a practical exploration:

• What exercises truly bolster bone health?
• Does resistance training work after menopause?
• How does yoga fit in?
• Can vibration boards really make a difference?
• The importance of sports nutrition and energy intake for bones.
• And the silent impact of under-eating.

We unravel a DEXA scan's significance, delve into osteoporosis rates among males, and spotlight the power of a holistic bone health approach. Plus, discover valuable resources to fortify your bone training journey.

If you're active and you want to have that freedom to do all of the exercises you love for as long as you live, NOW is the time to pay attention to your bones. Prevention is everything.

Pro cyclist Haley Smith is no stranger to the cycling world. She's a force on two wheels, and vulnerability and her willingness to share her inner struggles is a super power in and of itself.

If you struggle with confidence, are always comparing yourself to others, and obsess about watts per kilo or data, listening to conversation is guaranteed to help you loosen your grip a bit and enjoy the process of sport more. And isn't that the point of it all?

During this powerful conversation Haley lets us into her mind as we unravel and discuss how she:

• Survived anorexia
• Builds confidence
• Measures progress
• Uses data in training
• Plans to use her Sport Psychology degree
• Practices mindfulness
• Changed her mindset about watts/kilo
• Came to realize that she is ENOUGH
• Manages comparison to competitors
• Sets process goals and what they mean to her

I've been waiting for this conversation because I knew it would be meaningful, helpful for others and authentic. I know that every athlete, coach, parent and person can take something away from Haley's insights that will help them to shift their process in sport and their mindset, tipping it towards a more positive direction.

Are you tired of the frustration and disappointment of struggling to follow through on your habits? Have you ever experienced the pain of starting a new routine only to find yourself skipping days or abandoning it altogether? It's a disempowering cycle that leaves us wondering why we can't stay on track.

During this podcast episode, I've had an enlightening conversation with renowned Neuroscientist and Psychologist Dr. Scott Frey.

Join us as we dive deep into the realm of limiting self-beliefs and discover powerful tactics to help you finally break free from the cycle of unfulfilled habits.

It's time to follow through and reach your true potential by beginning a transformative journey of habit-building success.

Embark on Dr. Frey's captivating journey as a neuroscientist shaped by his upbringing by his incredible single mother who lived with Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Frey's story is inspiring and a huge reminder that we can overcome self-limiting beliefs, create new habits, and intentionally change our lives.

When you listen today you'll learn about:

• Overcoming obstacles with specific tactics for habit formation.
• Strengthening neural pathways to achieve your goals.
• Breaking free from self-limiting beliefs: and understanding the danger of absolute statements.
• Unveiling the power of imagery in the mind.
• The differences between the flow state of cycling and running and intentional meditation.
• Harnessing the power of your environment to stick to your habits.
• The science behind stroke recovery and learned disuse.
• Fascinating insights into the brain's adaptation after limb loss.
• The 30 day deal we made LIVE together to keep one another accountable!
• How you can connect with Dr. Frey and his new business to learn about his coaching for transformative results.

This conversation moved me. It takes many different turns, and there's much to act on after you listen.

How can under eating, over exercising, high stress events and losing your period as a result, potentially contribute to poorer heart health? The science is surprising and it isn't being talked about enough. My guest today sheds light on all of these. It's important information that's not getting out to many athletes and coaches.

Today’s guest Dr. Chrisandra Shufelt is an expert in women’s heart health and menopause, Dr. Shufelt is Professor and Chair of the Division of General Internal Medicine, Senior Consultant at the Mayo Clinic Women’s Health, and Associate Director of the Women’s Health Research Center at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Shufelt is awomen’s health internist with fellowship training in vascular biology and women’s health and a certified menopause practitioner. She’s the immediate past president of the North American Menopause Society where is now on the board of trustees.

Her NIH-funded research focuses on young women with hypothalamic amenorrhea evaluating the impact on immune and vascular health.

During this podcast we discuss:

• The effect of early and late onset of a female's first period on future heart health.

• How losing your period from over exercise, under nutrition or high stress events could impact bone health.

•  How estrogen impact vascular health and how this can impact your performance as an athlete.

• Early and late menopause, hormone replacement guidelines and considerations.

• Hormone replacement for bone health in young female athletes with amenorrhea.

• Prevalence of amenorrhea in athletes.

• Estrogen throughout your lifespan and how this relates to heart health.

• Dr. Shufelt's NEW STUDY and how to join because she is recruiting athletes NOW.

There's so much to learn in this episode. EVERYONE should listen, male or female, coach, parent or athlete.

To learn more about Dr. Shufelt's study (women 18-40 who have missed more than 3 periods in a row due to stress, over exercise or under nutrition) call the study coordinator at this number: 904-953-9805.

Welcome to episode 31 of the Imperfect Progress Podcast!

On today's podcast I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Meagan Wasfy, a sports cardiologist and echocardiographer at the Mass General Hospital Brigham, Massachusetts. Dr. Wasfy completed her undergraduate degree is from Harvard College and medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She serves as team cardiologist for Harvard Athletics and co-medical director for the Boston Athletic Association. Her research focus is on optimizing the clinical utilization of cardiac imaging and exercise testing in athlete patients, with an emphasis on sex-based differences. She’s also an avid runner herself and has extensive experience working with endurance athletes, as well as the NFL and also the general population in relation to heart health.

Dr. Wasfy and I discussed heart health, aging, and endurance athletes. When you listen, you'll learn about:

• How menopause can affect our risk of heart disease.
• Why endurance athletes are not invincible to aging and heart health issues.
• Preventing sudden cardiac arrest in young and masters athletes - what can be done?
• Atrial fibrillation and endurance athletes. Which sex is at higher risk?
• The optimal level of exercise for improved health.
• Is extreme exercise good for heart health?
• CPR - why we should all learn it.
• How wearable technology can be an asset to cardiologists.
• Which age group wearable technology is not useful for and why.

Tune in to learn more about these important topics! After this episode, I am taking my movement seriously, and every bit counts towards my heart health.

Welcome! Today's episode is about all things carbohydrates, insulin and blood sugar, at rest or during cycling and other endurance exercise.

