The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS
Coach Adam Pulford delivers actionable training advice and answers your questions in short weekly episodes for time-crunched cyclists looking to improve their cycling performance. The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast (formerly The TrainRight Podcast) is brought to you by the team at CTS - the leading endurance coaching company since 2000. Coach Adam pulls from over a decade of coaching experience and the collective knowledge of over 50+ CTS Coaches to help you cut throught the noise of training information and implement proven training strategies that’ll take your performance to the next level.
The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS
TDFF Stage 6 Recap, Bike Fit for Female Cyclists, and The Science Behind "Mom Watts"
Welcome to the Tour de France Femmes Podcast, from the producers of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast"
CTS publishes daily Tour de France Femmes podcasts with Coaches Adam Pulford and Renee Eastman. They recap the stages, but the unique aspect of these podcasts will be coaching insights about how athletes prepare for the demands showcased in that day's stage.
STAGE 6 PODCAST OVERVIEW
Stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift featured a fantastic solo win by an emerging talent. Coaches Renee Eastman and Adam Pulford recap the stage and preview Friday's stage, and also answer listener questions about bike fit for female cyclists, including why women sometimes look like they're "wrestling the bike" more than male cyclists. For even more insights, they tapped CTS Coach Jane Marshall, a 4-time MTB National Champion and mother of 2, about the changes in bike fit after pregnancy and about whether "Mom Watts" are real or a myth.
ASK A QUESTION FOR A FUTURE PODCAST
Guest Contributor: Jane Marshall
A two-time Collegiate and two-time US Masters National Champion in cross-country mountain biking and a mom to two children, Jane Marshall has been a coach with CTS since 2006. She has competed in and prepared athletes for some of the world's most challenging events. Bio: https://trainright.com/coaches/jane-rynbrandt-marshall/
Co-Host: Renee Eastman
Renee Eastman is a CTS Premier Level Coach and has been coaching with the company for more than 20 years. She has been a professional bike fitter for 15 years and was one of the first fitters to use the Retül bike fit system. She has a master's degree in exercise science, has worked for USA Cycling, and is a 6-time Masters National Champion.
Renee Eastman bio: https://trainright.com/coaches/renee-eastman/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renee.eastman/
HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform
GET FREE TRAINING CONTENT
Join our weekly newsletter
CONNECT WITH CTS
Website: trainright.com
Instagram: @cts_trainright
Twitter: @trainright
Facebook: @CTSAthlete
Welcome back Time Crunch fans and TDFF fans. I'm your host, coach Adam Pulford. This week it's all about the FOM, the Tour de France FOM of X-Swift that is. And with me again for all these special edition episodes, is my co-host, renee Eastman. Hi, renee.
Speaker 2:Good morning Adam, hey everybody.
Speaker 1:And if you've been joining us for the past several stages, thank you. We hope that you're really enjoying it and if so, please share it with a friend. That helps to grow the show even more. And if you have any questions for us and all things Tour de France, vamabeck, zwift, women's racing, training or physiology feel free to drop it in the comment section on Instagram or YouTube, or head over to trainrightcom backslash podcast and click on ask a training question. We'll do our best to answer it on a future episode or like Renee did this morning. Uh, there was a question that we could answer really quickly in the comment section on YouTube. We just answer directly there. So we will and are getting to you. So for anyone that is just joining in and they're wondering where the Time Crunch Cyclist podcast is, welcome to you.
Speaker 1:Coach Renee and I are here to give you the best podcast that not only recaps the women's tour, but we weave in coaching and training tips and whatever the heck else that we want along the way. So we hope you're enjoying the pod. And you know what Renee? She gives us a great stage recap every single day and we'll get to that here in a second. But before that stage recap. We had some corrections. We have a corrections corner, actually from yesterday's episode, and our sources chose to speak on the basis of anonymity, but we do have friends in low places as well as high places that you haven't heard actually directly from on the pod. So, renee, can we hear those updates?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Yesterday we were talking about salaries in the 300 range and that was way off. They're probably more in the 700 range, which is great, and it makes sense that it's a little closer to Demi, that the top is a little bit closer, but the facts are that two-thirds of the peloton are not even close to that, because it's very top heavy, kind of like the men's field. To be honest. You know Pokachar making nine million stuff. I think that's great news actually, because it does mean that more women are getting paid. Still have a ways to go, but it's it's. I'm actually really happy to be corrected that way. But it's, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:I'm actually really happy to be corrected that way. Yeah, yeah, and and you know it's any corrections like that because we do our best to to get information from all the sources as quickly as we can in a daily podcast, which is way more challenging than I thought, including some of our high quality audio and video that Ruddy thank you, ruddy has been working on so, as we go, grow and learn, thank you for our friends in low and high places to help us along the way. Renee, with that taken care of, can you give us a stage recap from?
