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Latest Blogs
Daily, Weekly and Seasonal Journalling Prompts for Athletes
Ever tried to Bullet Journal and found yourself more stressed than ever? Yeah, us too—and we’re guessing that we’re not alone. As Type A athletes with busy lives, long to-do lists, and barely enough time to sneak in training, the idea of keeping a gorgeously designed...
Mental Toughness & Goal Setting – Erin Ayala
In this episode of The Consummate Athlete Podcast, Molly interviews Sports Psychologist Dr. Erin Aylala who returns to the show for her second episode! In this conversation they discuss: What Mental Toughness is Can you build mental toughness Goal Setting tips...
You Don’t Have to Eat the Cookie—But You Definitely Can!
'Tis the season... for confusing messaging around food. On one hand, there's the 'how to stay fit through the holidays' posts and podcasts that talk about how to skip the pumpkin pie at grandma's and stick to your diet. There's a slew of healthy holiday hacks that...
Training
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...
How Realistic Are Your Expectations for Future You?
I’m a big ‘when things calm down’ person. But here’s problem: I am lying to myself. I have a post I wrote 2016 where my now sister-in-law made a joke about me saying that things would calm down, then proceeded to list out a travel schedule that suggested things would...
Washing Your Cycling Kit: Dos and Don’ts of Laundry Cycles
Laundry. Specifically, washing (and drying) your cycling kit. Seems ultra-simple, right? Wash, rinse, repeat. Umm... Turns out with cycling kit, it can be a little more complicated. In addition to skin irritation—more on that in a sec—I was out on a ride yesterday and...
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
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...
What Failure Taught Me About Goal-Setting
Most readers know by this point that my big scary goal that I’ve been talking about for years—a podium at the Leadville 100 trail race—didn’t happen this summer. It’s never about just the end goal. Hear me out. It sounds corny, but even before Leadville didn’t go my...
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
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...
Bike Skills Challenge: 10 Minutes Daily for 30 days
This challenge can be taken on anytime you feel like you need motivation to work on your bike skills. Fall, Spring, during injury, illness or a period you are limited in how far you can get away from home. It could also be while you are at a great spot for skills...
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
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...
Stage Race Packing: Essentials, Extras and Extraneous
This post and list has been honed over many different stage races we have done since 2005 and is meant to help you on any multi-day stage race or training camp as a racer/participant/spectator. Including TransRockies, Transylvania Stage race, Crank The Shield and...
My Top 5 Cycling Tips
Getting started in cycling? Here's what I really, really wish I had known when I got started—maybe then I wouldn't have spent the first 2 years riding in my gym shorts instead of finding comfortable bibs! If you're not new to cycling, some of these may seem a little...
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...