My guest Dr. Javier Gonzalez is deeply invested in research in the area of Nutrition and Metabolism and has over 159 papers published in the field. He's deepling interested in understanding human fuel use, specifically how we obtain fuel from our diet, how we burn fuel during exercise, and how we store fuel when we have more than we need.

As a Professor at Bath University Dr. Gonzalex also consults with sports teams and industry and he himself participates in cycling, putting his science into motion!

If you eat carbohydrates during an intense bike ride do you think you will 'spike;' your blood sugar? If so, press play and start listening.

I loved this conversation! Here's some of what you'll learn during this episode:

• · The basics of sugar, carbohydrates, and the roles hormones such as insulin, glucagon, and catecholamines in regulating blood sugar during  exercise.
• · How carbohydrate intake during exercise impacts blood sugar and insulin, which may surprise you!
• · Insulin sensitivity and resistance, and how they play into our overall health and can change in response to different factors, including endurance exercise.
• · Differences in glycogen storage and use (carbs stored in muscle and liver) between untrained vs trained endurance athletes.
• · The different types of sugars (glucose, sucrose, fructose) and how the body is able to absorb these, and in what amounts.
• · Carbohydrate intake on the bike during and after training and why the TYPE of sugars you ingest can matter depending on your context.
• · Why competitive and elite cyclists perform best on a high carbohydrate diet.
• · The limitations of relying on body fat as fuel for competitive cyclists.
• How Dr. Gonzalez navigates imperfect progress and adversity in his own life (great answer!).

There's a lot more to this conversation but those are some of the key areas we touch on. You'll also learn about what types of carbohydrates help you recover the quickest and examples of carbohydrates to eat on the bike/run and why multiple types of carbs is important for training that lasts more than 90 minutes.

This is a good one! I’ve been waiting to find the right person for this topic for some time. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Bone injuries can end your athletic season and even your athletic career - yet bone is often an after thought.

If you're having repetitive bone stress injuries, there are likely other things going on with your nutrition and training that need further investigation. It's never too late to intervene with bone health.

Today podcast guest Dr. Eimear Dolan and I dive many topics around cycling, running and bone health.

Dr. Eimear Dolan, is an exercise physiologist and sports science researcher out of University of San Paolo, Brazil. During this conversation Dr. Dolan walks us through the role of bone in our bodies,  discusses factors associated with cycling and endurance sports that could be problematic for bone health and how athletes and coaches can take action to prevent bone loss.

In this podcast you'll learn what signs to look for that may indicate potential bone health concerns and learn about the power of nutrition and certain types of exercise in building and maintaining healthy bone mass. You'll also learn:

The importance of bone in youth and teen years.

Nutrition strategies you should consider around training hours.

What is osteoporosis and osteopenia? 

How could  poor bone health impact my cycling performance?

Are calcium losses through sweat a concern?

Gain actionable tips that you can start putting into motion today. 

Caffeine, America's most popular drug. More than 85% of Americans drink at least one caffeinated drink per day. 

But for athletes, caffeine is a drug that's not restricted by WADA, which means athletes can use it and reap the benefits in their sports nutrition plan.

I know what you're thinking, my coffee is a drug!? I know, that sounds strange, but indeed it is! Ever skip a few days? Withdrawals!

If you do use caffeine  to improve performance, whether on your bike, mountain biking, gravel cycling are you getting the most out of it? Do you know what dose has been proven to be effective? What the optimal timing of intake should be? Whether that timing differs between coffee, supplement capsules or caffeinated gum?

What about habituation? Do you need to cut back on coffee pre race to get the BEST bang for your buck?

Do your genetics impact whether or not you'll get a performance effect from caffeine? 

What about caffeine consistency between coffees? Is it generally consistent if you drop in at your local coffee shop? 

These are all questions you'll need answers to if you want to use caffeine as a performance enhancer. So to get you the science, I found a top expert on the topic,.

Dr. Bryan Saunders is a researcher who studies out of University of Sao Paulo Brazil. He has an extensive background in sports science and received his PhD from the University of Nottingham. He's researched caffeine, beta alanine and sodium bicarbonate deeply and he's also an avid cyclist. 

In other words he LOVES COFFEE (and tea!).

During this podcast you'll learn the answers to all of the questions above and a lot more including how caffeine exerts it's physiological effects on your body and how it could work into your cycling nutrition plan. 

Olympic cyclist Ruth Winder knows a thing or two about bike racing, cycling culture and what it takes to be one of the best cyclists in the world.

Ruth has won stages and the GC in some of the most prestigious races on the World Cup circuit. Like most athletes, she's no stranger to adversity .

In today's podcast Ruth shares some important lessons she's learned over the last 15 years on the road and track circuit. Ruth shares her story around relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-s) , how she ended up consuming too few calories, how it backfired and what she did to turn this situation around. and come back strong. 

We also talk about the importance of advocating for yourself as an athlete and how Ruth listened to her gut and sought help when she felt things didn't make sense. Ruth speaks to the importance of not just listening to people in power because they are in power and how we need to question authority and make our own decisions as athletes. These are important lessons for us all in life and in sport.

I spoke to Ruth about her transition into gravel cycling, how she's handling the change of intensity in life and what she's working on to keep busy. WOW Ruth has a lot on the go and a very cool new business venture that she unveils in detail here today. I think we can expect a lot from Ruth in the coming years.

Any athlete will appreciate Ruth's candor during our podcast conversation. If you've ever wondered what it's like to race in Europe, win the nationals solo by meters, transition from a full time professional cycling career to a more balanced career that includes the muddy gravel scene, Ruth walks us through it all. 

Everyone's talking about creatine and rightfully so. As the most proven sports nutrition supplement on the market, it holds a lot of clout and can be an asset to both your performance and health span. It may even benefit your road biking or gravel cycling!

There's a lot of new research around creatine, and I wanted to make sure you were up to date, so I invited expert Dr. Scott Forbes onto the podcast to answer some important questions.

Dr. Forbes is an associate professor in the department of Physical Education Studies at Brandon University and an adjunct professor in the faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the University of Regina. He's a certified sport nutritionist (ISSN) and a clinical exercise physiologist and high performance specialist through the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP).