Speaker 2:stage six. Stage six this is our first day in the proper mountains. It's a relatively flat start to the stage. There was a gigantic breakaway about 20 riders that got away and they were getting away around the first climbs there and they started to get brought back as the Peloton approached the first big category one. So your window watch alert. Today I'd start watching. With like 40 K to go, that's when they top out or get on the first big climb of the day.
Speaker 2:Back to the race. I'm not going to go through everybody in the break we spent here all day. But I think the key to go through everybody in the break We'd spend here all day. But I think the key players to note in today's break Elise Shabby from FDJ Suez and Silka Smulders from Livalu Lajeko those guys have been duking it out for the mountain points so you can look for that race to continue through the week. They were going at it the main pack behind. They kind of came up the big climb all together as they were absorbing the break. Nothing happened on the climb but coming off of that, but coming off of that, the descent off of that category one, shadreen Kerbal starts ripping it on the descent, absolutely ripped it.
Speaker 2:That's how she won a stage last year. Adam, she attacked over the top of the climb, ripped down the descent. She and Cassia were a little bit off the front. Um, I think that's just a sign of things to come for tomorrow which we'll get to um. So the, the, the gc leaders are all together going up the, the second big climb which came soon after the, the category one, um, about 20, 20 odd. Uh, ladies up there as they're going over the top of that category two, mavis wibbin of team uae, adq. She just kind of slips off the front.
Speaker 1:Uh, that was about 30k to go and to the point of like slipping off the front. I didn't see it, so I I had to like ask Renee. I was like they're saying it was a heart attack and it's like no, it's kind of more of a sneaky slip off the front.
Speaker 2:I think I blinked too because I don't know got a glass of water and stuff and all of a sudden she's off the front.
Speaker 2:But she is a young French rider, up and coming talent 23 years old yeah, one uh won a stage of the ardash last year and she was second in one of the big mountain stages in the tour last year as well. So you know, keep an eye for her. Um, the, as the group got over the climb and she was away, she built up a lead about a minute and a half and the GC group behind. They were just kind of chill. You know they were going hard, people were coming off the back, but there were no big attacks from the GC group on any of the climbs, except maybe the bonus sprint. There was a bonus sprint after the second climb on the way to the finish, about 12k to go. Um, no surprise, kel pc or yellow jersey, she got that ahead of cassia. So those guys are both gobbling up.
Speaker 1:Uh, some bonus seconds yeah, and I want to say on on that, like lacorte is is, uh, definitely the better snappy sprinter of the GC right now, but Cassia keeps on impressing me. With her, I would say increased snappiness. She was right there, I think, damien, I mean looking strong and was patient, but I think she's even maybe a little surprised by it. It was like, oh, cassia snapped and then like stuck to LaCorte's wheel Like that was impressive to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, she has. I've noticed that too. She, she's got a little bit more pop, because Cassia in the past has been known as a not sprinter Like she, you know.
Speaker 1:Steady good, always there consistent great bike racer, but not snappy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Mieva Squibben ended up staying away for the win. It was awesome. French rider, french crowds, you know, biggest win of her career. That's really really awesome to see and the French went 1-2, today too with LeBleu they did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the GC group about 15, stayed all together, save but Juliette LeBou who kind of snuck off the front a little bit coming into town. She finished a couple of seconds ahead of the rest of the GC group and LeCourt sprinted for third, you know. So she, you know again getting a couple more bonus seconds. So by the end of the day the jerseys remain the same. Kim LaCourte's in yellow, Shabby has an even more significant lead in the polka dots. Julie Viego's, still in the white jersey. She was behind the the lead group, uh, today, but she's battling ninka vinka for for that white jersey. Who? That just is the best name in the peloton, oh, yeah, absolutely, we cheer on.
