WHY YOUR WORKOUTS FEEL TOO HARD (Not What You Think...) | Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 563
Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad
TrainerRoad
4.9 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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// TOPICS COVERED
(0:00:00) Alex Drops a Big Announcement
(0:08:19) Why Threshold Feels Brutal (Even When Fitness Is Up)
(0:10:21) The Indoor Setup Fix Most People Miss (Match)
(0:11:30) The Hidden Reason You’re Stuck: No Real Cycles
(0:18:18) Stop Guessing: Rate Workouts the Right Way
(0:24:37) The #1 Endurance Mistake: “Easy” Rides Too Hard
(0:36:11) Race Pacing Autopsy: Where It Was Won (and Lost)
(0:41:27) Rapid-Fire Answers You’ll Actually Use
(0:49:27) Plans for your event (gravel, Zwift racing, touring, more)
(0:51:22) “My longest workout is 1:30… is that enough for a long race?”
(0:56:23) How many intensity days per week should you do?
(0:56:53) “Which plan should I pick?” (custom plan vs presets)
(0:57:17) “I don’t want to follow a plan” (how to train without feeling boxed in)
(0:58:49) When to add strength training (without wrecking key workouts)
(0:59:33) Cross-training: “I also do another sport” (how the plan accounts for it)
(1:01:58) Vacation, sickness, missed days: “Will it adjust when life happens?”
(1:06:55) Quick edits: swap to a shorter or longer workout on the fly
(1:03:58) “I already know my FTP… do I need AI FTP Detection?”
(1:05:42) Training outside: how to execute workouts outdoors
(1:03:36) “Is this only for serious racers?” (training for fun still works)
(1:07:31) “Is it going to be boring?” (how people actually do it)
(1:09:08) “What makes TrainerRoad different?”
(1:15:14) “Can I talk to someone if I have questions?” (coaches + help)
In this episode, Alex Wild and Coach Jonathan break down why your workouts can feel way too hard even when your fitness is improving, and the culprit usually isn’t motivation or toughness, it’s how the week is structured. They unpack an athlete calendar to show how intensity can quietly creep in on “easy” days, why that makes threshold feel brutal, and how better training cycles, real recovery space, and honest post-workout ratings get progress moving again. The final portion turns into a rapid-fire TrainerRoad FAQ, covering every question you could have prior to signing up.
// RESOURCES MENTIONED
- Alex’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexwildmtb
- Sign up for TrainerRoad! https://trainerroad.cc/GetFaster
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// HELPFUL LINKS
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- Learn more about TrainerRoad: https://trainerroad.cc/3LBb5Ur
- Listen to the Successful Athletes Podcast: https://trainerroad.cc/3JmKrN5
- Listen to the Science of Getting Faster Podcast: https://trainerroad.cc/3LpuIhP
- Training Blog: https://trainerroad.cc/3gCdNdN
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast presented by Trainer Road today. We are going to talk about why your training might not be working when you don't know what's going on. We're going to dig into it with Alex Wilde. Alex, stoked to have you on the podcast. It's been too long. Good to have you. Hey, everyone. Thanks for having me as always. Yeah. This is the offseason right now. This is December. Technically, it's the on season. Everyone's training for the next year. |
| 0:22.4 | Alex, I think that we're breaking some news here, but you've long been known as this rare |
| 0:31.0 | athlete that sits between the pro and the amateur only in the sense that you somehow carry a job, you're a normal |
| 0:39.5 | relatable dude, but then also your performance is at a different level than us normal |
| 0:45.1 | dudes. With that said, you're making a switch and you're in a position now in your life where |
| 0:51.7 | you're saying, hey, I'm going to go and give it a two-year |
| 0:55.6 | all-in shot at this thing and you are going to be full-time focusing on training and racing for the |
| 1:01.3 | next two years. Yeah. This is a big choice. Congratulations, man. Thank you. Yeah. At the end of the |
| 1:06.2 | month, I'll be leaving the specialized desk job, but definitely not leaving specialized. I still believe we make |
| 1:12.5 | the best bikes out there, and knowing everybody that works on them is special, so I'll still be |
| 1:17.0 | riding specialized bikes and still working with cycle sport, obviously, as a title sponsor, and |
| 1:22.7 | we're going to try to bring together a five-part series called All- In and essentially just bring everyone along for the ride, kind of using this podcast as a framework in the way that you tend to do it. |
| 1:35.8 | Crowdsourced people's questions. The goal is just to be as transparent as possible with what we're doing, approaching racing, approaching lifestyle, how we think about things, |
| 1:45.8 | why I do what I do. At the times, I can explain why I do what I do. But yeah, kind of just felt |
| 1:54.0 | like the time to either let the dream go or fully commit. So giving myself two years to just be a full-time athlete and |
| 2:03.8 | chase that dream. This is exciting. Super cool. I'm excited for you personally. We were talking |
| 2:10.3 | before recording about something and I want to talk about it because I think it's really good |
| 2:14.3 | to be open about this and you said you were okay with talking about it. |
| 2:19.0 | We've discussed many times on this podcast and then you and I plenty of times about your power |
| 2:24.7 | in training is truly world class level. Your power, just the power itself is world class level. |
| 2:31.9 | Power to wait is it would lift it further. |
| 2:35.1 | With that in mind, you've always mentioned that you struggle and you're open with this, |
... |
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