Dr. Forbes and I dig into a lot of interesting areas today, including creatine biology and physiology 101, so you can gain a solid understanding of what it is, how we make it, how our bodies use it and how it provides energy.

We peel the layers back on the following topics and do some myth busting.

• Dosing strategies (3!)
• Creatine for vegans and vegetarians
• Creatine in your plant based burger?
• How long creatine stays in your muscles
• Creatine and bone health NEW!
• Can creatine help ultra endurance athletes preserve explosiveness?
• Can creatine improve carbohydrate storage for cyclists?
• Creatine and dehydration - myth busting

There are a lot of devices and apps measuring your body's physiological data on the market, but can they really help you recover and perform better?  

Heart rate variability (HRV) is getting a lot of attention these days, as are metrics that measure 'recovery' and stress. I wanted to get clear on the differences between these data, how athletes can use them, how accurate they are and what the most accurate devices and apps on the market are.

Every year athletes drop out of races because the heat beats them down. It's a hard pill to swallow after all of that training you've put in, to have to DNF. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Heat adaptation is a powerful performance tool that even the best in the world aren't implementing, but they should be. The proof is in the science and the many Olympians who have put it to the test.

In this podcast episode I had the privilege to speak with Environmental Physiology expert

Dr. Stephen Cheung. Dr. Cheung has been instrumental in preparing many athletes for Olympic games including the Tokyo Olympics and Doha World Championships, where the heat was guaranteed to be a factor.

Dr. Cheung is a Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Kinesiology at Brock University. He was also Canada Research Chair in Environmental Ergonomics from 2007-2017. He's also the author of several books including the Science of Cycling and Environmental Exercise Physiology 

With over 25 years of research in Environmental Physiology, he is known worldwide for his expertise and has collaborated with other world renowned scientists in this space. Dr. Cheung has worked in the field with numerous elite level athletes including Olympian Amber Neben, who helped prepare for the high temperatures which were well anticipated at the Tokyo Olympics.

Here are some of the things we cover during our conversation and time stamps:

• Definitions of heat acclimation, acclimatization and habituation (9:55)
• Why are high temperatures bad for performance? (14:30)
• Heat and neuromuscular function (17:00)
• How does heat affect cognitive function and decision making? (22:25)
• How do we get rid of heat? (28:00)
• What is cardiac drift and how does can it affect our performance? (30:15-33:30)
• Managing sweat losses. How much is too much loss? (33:40)
• What's the best was to prepare for the heat? (36:15)
• What does heat adaptation involve? Steps. (37:25)
• Are there sex differences in adaptation duration? (44:45)
• How do I time my heat adaptation plan? (47:55)
• How do you know you are getting hot enough during adaptation? (1:04:21)
• Are all forms of heat exposure the same (hot vs hot and humid)? (52:35)
• How does heat adaptation impact your thirst mechanisms? (1:08)

Remember, a LOT of your competitors will NOT undergo a heat adaptation protocol, so by doing so, you may really surprise yourself on race day! You'll be FLOORED when you hear the percentage of athletes who didn't heat adapt for the 2019 Qatar World Cycling Championships. Shocking!

Remember, you can't make up for all of the ramifications of the heat with a cold water bottle, you really need to invest the time and do the work. That's what it takes to beat the heat.

Over the last decade, more research has focused on the benefits of exercise in alleviating and treating depression and anxiety. I had the incredible opportunity to speak with Neuroscientist Dr. Jennifer Heisz about this topic today.

Dr. Heisz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University and directs the Neurofit Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience and completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship in Brain Health and Aging at the Rotman Research Institute. 

Today we discuss how the pandemic has impacted global levels of depression and anxiety, what it feels like to struggle with either mental health disorder. Dr. Heisz shares her own story and struggles with anxiety and depression and this includes her journey to starting exercise and even an incredible story about a mid triathlon panic attack and how she managed to finish her event and learn from it.

Dr. Heisz walks us through the science of depression, how it affects our brain biology, how antidepressant medications work, what antidepressant resistance is, what types, duration, and intensity of exercise we should do to derive the benefits for mental health, how to overcome barriers of low motivation and a lot of other very interesting topics that help us understand how stress and inflammation play a role in mental health.

Dr. Heisz is an incredible woman. She is courageous and vulnerable and strong. It is a gift to have this conversation with her. I hope that you enjoy our discussion as much as I did.

Ever wonder why you're not recovering as quickly as you used to, why your joints feel a bit more "crickety," and why your training routine isn't bringing you the returns it used to?

With age, our bodies change and our muscles change. We must understand what to tweak to best manage our changing bodies and keep them strong and resilient.

I reached out to Dr. Stuart Phillips to discuss the topic of muscle loss related to aging, how this can impact our functionality and quality of life, and what we can do about it.

"As ketone levels go up, ketones themselves inhibit their own production. When you drink an exogenous ketone and you elevate the ketones in the blood, you're going to be in the short term, blunting that fat release, that lipolysis component."  Dr. Brianna Stubbs

If you're an endurance athlete on the internet, there's little doubt you've stumbled across a conversation about ketogenic diets and ketone supplements, and you may have left more confused then when you arrived. That's because there are a lot of myths floating around  and recommendations not based on sound evidence. I wanted to bring clarity about the differences between supplements, the data behind supplements for both performance and brain health, the required dosing to see any effect, if there is one to be found, and whether or not this is a sound investment for someone whose curiosity is peaked. To bring you reliable information, I reached out to Dr. Brianna Stubbs.

You're a runner or triathlete and you‘re putting in all the miles, but are you spending any time strength training?

If you're not strength training should you be? Why? And importantly, HOW?

It’s easy to get lost in a Dr. Google search about this question, flustered with the endless contradictory opinions and recommendations. I felt it was important to make sure you were getting the correct information, from an expert in the field who works with runners, researches the topic and wrote the book Strength Training for Endurance Runners, Dr. Richard Blagrove.

He’s one of the top experts when it comes to strength training for endurance runners.