Speaker 1:We cheer the like on the tv every time that the name is isn't else. It's just awesome. So the only other change in the name is isn't announced it's just awesome.
Speaker 2:So the only other change in the top five Adam was Cassie actually leapfrogged Demi. She's in third now, just on the bonus seconds.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, which was again super smart, very crafty. I love that move that's probably what to me anyway, like a very good move of the day in terms of the GC. I mean, Squibben obviously was the writer of the day in my, in my book, but, um, but yeah, I think that's very noteworthy. Renee, thank you for, uh, that whole recap. You do a great job of that and I really appreciate you taking notes as we go and recapping that for us.
Speaker 1:Um, but I'm going to turn to a question that we had today from our social or sorry, a question from yesterday that we had on our socials when our girl, Allison Jackson, was off the front in the break yet again. But the question is awesome because I was getting a ton of text messages from other coaches and athletes that I coach, asking basically this and so here's the question, quote everybody is thinking could Renee speak a bit about Allison Jackson from pedaling in a bike? Fit perspective, Always a bit of an odd style, but today at the tour, dot dot, dot, question mark, question mark. So, Renee, I'll kick it over to you first and then I've got a few things to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this was in reference to Allison in the breakaway and I think I even sent you a text because she started to look a little rough on the bike. I think the official technical term is pedaling squares. She was just tired and when you get tired you're trying to put everything into the bike to make it go forward. So your upper body's going, you're not as smooth and things like that. So really that's what I saw from Allison and you know you see a lot of different positions out there and not everybody looks beautiful on the bike and far be it. For me, some amateur bike fitter. Well, I guess I'm a professional bike fitter, but an amateur over here watching somebody on TV questioning a pro tour rider's fit. She has people, she has a team behind her who are dialing in her fit. I trust their expertise and I don't know about you, adam, but you know what. What do you think about Allie fit?
Speaker 1:Uh, so I can. I can speak at lengths and for a time on this because we have worked on it, but I think the first and foremost and this goes to like commentators, both in the women's tour as well as the men's tour it's a long time talking and so one of the things that commentators across the board do is, uh, you know, make note and start to comment on people's look on the bike. You have to realize that, like, everybody is different and a body can conform to everybody, can conform to a bike fit, and then you want to optimize performance based on that fit. Okay, so we'll look at some examples here coming up soon. But in terms of Allison Jackson, yeah, like, if you go full tilt, all in and I think my, my text message to you was a commitment has its consequences, right, when you go on the break and you go full tilt and remember Alison Jackson is more of a classics rider, she's a captain on the team, but she gives it her all, okay, Like, she is one of the hardest fricking workers in the whole Peloton and she came, she was a farmer, she's a Canadian bison farmer, okay, so when she goes back, she's got to uh, wrestle chores and last, uh, or yesterday, she was wrestling her bike and I I wanted to ask her if we could talk about some of these bike fit things. Uh, uh, but she was already in bed by the time we decided to talk about this and I didn't want to blow up her phone before the stage. So I'll just say this we've worked on her fit over time and there's a few things that we tried to change. It didn't work, kind of made it worse. Shorter cranks on the time trial bike was good and that felt appropriate, but when we went shorter that was bad. So then we went back and I think we're at 165. And, allison, I know you're listening so you can correct us on the crank arm length on both your road bike and your time trial bike if you want. But we've been working on that right.
Speaker 1:In the end she's aero, she performs well and she feels good. You can get a rider into a more aggressive position, but when they don't feel good, the lower back hurts or they can't produce power over time it ain't going to work. So you go back to where they feel good and produce that power. Two last things is there's how you look and then how you perform. So a couple of things that we did work with her was her cadence. We went toward higher cadence because she was getting bogged down oftentimes both in hill climbs and then in exit speed with speed work and things like this and changing her habits coming out of corners to get on the get on the cranks a little bit better and a little bit more snappy. That has made a big difference. But in terms of looking a certain way, in performing a certain way, I'd say be very, very cautious when you make judgments on looks, because looks can be deceiving.
