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Training
Latest Blogs
When You Shouldn’t Ignore the Small Stuff
In training and general health/nutrition advice that we give, we are almost always telling people to focus on the basics: Be consistent in your training, eat your vegetables, prioritize sleep over fancy recovery modalities. But there are time when small stuff—the...
Higher Function through Pelvic Health – Laura Powers
In this episode of The Consummate Athlete Podcast, Molly interviews returning guest and Physiotherapist Laura Powers: What is Pelvic Health and Pelvic Physiotherapy How Pelvic Health relates to different stages of life Pelvic health is not just for women or...
The Blocks Keeping You From a Good Night of Sleep… And How to Fix Them
I talk about habits a lot, as you probably know, and one of the ones I really like diving into is sleep habits. I love this one because you're already spending that time in bed as it is, you're just tweaking HOW you're sleeping, you don't lose hours of your day on...
Training
Speed Skill and Coordination Drills for Cycling
There are several types of drills that cycling coaches and training plans use to help develop Speed Skill or Coordination. These two terms are mostly the same thing so I am going to use coordination from here on. There are numerous things that could be called...
Indoor Base Training Plan
For the indoor cycling season we offer a 3 months of Indoor-specific Base training plan that will get you fit and ready for the cycling season without burning you out with excessive intensity or monotonous 'junk' miles. The Best Way to Train Indoors for Cycling There...
Does Heart Rate Slow Down in Cold Weather?
If you're out riding fat bikes in snow, cross-country skiing or just running in negative temps, you may be wondering: does pulse rate slow down during cold weather? Short answer—potentially, yes. Longer answer—potentially, but this is all good information! Heart rate...
Racing
Is It Normal to Struggle with Returning to Racing?
Today we have a listener question that sparks discussion about struggling with Returning to Racing after the pandemic but also as we age, early in the season or after injury. Get Your Free Bonus from Athletic Greens - athleticgreens.com/mollyh - to receive your bonus...
Gravel Racing & Dachshunds – Alexey Vermeulen
Professional Cyclist Alexey Vermeulen discusses the upcoming Gravel Season where he will be racing in the Lifetime GrandPrix series for the Jukebox Cycling Team. Download or find links in your favorite Podcast App (remember to rate and...
Crewing Tips for Ultra-Running: How to Crew for a Runner Doing a Big Race
I can now say that I've been on all sides of the ultra-running equation: I've been a crew member, I've been a pacer, and I've had a crew and a pacer. Back in September when I was part of the group that was crewing and pacing my friend Karen to her epic FKT of the...
Cross-Training
Off-Season – When Racing is Done
Sometime between August and December cyclists will finish a competitive season ... or it will just snow a lot and make cycling in your main-discipline all but impossible. The off-season happens in around that period of time and how you handle that off-season can set...
All Your Morning Core + Yoga Videos and Links in One Place … And Some Advice on Starting the Habit
I've talked ad nauseam about the fact that the best/hardest habit I've ever established was my morning core and yoga routine. (I've tried other morning routines like running right away, but this is the one that makes the most sense for wherever you are in the world,...
8 Mistakes You’re Making In Yoga Class… And None of Them Are “Doing X Pose Wrong”
When I started teaching yoga classes a few months ago, I started to realize something: I'd been lucky enough to jump into a few fitness-yoga type classes back in college, just as a 'well, this seems like a bonus workout' during the height of overtraining insanity on...
Mindset
No Goal for 2025? Do These 5 Things
If you’re in the same boat as I am, you don’t yet have a clear goal for 2025. This can be a weird place to be as everyone seems to be dialing in their calendar for the upcoming season. Maybe you have a vague idea of what you want to do, maybe you have too many...
An Important Reminder as We Head into the Holidays
It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is here, which means yet again, the holiday season truly is upon us. And while most fitness articles written around this time of year center around how to stay healthy at holiday parties and how to sneak exercise into your...
Learn to Love Your Pre-Race Mindsets + Quirks
I have learned something new about myself this week: I am a pre-race future-focusing list-making extraordinaire. This isn't a new trait, but it is new that I've realized it. I don't mean that I do this after every 5K or weekly race. But heading into a major event like...