Dr. Blagrove offers practical information including exact exercises and how to execute them and examples of

how to progress with resistance training using the principles of training specificity, overload, and adaptation.

Inside the podcast we cover many of your burning questions, including but not limited to:

· Will resistance training improve my running performance? How?

· If I’m new to running, shouldn’t I just run more? Can the novice benefit from

  resistance training too?

· How many sets and reps should I lift and how often?

· Should I try to replicate the running motion in the gym, since I’m training for running?

· I’m worried about injuries, can targeting certain muscles in training may be worthwhile?

· What’s the posterior chain and why do I need to focus on training it?

· I don’t have time to train for an hour 2-3 times a week, so what can I do instead?

· What are some effective training exercises I can do at home?

· Will resistance training make me bulky? Why not?

· What if I want to gain muscle? Should I lift and do my running in any particular order?

· How may energy restriction in my diet be factoring into injuries and muscle building?

· How can I navigate through all of the adversities I’m facing as an athlete and in my life?

Why can't you stop that negative chatter in your mind? Would you ever talk to someone the way to talk to yourself? On that note, how should you talk to yourself, in the first person or third person? Hold on, do you even recognize your thought patterns? If not, how do you cultivate the awareness that you have negative self talk running like a reel in your mind? So many questions and so many great answers.

I reached out to World Champion Mountain Biker and Health Coach Sonya Looney for this podcast, who not only has implemented mindset strategies in her own career, but has also created a course on Mindset for others to reap the benefits of what she has learned and studied for several years.

I feel like I need to go back to this episode and write many of the quotes down that Sonya dropped as they were so poignant and meaningful. There were a lot of practical tips and this conversation left me pondering a few things about goal setting, what 'type' of person I am and the power of setting goals with specific parameters in order to help become the person you want to be.

I left my own podcast pretty motivated to practice what Sonya was teaching in my every day life and I hope you leave it as motivated as I did. Here are a few things that we discuss during our conversation:

• Tools to cultivate awareness of your thoughts
• How to start meditating & cultivating self awareness
• How to follow through on goals and why it matters
• Creating your identity
• Key factors in setting goals you can achieve
• Self talk during cycling training and racing
• How to manage your expectations
• Why comparing yourself to others is a big mistake
• How to move through life adversity

You can learn more from Sonya on her website and through her podcast The Sonya Looney show, both which are listed below. If you're interested in starting Sonya's Mindset program (highly recommend it!), the direct link is also below. In addition if you want to up your cycling swag game, check out Sonya's Moxy and Grit collection at the link below. Sonya also has an awesome YouTube page with incredible tips on mountain bike training, equipment and mindset. So much to learn.

Thanks for listening, I truly appreciate you being a part of the community. I would love if you could hop over to Apple Podcast and rate my podcast and leave a quick comment. This helps my podcast reach a larger audience, which means I can share the amazing knowledge my guests have with as many people as possible, which is my goal! I love to share comments and they also help me to improve my podcast and consider other future guests. If you have any comments feel free to message me here below in the comments or connect with me on twitter, IG or through my email.

To connect with and learn from Sonya follow the links below:

For athletes looking to conceive during their lifetimes, understanding the potential impacts of exercise on reproductive health is paramount. I noticed that there was very little media attention given to the effects of exercise on reproductive health. After having met many athletes who have struggled with fertility and reproductive health, I wanted to learn more about the topic and share this information with you through my podcast.

It was my pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with Reproductive Biologist and embryologist Dr. Diana Vaamonde about this topic.

Dr. Vaamonde a Professor of Anatomy and Embryology at the University of Cordoba and a recent author of the book Fertility, Pregnancy and Wellness. She has also spent many years working in fertility clinics and has both clinical and research experience, which gives her a deep understanding of how difficult this is emotionally for people who do want to conceive and have children.

Dr. Vaamonde did an excellent job translating the science into accessible terms that we can all understand and relate to during our discussion. I learned a lot and here is what you can learn when you tune in.

• How temperature and saddle pressure impacts sperm parameters in males
• Physiology of the reproductive system (male/female)
• Athletes, oxidative stress and how it impacts reproductive health, including mitochondria in sperm and eggs.
• (RED-S) Low energy availability and reproductive health
• Is there a sweet spot of exercise volume to optimize reproductive health?
• Why having a period doesn’t always mean you are fertile and a bit about anovulation.
• IVF therapy and healthy lifestyle.
• What is the ‘volume threshold’ in regards to reproductive health?
• How reversible are reproductive changes that may occur in response to certain types of exercise or low energy availability?
• How to navigate through difficult life circumstances and keep moving forward when things are TOUGH!

It is very important to consult with your physician if you are struggling to conceive. This podcast does not serve as medical advice, rather it is a source of information from an expert in the field which you can learn from. As we discussed in the podcast, there are many other factors which can impact someone’s ability to conceive. We touched on some topics which may contribute to your reproductive health, however it is important to have a full medical assessment if you are concerned or struggling.

To learn more from Dr. Diana Vaamonde, you can find her on LinkedIn below and also purchase her book at the link below.

Thank you for listening! Please take a moment to subscribe on Apple Podcast and rate my podcast there. With more ratings, more listeners will see my podcast and this means more people getting quality information from discussions I have with experts in their fields. 

Are you an athlete wondering if CBD oil can help you, if it's safe and whether it can help with pain, recovery or sleep? Well if you ask Dr. Google about it, you’ll get a surprising amount of claims telling you it will definitely help with sleep, recovery, inflammation and mental health and many of these sound very credible and “sciency.” But what if you ask an actual scientist who has spent years researching CBD oil and knows and understands the data and physiology? Will it be so black and white?

Today’s guest Dr. Graeme Close is exactly the person I wanted to speak with to get you the facts about CBD oil for athletes. Dr. Close is is a Professor of Human Physiology who has published many papers in relation to sports nutrition, vitamin D, muscle damage and repair and now is focused on research on athletes and cannabidiol (CBD). He is a former professional rugby league player and currently consults as an expert nutrition consultant to England Rugby as well as several other Premier League football clubs and players. Dr. Close has clearly found a way to mix his passions for sport and science. His ability to translate the knowledge to the masses is well known as he has regularly appeared on BBC tv and radio and now here on the Imperfect Progress podcast!