Speaker 2:Well, we have some great examples too. I think everybody can remember Chris Froome and his elbows out and his knees everywhere and just windmill spinning his legs. He didn't look great on the bike In his day. He was very, very good four-time winner of the tour. Annemiek van Vleuten is another one. She looks a mess on the bike, but very fast.
Speaker 1:Jonathan Milan. I do not like watching that guy sprint. Personally, he's like his head is, but he's fast and he wins. Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:If you guys do want to see great examples, though, look at Voss and Anne of Bregan. Yeah, anne of Anne of Bregan, those guys, they look like poetry on the bike, but I just think it's because they're Dutch. Those guys, they come out of the womb and they just put them right on the bike. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think too. I mean, in athletics there's aesthetically appealing that matches performance. And then there's the rest of us. And I think again. For me anyway, when I'm working with an athlete, I focus on performance, and if there's something that takes away from aerodynamics or tactics meaning you're just like sitting out in the wind or something like that I mean you correct for that, and then you work on developing the body to become more aerodynamic. If we have to work on core strengths or low back mobility or something like this, you do it, but you do it slowly, you do it gradually over time and you don't mess with a high performer. If it is working for them and if the things that you can measure doesn't take away, you let it go.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So, speaking of bike fit Renee, do you notice any differences between when you're fitting men versus women? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I do. Women, as we know, have wider sit bones. Pelvis sits a little bit more upright. In terms of fit issues, we usually have a little bit more soft tissue pressure. Our anatomy is different where we sit on the saddle.
Speaker 2:So those are some things I see, and if you guys are watching the race, you might be that armchair quarterback being like these girls look like they all need bike fits because you do tend to see women rolling around on the saddle a little bit more. And it's not that their bike fit is bad, it's that their pelvis sits differently on the saddle a little bit more. And it's not that their bike fit is bad, it's that their pelvis sits differently on the saddle. Women tend to have a more anteriorly rotated pelvis and with that you get more soft tissue contact, especially in an aggressive road position. So instead of sitting squarely on their sit bones, there's more pressure up front and that causes them to shift and move around a little bit more often, and that's just the body protecting itself. So it's not that they have bad fits, it's just that it looks different than the male because our pelvises are shaped different different.
Speaker 1:Um, so it it, and there's been a big change in some technology, especially like with the uh specialized power saddle uh coming out and and uh Alison Tetrick had a lot to um to do with that innovation, working with specialized, for example. So there's innovations to help with the difference in uh anatomy in men versus women when it comes to bike fit, and I think that it's still evolving as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this is not. We are not sponsored by Specialized, but I will say this that Power Mimic Saddle. It works for like eight out of 10 women who are dealing with that. So that's a free tip for you guys. So yeah. So, girls, next time you're on the group ride and some guy rides up to you and is like, hey, your saddle's too high because you're rolling around on the saddle, feel free to tell him to shove off as you drop him on the climb.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, I fully understand you drop them on the climb. Yeah, yep, I fully endorse that. Yeah, the only other thing I wanted to add about bike fit bike sizing for ladies. Like a woman's bike, they don't really exist anymore, and if they do have a bike that's marketed towards a woman, it's usually just the touch points smaller handlebars, maybe a different saddle that comes stock, maybe it comes in pink or purple. Those are the main differences. You're looking for a size of frame that matches your height and just a broad generalization is women tend to have longer legs and shorter torsos than men. So if you're between sizes, I'll recommend that a woman goes down in size often because on the bigger bike you're going to run into a reach problem, like the top tube is just going to be too long, you're going to end up with a 50 millimeter stem. So that would be the only difference. I'd really say there. The bottom line on fit, it's to the individual. It's not really about gender.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, fully agree with that and shameless plug. If you have any bike fit consultation desires, feel free to reach out to Renee Eastman and you can find her contact information on trainwrightcom. But yeah, she can. She can definitely help you if you, if you're looking for a new bike, you want to get a bike fit, especially in Colorado. Um, I would definitely go to her because she is a professional bike fitter and she fits both professionals and amateurs. So, yeah, delicate question, but also just a real question, is how a bike fit might change for women, especially saddle issues after having a baby.
