HOW CYCLISTS LOSE FITNESS (WITHOUT KNOWING IT) | Hannah Otto | Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 562
Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad
TrainerRoad
4.9 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2025
⏱️ 82 minutes
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Summary
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// TOPICS COVERED
(0:00:01) Intro
(0:01:29) Offseason reset and avoiding burnout
(0:04:02) The “year-long offseason” trap: trying to maintain fitness
(0:07:39) Athlete calendar review: big training, no real breaks
(0:10:00) Why recovery weeks fail (weekend overreaches)
(0:14:30) Reframing rest: creating space for adaptation
(0:32:25) Perimenopause training: strength, fueling, flexibility, more recovery
(0:48:03) Easy endurance should feel easy (stop “suffering to suffer”)
(0:51:57) Fueling focus: carbs and planning hard days (less room for error)
(1:04:59) Gift guide begins (budget friendly picks and practical favorites)
(1:18:10) Experience gifts, trips, and adventure ideas
In this episode, Coach Jonathan sits down with pro cyclist Hannah Otto to break down a common training trap: not respecting rest and recovery. They talk through the mindset side of recovery, why many athletes never fully bounce back when they keep stacking “productive” weeks without real space, and how weekend overreaches can quietly derail an entire training block. The conversation also covers choosing bucket list events that keep training fun and sustainable, plus practical considerations for perimenopause training including strength work, fueling, flexibility, and the need for more recovery.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast, presented by Trainer Road. |
| 0:02.7 | We have Hannah Otto with us here today. |
| 0:04.3 | Hannah, how's it going? |
| 0:23.0 | It's great. I'm happy to be back. We've had a little break. Yep, yeah, we have. That's for sure. You're off-season. We're going to talk about that. We're also going to talk about, you know, sometimes we see trends happen. This is a trend that lasts many, many years. We're going to talk about one of the biggest mistakes that kills fitness for people. |
| 0:20.9 | We're going to get into that one with the |
| 0:24.8 | questions that you've submitted. You can submit them down in the YouTube comments or on Spotify or |
| 0:29.0 | at trendorode.com slash podcast. We'd love to hear from you guys wherever you contact us. It's awesome. |
| 0:33.8 | Hannah, before we get into a question from Connor, I want to talk a little bit about the offseason last year. |
| 0:40.5 | You went and like your offseason was blended with also racing a gnarly stage race in Central America. |
| 0:47.4 | Like, that's not fully recuperative. |
| 0:50.0 | And then I think you got back to racing pretty quick. |
| 0:52.5 | And I think we had had this discussion where you were like, |
| 0:54.6 | I think I want to take a more chill off season next year. |
| 0:59.4 | And it seems like you've done that. |
| 1:02.1 | And I want to ask you how you manage the psychology of that. |
| 1:06.2 | Because everybody listened to this is always afraid to take an off season |
| 1:09.5 | because they're afraid they're |
| 1:10.9 | going to lose their hard work and progress that they got throughout the on season. |
| 1:16.4 | Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. |
| 1:18.6 | The off season, I feel like year over year, I'm always learning. |
| 1:21.9 | You know, you only get to do it once a year. |
| 1:24.4 | And so sometimes it is like it takes several years to learn lessons. And then by the time |
... |
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