I had a lot of questions for Dr. Close today and the conversation gets really lit up many times on some topics that he wasn’t sure he should cross into…but we did! and his insights were both informative and honest. I’ll add to that and say he was also hilarious!

Here’s some of what we cover during our conversation:

• What are cannabinoids?
• What gets you high vs what doesn’t?
• What athletes need to know about anti- doping and why risk still exists with current guidelines.
• Are product labels accurate?
• Can CBD oil reduce pain for athletes? Non athletes?
• Can CBD oil help athletes sleep?
• Can CBD oil actually help your muscles recover?
• How many athletes are using CBD oil?
• The opioid crisis and CBD oil – Graeme’s opinion
• CBD oil and traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• How our endocannabinoid system works with CBD/THC
• Can fasting affect CBD or THC levels in our body?
• What’s new in CBD research and what’s coming?
• How to overcome adversity in life manage difficult times through Graeme’s eyes and from his experiences.

For more about Dr. Close see the links below and some additional resources about CBD oil for reading.

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why should I track my menstrual cycle?” If so, I’m sure you’re not the only one, but it turns out, this is a pretty empowering thing to do.

Are you suffering from cramps and bloating? Is your energy, mood or libido fluctuating? Do you have heavy bleeding some months and not others? When asked to explain this with your physician or coach, are your answers vague? Can you precisely connect times within your cycle? How well do you know your reproductive system?

Tracking your menstrual cycle is empowering and today’s guest Dr. Lynae Brayboy walks us through many important reasons why we should start.

Dr. Lynae Brayboy is an MD focused on reproduction and infertility. She is also the Chief Medical Officer at Clue, an inclusive app centered around educating women about their bodies across the lifespan at every reproductive stage, from puberty to menopause. She is a medical doctor who specializes in reproduction and infertility, with a passion of teaching young people and girls about their reproductive system. She is also an egg biologist, focused on egg quality and the effect of a women’s eggs and pregnancy on her future health. 

This conversation had so much depth. Here’s what’s inside:

• Menstrual cycle: What’s a typical cycle? Phases?
• What milestones should you look for when using Clue?
• How can tracking your cycle empower you?
• How can you benefit from Clue as a coach or physician?
• How tracking can open lines of communication.
• How Clue is working to normalize periods.
• What the media bans from being shown in relation to periods (I had no idea! This has to change.)
• Fertility and how you can measure ovulation (cheaply)!
• The Female Athlete Triad, RED-S and bone health
• A natural period vs a withdrawal bleed -why this matters
• Inclusivity and why this value is so important at Clue.
• Adversity: Dr. Brayboy’s incredible story of how she’s arrived to where she is today (this was no cake walk). If this doesn’t inspire you, nothing will!

Dr. Lynae Brayboy always has the client and patient top of mind during our entire conversation. Her passion for fighting against the taboo surrounding periods rings through loud and clear. I was really surprised with some of the challenges she shared within the industry an in particular in media.

Most of all, Dr. Brayboy and the Clue team are passionate about helping people and women gain the most control over their reproductive health as possible, through simple technology and clear, easy to understand education via Clue.

I hope you enjoy and learn as much during this episode as I did. Note the extra bit of conversation after the podcast ends as we continued chatting after and decided to record another 5 minutes to expand on bone health in the Female Athlete Triad and RED-S.

When you get a three time world champion and her world class coach on the same podcast, there's a whole lot of wisdom and expertise that arises. Enter Amber Neben and Tim Cusick.

Amber Neben is no stranger to cycling. With two world time trial championship gold medals to her name and one team time trial world championship title, plus over 70 career wins, including several national road and time trial titles and being a 2x Olympian, she has more than a little experience to share with us today, and it shines through. Does she use a lot of technology? How have her rest days changed over the years? What does she think most cyclist could work on to maximize their time on and off the bike? I wanted to know, so I asked!

Tim Cusick arrives at the mic with a long history of coaching experience. Tim is the Product Leader for Training Peaks and WKO, the head coach of Velocious Cycling Adventures and Joinbasecamp.com. He also happens to be Amber Neben's coach, along with several other professional cyclists. It's safe to say Tim knows a thing or three about building a progressive training strategy. I made sure we got clear on what elements need to go into a good strategy and how both athletes and coaches can make sure they're building progress into training cycles while avoiding non functional overreaching and balancing athlete freshness and fitness. He also shares his opinion on HRV, technology, and coach athlete communication, which I believed was one of the most poignant parts of our discussion.

Today you'll learn about:

• Building a training strategy and rhythm
• How to build and measure progress
• Non functional vs functional over reaching
• Why rest is the overlooked yet KEY to progress
• Athlete signs of Non functional overreaching
• Common barriers that impede progress for many cyclists
• HRV - what is it, are they using it? Why? Why not?
• The power of coach athlete communication
• Are we losing something amidst all the "data?"
• Mindset and how it can shape your success
• Thoughts on overcoming adversity from both Tim and Amber

If you want to learn more from Tim or Amber, please visit the links below and follow them on social media. Now let's get listening.

Share this episode and tag @guzmananne on your IG or @guzmannutrition on twitter, to let me know what you learned from Tim and Amber. Share this episode with a friend and please rate my podcast on Apple and leave a comment, I would love to hear what you thought! By sharing and rating the podcast it allows me to work on growing the platform in order to continue brining on such incredible guest who we can all learn from. I truly appreciate it.

If you’re an athlete, there’s a high likelihood you’re familiar with and may have experience with creatine supplementation. Creatine, which is inherently part of our body’s energy production, has a robust body of evidence backing it which reaches back decades. Evidence runs deep for creatine’s ability to improve performance in sports with short explosive sub 30s efforts and repeated burst as well as resistance training type exercise.

More recently, creatine research has been focused on new areas including the brain, in relation to traumatic brain injury, anti aging, focus and fatigue resistance as well as other brain related diseases. To learn more about what we know, and where the research is headed, I reached out to speak with two scientists who are currently immersed in research on the neuroprotective effects of creatine monohydrate.