Speaker 1:And since neither Renee or I are mothers however, you're a dog mom, as proof by the t-shirt there we decided to ask a best super mom that we know. So, coach Jane Marshall. Let me do a quick intro of her and then we'll get onto a little snippet of video. Jane has actually been on the podcast before. She's a CTS coach, has a couple of kids and she's a dear friend. Jane and I did our internship together at CTS. You, a couple of kids and she's a dear friend. Uh, jane and I did our internship together at CTS, you know, like 20 years ago, which is um getting there, getting up there in years now, renee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you guys were a pain in my butt. Yes, this is true, I was a resident coach uh manager at the time, so I was their boss.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we were. We were messing up a lot of things at the time and I needed I needed a lot of mentorship, and Renee was there for me, which was awesome. But, for better or worse, jane and I stuck around at CTS and we learned and we grew with the best of them. We became good coaches and and and Jane is still a full-time coach as well as a mother, and she had her kids and came back to competition. Um, uh, coincidentally, I coached Jane as well and she's still at the top of her game and in Colorado and it's awesome to see she used to be a pro mountain biker, uh, went on to be a coach, then had her kids, then came back biker, went on to be a coach, then had her kids, then came back, and I definitely saw a boost, a boost in anaerobic power, vo2 power and after the first child, and it was fun to see the physiological changes in that. And so, with that said, let's cue the first video from Jane.
Speaker 3:One of the biggest things that I've passed along to other moms who've trained and raced bikes before kids and then after kids is like go redo your bike fit after you have a baby. You, I would guess that your saddle width and your sit bone width changed, so that was a big thing for me. After my first I went to a wider saddle size after a couple months of battling saddle sores and just as comfort and pain and it made a huge difference. You know your body changes after you go through childbirth and it's worthwhile to get that checked out, get it measured, make sure your bike fit is comfortable. Uh, after you have kids.
Speaker 1:Well, that's great advice, as always from coach Jane. Getting a bike fit after a major change, like having a baby, is great advice, but that's good advice for any athlete after a huge change, and that could be an injury, a knee replacement, or just when things aren't feeling right. Renee, how can an athlete find a good bike fitter?
Speaker 2:Renee, how can an athlete find a good bike fitter in their area? I'm a retool bike fitter. Retool is a system of fitting. It's actually a 3D motion capture technology and I'm able to analyze a rider when they're pedaling under load, rather than that old-fashioned static. Hold your leg there while I try to measure it, because there's a lot of inaccuracies when you do that. I'm not only looking at those angles of the knee angle, ankle angle and things like that, but also the right and left motion of knee tracking, things like that. So I lead in with that on finding a bike fitter, because you can find a Retool bike fitter near you. You can find a Retool bike fitter near you. We'll put a link in the show notes of you know, go to retoolcom and find a fitter near you. And I don't want to say that every single Retool fitter is fantastic, because it's just a tool that we use. You have to have experience to be a good fitter, but you can at least. If you have no idea where to start, that's a place you can start because you know there's at least a minimum amount of training that somebody has to do to be a retool fitter. So that's a starting place, but other than that.
Speaker 2:I would ask your friends, ask the people on the group ride where they got to fit, because word of mouth is really probably the best way to find a good bike fitter in your area and you know it's fair to ask your fitter. You know how long they've been doing fits. I've been doing fits for I don't know 20 years Way better than I was 10 years ago, better than I was five years ago. I'm better than I was last week, adam. Just recently I had a para triathlete above the knee, amputee both legs. He challenged my fit process. I had to put on my thinking cap. I had to learn some new things and that's what really counts with the fit is experience, and I'm still learning with every athlete I fit, from the beginners to the pros. I probably learn more from the beginners because they have more problems because they have more problems.
Speaker 1:Very true, and and um, two quick side notes here. Uh, if uh, since I live in the DMV uh area, which is DC, maryland and Virginia, if you're a DMV rider and you're looking for a good bike fitter, uh, stu Warren over at Parvilla bikes I refer a ton of athletes over to him. He's super good. He's hard to get into. Kerr Son is another really good bike fitter at VeloFit. He's in Reston. Highly encourage people to go there. Ryan McKinney, who's been on the podcast before, big fan of Kerr Son. And then, finally, andy Cicero. He's a great friend and he does fits out of his his home studio. So if you're interested in Andy he doesn't have a website hit me up.