Nutrition
Forget the Crash Diet – But Take Action on Your Nutrition
New year, new temptation to start a super intense diet to make big changes fast. If you haven't guessed from our podcast, articles or book, we're not super on board with crash dieting. We are, however, in favor of small tweaks and habit changes to make a big...
Our Best Kitchen Gadgets for Healthy, Easy, FAST Eating
I was chatting about daily nutrition with a client earlier this week and as we talked, one thing became very, very clear: With a super busy life and barely enough time to fit in training on top of work, meal prep that took more than a minute or two was off the table....
How a Pro Road Racer + Pro Mountain Biker Fuel Their Rides
I've been lucky to get to write a lot of the Eat Like an Elite columns for Bicycling magazine lately, and two women I recently interviewed really stood out to me as having awesome, balanced, healthy and FUN takes on how they eat. Lea Davison and Leah Kirchmann are...
Lifestyle
Karen Holland’s 900-Kilometer Bruce Trail FKT Adventure: The Gear + The Plan
At Consummate Athlete HQ, you know we love a big scary goal. So we are super excited that we're able to help support our friend Karen for a few days as she attempts one of the biggest, scariest goals ever: the Bruce Trail FKT in Ontario, Canada. She's starting this...
Crushing the Apple Crusher at Blue Mountain—And a Few Tips for Going Uphill Fast
A few weeks ago, my massage therapist mentioned the Columbia Apple Crusher Challenge at Blue Mountain Resort here in Collingwood and asked if I was going to do the run up the classic Grind trail and make it onto the leaderboard. I told him I didn’t think my knee would...
Talking Women’s Mental and Physical Health in 2 Upcoming Webinars!
Come hang out with me (Molly) for two webinars with Ontario Cycling this week! Info and registration links here: June 2 (7-8pm) Webinar on Women’s Wellness for Cyclists—Join a panel of sports medicine professionals and moderator Molly Hurford as we talk about the most...
Women Specific
Working with Badass Women: The Journey
Growing up, as a rule, I didn’t have many female friends. Blame it on the fact that my neighbor was a daredevil boy who baited me into being part of his adventures, or a clique-y middle school (think Mean Girls but not as well dressed/without people actually...
Taking a Quick Pee w. Amanda Sin (How to Pee in Bib Shorts) – Video
Today on the project we have Amanda Sin being very generous with her time away from training for World Cup greatness and Physio Therapy super-legitness to show us how to go to the bathroom as fast as the World Champion—AKA peeing in bib shorts. Do work, stop wasting...
Gear
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up… Your Athletic Gear
When it comes to establishing strong training routines, one of the best ways to do it is to have your gear easier to access, in good working condition, and actually gear/clothing that you enjoy using. So, here's what you need to make the life-changing magic of tidying...
The Small Gear That Makes a Big Difference on Adventures + Long Races
It’s funny how a small piece of gear can be the difference between having a really enjoyable race day versus a total $hitshow of a race day. A couple years ago, we came up with this list as I was flying to Western States 100 to pace a friend and then heading to Quebec...
Struggling with Heart Rate Monitors or Breathing on the Bike? Check Your Sports Bra
If you're riding and struggling with either a) your heart rate monitor not reading right or being incredibly uncomfortable, or b) you're struggling to catch your breath on hard parts of your ride, one thing to check is your sports bra. Think about it: Often, we're...
Videos
3 Drills to Corner Better
These are 3 drills that will help you progress your cornering skill Cornering is a multi-faceted skill with unlimited variations and it's something you can keep improving on forever! Just think about how many conditions a cyclocross racer would face, and then multiply...
3 Podcast Episodes that Will Make You A Better Cyclist
The Consummate Athlete Podcast is a Podcast I run with my Wife, Molly Hurford The show has athletes, coaches, experts and, most importantly, regular people doing a variety of awesome things involving movement. The goal of the show? To explore new and different ways to...
Learn to Log Hop – Three Drills to Try
This is a video with three drills to try that I find help riders break through plateaus in their progression towards Log Hops, Bunny Hops, and Jumping. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-HzpvewZ64 The Three Drills to boost your Log Hop include: An off-bike drill that...