Dr. Brian Roy and Jensen Murphy are both scientists at Brock University in Canada. Dr. Roy is the current Interim Dean for the Faculty of Graduate Sciences as well as a Professor in the Kinesiology department. He’s also an accomplished athlete which you’ll hear more about this during the podcast!

Jensen Murphy is completing her Masters research at Brock University in the health sciences department, with Dr. Brian Roy as her supervisor. and shares her personal story with us as far as what drove her decision to research creatine and fuels her desire to become an emergency room physician. Jensen is also a very accomplished varsity hockey goalie and coach.

As an athlete who has experienced several concussions myself, I was very curious to learn more about the role creatine may or may not play in concussion recovery and prevention. Additionally, as a coach, I am always keen to keep up to date with the latest research on performance, including in the cognitive space where creatine may play a role. Today we dive right in after a brief foundation of what creatine is and what it does in the body.

Inside the podcast you’ll learn:

• Can you train your body to synthesize more creatine?
• How does diet impact your creatine levels in muscle and the brain?
• Can creatine give you a cognitive edge in sport?
• Can creatine help anti age your brain?
• Are there sex differences with creatine?
• How do you measure brain creatine?
• Is there a dosing regimen for the brain?
• Is creatine safe?
• What's different about getting creatine into muscle versus into the brain?

As always I finish my podcast with some deeper more personal insights about imperfect progress and how my guests have navigated their own challenging times on their paths to where they are now. Some great insights and personal stories came up and the end of this episode.

Whether you're an athlete or not, your brain is one of your most precious assets. Personally I'm super keen on keeping mine sharp and firing on all cylinders as long as possible. The question is, will creatine help?

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Imperfect Progress. My goal is always to bring you quality information about science and navigating life, in a way that is relatable and practical from the best experts in their fields.

I'd really appreciate if you could visit my podcast on Apple Podcast here and give it a rating and leave a comment. It helps others to find the podcast and that means more people learning from credible sources, which is the goal! Also, your comments and feedback are valuable and appreciated.

To follow and learn from Dr. Brian Roy and Jensen Murphy, check out the links below:

Tired of being tired? You're not alone. Millions of people struggle with sleep every night. In Canada, 1 in 2 adults have trouble going to sleep or staying asleep and 1 in 5 do not find their sleep refreshing. Yet, sleep is a powerful free tool at your disposal that can improve your athletic performance, mental and physical health.

Knowing how many athletes struggle with sleep, I decided it was due time to source one of the best sleep scientists in the industry to help gather some tactics to help you cultivate a new sleep strategy in 2021 and beyond.

Award winning sleep scientist Dr. Amy Bender is bursting with evidence based insights that will play an integral role in creating your new sleep strategy.  After spending over 15 years studying sleep through many avenues including work as a sleep technician, clinical research, written publications, interviewed for stories in Oprah Magazine and public speaking appearances including her Ted Med talk. Dr. Bender has an intimate relationship with the science. Her ability to translate the science to the field is evident through her successful work with NHL, Canadian national team athletes and Olympic athletes.

For athletes, sleep is a free performance aid that won't break the bank. Understanding how to set up your environment to maximize it's quality and quantity is paramount to getting the most out of your training routine..

This year in particular has brought extra stress for many due to the challenges of our current global pandemic. We know that stress can impact sleep and lack of sleep can impact stress. Learning tactics to put the breaks on this viscous cycle can prove to be very beneficial for many aspects of our health and performance.

I could have spoken to Dr. Amy Bender for hours, but of course in respecting her time I did my best to get what I thought would be the most practical information for you the listener.

Inside the podcast you'll learn:

• How daylight exposure impacts your sleep
• CBD oil: What does the evidence say regarding sleep?
• Light therapy - can a lamp replace daylight?
• How can I reduce jetlag if I travel to race? (step by step!)
• Why this sleep scientist ditched her Garmin sleep technology
• Specific tactics to help you fall asleep at night
• Caffeine, your brain and sleep drive
• The caffeine "crash"
• Naps: Can they help performance? What's too long?
• Meditation: Is it as restorative as sleep?

This episode is loaded! To round it out Dr. Bender shares some personal insights about how she has managed to push through challenging times in her own life and demanding career path? What kept her going when things were so grueling? I'm always interested to hear what my guests have to share in this final question about navigating imperfect progress.

I'm super grateful that I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Amy Bender this week. Her ability to translate science to an audience is next level and I'm appreciative of her passion to do so.

Thanks so much for listening. Please share this episode with anyone you think may benefit from a better night's sleep. If you listen on Apple Podcast I would love it if you could rate the podcast and leave any comments or feedback.

Have you caught yourself deep into a Netflix binge, wondering where the hours went? How about fixated on a project at your desk while day turns to night, barely having moved? You ask yourself, "Where did the time go and when is the last time I stood up?" I can definitely raise my hand here.

Although long periods of focus clearly have some benefits, from a health perspective, remaining immobile for hours on end on a regular basis has negative implications on our health. The good news?  It's never to late to change and to learn how to incorporate more movement throughout your day.

Today's guest Dr. Scott Lear, Professor of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, has some excellent insights into the physiological changes that occur in the body due to excessive sitting or sedentary lifestyle. With over 25 years working in the clinical and research areas of disease prevention and management, he is an international expert on healthy living.

Today we discuss:

• How fat and carbohydrate metabolism can be altered due to sedentary behavior
• NEAT - non exercise activity thermogenesis, what it is and how it can contribute to calorie expenditure
• Are standing desks superior to sitting? Why or why not?
• Tips on moving more within your home during the day
• Maximizing your geographical environment to promote more daily movement
• Closing thoughts from Dr. Scott Lear on Imperfect Progress, dealing with criticism and pausing emotional reactions and why this is a good life practice.

“What’s the worst that can happen? We only have one life, you have to go for things...” David Swain

David Swain is no stranger to making big changes and taking the “leap.” He shares his story with us during this insightful conversation, giving us a look inside the origins of his own drive and his ability to thoughtfully navigate change throughout his life and career.