Speaker 1:But one thing I'll say about Renee is I go to her for uh, a lot of uh like quick feedback and so one rider I had actually fit by stew. We had just a couple of things. I was like look, and I was like, ah, maybe this. And I sent it to Renee and we did a quick, just little adjustment. Two weeks later she won national championship. So it wasn't, it wasn't just Renee, uh, you know, but these subtle adjustments to from afar. I'll send Renee a quick video and we'll kind of banter back and forth and and she's good enough to and has the experience to be able to do something like that from afar.
Speaker 2:So well, as always, you can only do so much from a little video clip, but you can. You can see some. You can see some big things. I'll have some of my athletes send me a video side view video and I can at least say you got to go get a fit. You know like we need some help here, right? So, um, yeah. So, moving on with that, jane's comments about you know bike fit after being a mom we wanted to ask Jane a little bit more about that, because we know moms are awesome, but having a baby doesn't mean that somebody's athletic career is over.
Speaker 2:A lot of women actually find some of their best performances after having a kid. A lot of women actually find some ofon who is famously a mom. She has a couple of kids in the race, but she retired right before the race started because she's having another baby. She's an example of somebody who she was a world champion before she had a baby and then she had at least one or two of her kids and then she ended up winning the first women's peri-ruby, so she came right back up to the top. And there are uh, some others that um, you know for for, uh, ellen van dyke and eleanor barker, and I'm probably forgetting some others, so you guys can correction corner me. But back to what we talked about yesterday and some of the advancements on the world tour is that UCI rules mandate that these ladies have to have paid maternity leave, and that is huge, huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they do that at the kind of top level of triathlon as well. One of my good friends, jackie Herring she's 41, absolutely still crushing it at the top of her game, and went through that experience too.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, adam, we know a lot of our listeners are moms out there or maybe they're going to be moms in the future. So we question, we asked coach Jane is what to expect in returning to competition after having a child.
Speaker 3:Biggest surprise after giving birth. I think kind of how loosey goosey I fell on the bike the first six to eight weeks, nine weeks after giving birth, you know tendons, pedal strokes, sitting on the saddle, everything just kind of felt a little bit weird, different. I kind of think mom walks are a real thing. I mean, your body was working so hard to keep and build this little human inside you. There has to be some fitness benefit from that. I don't know, we'll see if the studies actually come out.
Speaker 3:I think after Sydney, my second, I did some of my best anaerobic power ever. I think six months postpartum I'd have to look back at training peaks Compared to an injury. I feel like coming back, just feel fitness wise after birth is is easier, at least it was for me. Um, keeping, you know, losing the weight, all that was pretty easy. Um, through breastfeeding, you know. Other women really struggle with that, um, and that would be super challenging, kind of balancing the nutrition needs, feeding the baby. The sleep deprivation, going out and riding and enjoying very little sleep and needing that and seeing how little you can function on was surprising. Not a good or bad thing, but just a thing. And yeah, just how resilient and how fast you know if you work, the body can bounce back.
Speaker 2:Jane is right. Mom watts are a thing, but there's actually research behind it. Changes happen to the body during pregnancy. Some of the changes are similar to what happens with endurance training. On the cardiovascular side we're going to see increases in blood volume, in cardiac capacity. Blood volume increases by 40, 50 percent, Red blood cell volume by 20% or 30%. Now hematocrit is going to drop a little bit just due to dilution effects. But that EPO increase during pregnancy will stimulate red blood cell production upwards of like 150%.
Speaker 3:It's pretty wild From baseline baseline.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So even though you know blood volume and red blood cell count goes up during pregnancy, somebody's top end fitness VO2 max usually stays the same or drops a little bit during pregnancy. You know the body's under a lot of physical stress and most women are not doing power intervals during pregnancy. However, postpartum athletes will tend to see a rebound one to 12 weeks after delivery. Red blood cell volume remains elevated about 5% above pregnancy. Vo2 max and maximum power can improve by 5% or 6% from pre-pregnancy, especially when somebody's training and returns to training and does some intensity. You have to do that to get those improvements. The reasons are it's because the higher blood volume sticks around for a while, as well as the elevated EPO levels. It isn't doping, it's just the body's natural response to what happens. And you know there's also some changes that happen with the heart. You know there's a little bit research that shows that these changes can stick around for about a year after having a baby having a baby.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mom doping, mom doping is a thing, even though it's not really doping. But but I think, like having coached a few people through this, now I think again, those you don't have a child to get those benefits, obviously, but if you, if you do it right, you can capitalize on those benefits. And I think when you're doing it right, I mean I am not the man that's going to sit here and mansplain how to have a baby and return to competition. But I will say I listen to my athletes and I encourage them to keep training normally, as much as tolerated, up to the point where we just got to back it down, not do power intervals in their third trimester and this type of thing, and also just encourage them that, hey, not all is lost.
Speaker 1:Here's what the research says. And as soon as they're comfortable in getting back to a regular exercise first, like you know, hiking, maybe a little bit of running just return back to good habits, then we get the bike fit, done, change things there, and then we just build back on the individual basis of, you know, building back the aerobic system and, uh, miles, total volume, all this kind of thing. Then we we do some testing and and, and I think through the testing and seeing some bigger numbers of you know soon enough. Uh, I think that helps to build the confidence. Using these data points to to reassure the athlete that you know not all is lost, including your identity as an athlete, after a pregnancy, because it certainly isn't, and if you time it right, you do it right, you keep good habits and you keep yourself kind of in the in the guardrails of stuff. Um yeah, you could have a amazing year after that first job.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. We've got to thank Coach Jane for contributing. She's a good friend of mine as well and just you know fun fact about Jane she's four-time age group national champion. She's won both before and after having children. So it's true, that is true, moms are winning. Uh, she's won both before and after having children.
Speaker 1:So that is true, moms are winning Moms, moms are winning, and a shout out to all the moms out there we wouldn't be around without you and we love you dearly. So, uh, also fun fact, my mom uh, my mom and her sister are in town this week, so I've had the joy of explaining bike racing and the Tour de France Fond-Montbeck-Swift to them. I'm not sure that they fully get it, but they're watching and they appreciate it. So how about that?
Speaker 2:It's awesome. My sister watches the tour, just for the scenery.
Speaker 1:Just for the yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2:The race, just the scenery, and that's a perfectly good reason to watch the course, perfectly good reason, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So, looking ahead, can you bring us into the next stage, stage seven Should be another good one, another GC day, because we are still in the mountains. The stage tomorrow the first, 90 kilometers. First, 50 miles or so, flat and rolling, but it does have three climbs near the end of the stage last 30 miles, 50 kilometers or so. The main feature of the day is cold, green air. It's 9 kilometers, 5%, so it's not going to be like super hard climb, but it is 15 or 20K downhill to the finish. So after what we've seen the last couple days, I think we could expect some people going full send on that descent.
Speaker 1:I would expect the best gc descender to win. Who would that be in your opinion?
Speaker 2:um cassia, but since I have sadrine carball on my fantasy team, I'm gonna just give her a pick yeah, yeah, she'll be up there.
Speaker 1:Um, also, I'll say this uh, when it comes to working on tactics and all this kind of stuff, um, one of our uh tactics with Alison Jackson was to basically follow Kerbal down. Uh, all the descents during team camp leading up to the Tour de France and she's like man, I'm getting better, but, holy cow, it's scary At that level. Sometimes you just need a good wheel to follow and you point it downhill. Yes, I definitely agree with you. Cassia's going to be up there. I have to look at the stage for tomorrow. I did not, but the way that she's descending and ripping and she has some snap. I might be putting my fantasy tour on Cassia at Neodoma Finney.
Speaker 2:That's a good pick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. So, um, we're not super short today, but we, you know, we talked a ton about mom's physiology, bike fit, and I think the audience is going to like this one, renee. So thanks for putting everything together and driving the ship on the TDFF Time Crunch Cyclist podcast.
Speaker 2:You're welcome, Adam. Let's get out of here. I got a couple of bike fits this afternoon.