From Small Town to Big Business, How David Swain Moves Through Change to Live a Life of No Regrets

How did a psychology and economics major become one of the early employees at Facebook and their Head of Technology Communications? How did David Swain decide to leave this position at one of the hottest companies in Silicone Valley to help grow another start up, now one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, as the Global Head of Communications? You would think Dave would have settled at this point, so you can understand why I was eager to ask Dave what fueled him, to at the peak of his career, leave, and make what was his biggest leap yet, becoming an entrepreneur as the CEO and Co Founder of Prokit.

Wouldn’t we all love to cultivate the ability to know ourselves so well, that we trust our process and the feelings we’re experiencing, when we’re faced with a big life or career change? I know I would love to have this clarity and I was hungry to learn all about Dave’s process and his suggestions for listeners.

Here’s some of what we cover during today’s episode:

• How Dave’s youth impacted his outlook on life
• Having conversations with people and not going it alone.
• How to learn what makes you tick.
• Understanding your strengths.and how to maximize them.
• Visualizing the type of career that’s a great fit for you.
• How to change your outlook if you’re in a career rut.
• The rationale on “enjoying the grind.”
• The mindset of ‘having no regrets’.

I took so much wisdom from this conversation and left very energized! David has so much practical insight to share from his many life and career experiences. I truly hope that you leave this podcast motivated to take agency over decisions you may be struggling with by implementing some of the techniques Dave suggests throughout.

Please share this episode with anyone you know who may need help navigating life and career changes (don’t we all!?).

To learn more about David Swain or to connect with him online, please see the links below. Definitely check out Dave’s new entrepreneurial venture, Prokit! It’s free to join and a wonderful place to learn, share and become part of a community.

“Half of all mental disorders start before the age of 14, you want to get in and prevent them before they start and that means making sure that kids are getting the right nutrition and physical activity and obviously when they get into adolescence not smoking.”

Dr. Felice Jacka, Director of The Food and Mood Center and founder and president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research has dedicated her career researching nutritional psychiatry as well creating programs to mobilize change in our food environment. One of her many goals is to teach the role that lifestyle medicine can play in preventing mental health disorders. With a strong statistics background Dr. Jacka understands how important the role of quality research; intervention studies and meta analysis;  will be in influencing change in the clinical practice setting and was part of one of the first studies looking at dietary intervention and depressive symptoms.

“What gets me out of bed in the morning and keeps me doing this with such passion and zeal is the need to address the food environment and the fury I feel that big business has been allowed to sacrifice the health of the people and the planet right across the globe in the pursuit of profits, unimpeded”

In our discussion we cover so many interesting areas:

• Treatment guidelines for mental health disorders: early focus lifestyle medicine
• Nutrition education for physicians 
• Gut microbiota and its relationship to our mental health.
• Gut health: why variety of foods matters
• Setting up a healthy food environment for your kids with specific practical examples!
• The SMILES trial: A Randomized controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression: results and insights
• Obesity: changing our stereotypes about weight and mental health disorders
• The food environment and food policy 
• Dealing with adversity and imperfect progress in life - so much wisdom here from an incredibly strong and resilient woman.

Thank you so much for listening to Imperfect Progress. Please share this episode with anyone you believe can benefit and follow here or on your favorite podcast platform for new episodes. Please leave a review! It's super helpful for getting the podcast to more listeners who can learn from these amazing guests.

To connect with and learn more about Dr. Felice Jacka's work, see the links below:

It’s SUPER hot out there this summer so this week’s episode with Dr. Heather Logan Sprenger is fitting, since we dive into hydration and regulating body temperature so we can beat the heat!

Listeners will gain insights into Heather’s youth in sport and how this played into her long career as an elite athlete and professional athlete in the sports of hockey and road cycling. While cycling full time Heather was also doing her PhD…that’s intense and I had some questions about how she managed this work life balance.

Next we dive into some science where Heather translates her knowledge so well in regards to sodium intakes and losses, how humidity plays into the picture, individuality in sweat rate and composition and new exciting science on menthol mouth rinsing and it’s potential to up your power (yes the kind you buy in the store!).  Heather leaves us with some great insights about how to determine our sweat loss and sodium losses as well as some actionable things we can start doing today to improve our hydration and post training/race recovery. With Heather’s experience as a professional athlete she’s able to relate well to the importance of hydration and maximizing performance through ergogenic aids. Her thoughts on cramping and sodium intake will be insightful for the athletes tuning in (hint it’s not always sodium!).  

Heather shares some unforgettable wisdom on managing uncertainty and staying the course when progress isn’t going as smoothly as you may have imagined on your journey from A to B. Her words really stuck with me and will become one of my new mantras…wait for it! I think you’ll love what Dr. Logan-Sprenger has to say about imperfect progress.   

During this episode we discuss:

1. The path from young athlete to professional athlete, PhD and Professor 
2.  Sweat rates and individuality 
3. Sodium loss and sodium’s role in the body 
4. Tips on hydrating during performance and recovery 
5. Menthol mouth rinsing – the science behind it 
6. Moving through difficult and uncertain processes in life and a mantra I’ll never forget!

Thanks for listening and please share this episode with anyone who may enjoy and learn from it.  

You can connect with Dr. Heather Logan-Sprenger through any of the links below.  

Welcome to the Imperfect Progress Podcast! I’m excited to share this episode focused around girls in sport, women in coaching and community involvement with author, athlete and entrepreneur Molly Hurford.

"There’s still this notion that, in female athletes, that it’s ok to lose their period during high intensity training in the middle of a season, cross country or track and field for example, and I continually have to educate that that’s not normal and that lack of period is a good sign that something is off…” Dr. Emily Kraus

Dr. Emily Kraus is a Sports Medicine Physician working out of Stanford Children’s Health Center, where her focus is rehabilitation and sports related injuries as well as injury prevention.

Asked why Emily does the incredible work she does, she speaks about a life long love of sport and an understanding of how important it is to be injury free as an athlete, so you can be out there doing what you love most.

As an seasoned athlete herself, Emily recently blasted a 2:50 marathon PR! She understands the intricacies of sport and the importance of health relating to longevity in an athletic pursuits, versus acute tactics that can often backfire and leave athletes on the sidelines.

Our conversation sheds light about the effects of relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-s) on our bone health and why this is important for athlete performance as well as our later years in life.

Dr. Emily Kraus discusses:

• the impact of low energy availability on bone health and other aspects of performance and physiology
• the importance of getting calcium and vitamin D through the diet where possible
• why rest is such a crucial part of the training cycle, necessary for optimal bone health
• contraception and missed periods in female athletes
• the natural process of puberty and how young athletes can re-frame their process as their own and avoid comparisons

There’s a lot of wisdom from Dr. Kraus in this podcast. I truly believe these are topics that need to infiltrate sporting communities, including coaches and parents, in order to create a healthier sporting experience for all athletes at any age.

In addition to the audio link below, Dr. Kraus created this amazing info graphic to further clarify some points we discuss on the podcast. Please share this with anyone who may benefit.

Tune in and leave any comments or questions below. You can tag Dr. Emily Kraus in the comments as well! Thanks for listening and sharing these important messages.

Click on the link below to listen now!

For more information on how to connect with Dr. Emily Kraus on social media or through her practice, please see the links below.

With decades of experience in the health and fitness industries, Dr. Alwyn Wong is a wealth of knowledge. Alwyn has worked with athletes in the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, and PGA, as well as Olympic, and IFBB athletes. He currently works as a Chiropractic Doctor out of Toronto, Canada.

Alwyn specializes in acupuncture and active release techniques and more recently you’ll find him speaking on anti-aging and stress reduction. Alwyn also teaches at a traditional acupuncture school and operates his business Zone Health and Performance, a company dedicated to educating fitness professionals. It’s safe to say he’s staying curious and current.

Dr. Wong joined me for an insightful conversation that takes us through the body’s responses to stress and how stress can impact our body’s ability to put on muscle, recover from exercise and age optimally.

He also walks us through a myriad of reasons why endurance athletes should consider cross-training to prevent injuries, even at the expense of potentially cutting workouts a few miles short to do so.

What we discuss during the episode:

• Strengthening the muscles neglected during training
• Acupuncture: what’s really happening when you’re lying on a table with needles in your skin?
• Foam rolling, tennis balls, scraping and cupping – are they valuable tools for athletes?
• The body’s response to stress and how stress can undermine your training efforts
• What you can start today for only ONE MINUTE to get your body into a “rest and digest” state

I learned a lot from our conversation and it was a great reminder for me to incorporate some simple movements and habits back into my daily life.

You can find Dr. Alwyn Wong at the links below. If you have any comments please post below or feel free to reach out to Alwyn on Instagram where is most active on social media.

“I equate focusing on health with high performance and when you have a healthy resilient body then you’re going to get a better performance and it’s going to be sustainable. Making that connection is key,  it’s not choosing one or the other.” Leah Kirchmann

If you follow women’s cycling, Leah Kirchmann will be a familiar name to you. As one of the world’s most consistent performers on the professional road circuit, riding with Team Sunweb, it’s no surprise that Leah has a purposeful strategy for her nutrition and mindset.

Leah describes herself as a learner. Her unquenchable thirst for knowledge about all things nutrition makes that abundantly clear. Her degree in nutrition sciences comes in handy not only in her own pursuits, but also when she’s mentoring young female athletes as a Fast and Female ambassador.

Our conversation takes us down many interesting roads, including:

• some of Leah’s fueling strategies
• tactics Leah uses to help sharpen her mindset
• Leah's thoughts on young female athletes and nutrition
• body image and diet trends
• the joy that food and baking brings into Leah's life
• books Leah is reading

It was my pleasure to speak with Leah and I’m excited for you to have the opportunity to step inside the Performance Hub and hear what she had to say. Click below to tune into the podcast episode.

Share any comments or questions below and share this episode with anyone who may be interested and can learn from our conversation.

Thank you for listening!

Here are some links based on our conversation including a few of Leah’s favorite books and where you can connect with Leah on social media. Thanks for tuning in to the Imperfect Progress Podcast!

Athletes all over the world are facing uncertainty about when the next competition is and where their focus should be right now. Although athletes tend to be resilient and forward thinking, these times present athletes with a unique stress, compared to the almost expected ‘forks in the road’ that they contend with regularly.

A good coach helps us navigate our way through difficult situations and helps us to adjust and refocus. Through experience, foresight and the ability to remain calm, a great coach can be an athlete’s best asset.

I met Tim Cusick a decade ago, while working as a sports nutritionist at a cycling camp in Pennsylvania. Tim is the ultimate professional and a man of true integrity. He’s definitely the coach I’d want in my corner if I was competing today. Tim embodies a wealth of knowledge about cycling and data analytics. Additionally, Tim’s life experiences have culminated in his forward thinking, focused and calm in the eye of a storm type personality.

Tim has evolved into one of the world’s top cycling coaches, is the founder and head coach of of Velocious Cycling along side partner Kathy, and works as the ‘WKO Product Lead’ at Training Peaks.

As a coach, Tim is focused on supporting female athletes. Through his experience he has learned of the disparity of women in sport and it has become of passion of his to be a part of the change by providing more opportunity for female athletes to succeed. Currently Tim coaches world class athletes including Amber Neben, Rebecca Rusch and Emma Grant.

I’m excited to share this conversation with Tim today. Tim shares some candid answers about how to manage training during these uncertain times. He shares some incredible insights into how some of the best athletes in the world are looking into the horizon and working on “succeeding” every day as both athletes and human beings.

I hope this conversation somehow resonates with you and propels you to look forward as an athlete, while inspiring you to work on challenges that keep you moving in the days and months ahead.

Some of the things you can look forward to hearing about during our conversation include but are not limited to:

• Working on succeeding and what that looks like for you
• Looking ahead to the horizon – thinking of a multi year plan
• Coaches don’t motivate you but here’s what they can do
• Creating a challenge for yourself
• What Tim thinks about “maintenance mode” right now
• Using the indoor trainer as a “tool.”
• Specificity of training
• Working on mental strengths
• Heat adaptation

You can conect with Tim through any of the following links: