The WattPlan Podcast
Cycling training science for every level of rider. James, a curious amateur, asks the questions riders actually ask. Lyra, WattPlan's AI research voice, answers from the studies and says where the evidence runs out. Each episode is made from an article on the WattPlan blog, and every study we cite is linked.
- Episode 41 · 11 min Inside the winning power files from Unbound and The Traka We went second by second through Mads Würtz Schmidt's winning rides at Unbound and The Traka. Nine hours at about 4.3 watts per kilo, three of them alone after his teammate gave him a wheel, his best hour straight after a flat, and how you'd race a rider like that. Read the article
- Episode 9 · 10 min Should you ride with a cold? The neck check, two trials that gave people a cold on purpose, the signs that mean rest or a GP, and how to come back. General information, not medical advice. Spotify · Read the article
- Episode 8 · 12 min How do you train for your first sportive? A 12 week outline for a first 100 km or 100 miles, by power or by feel, plus what the evidence says about starting easy, eating 60 to 90 grams an hour and tapering. Spotify · Read the article
- Episode 7 · 10 min How often should you take a recovery week? What the overreaching and taper trials say about how often to ease off and how much to cut, and why tired beats overreached before a peak. Spotify · Read the article
- Episode 6 · 10 min Should you eat 100g of carbs an hour? Two new trials on high-carb fuelling, what 100 grams an hour did against 60, why 150 gave nothing over 120, and how to build up on long rides. Spotify · Read the article
- Episode 5 · 10 min Which VO2max intervals actually work? Thirty fifteens, fours, eights and fives compared, what the trials found, what power to ride them at, and how often to ride them in a block. Spotify · Read the article
- Episode 4 · 10 min How quickly do you lose cycling fitness? What two weeks, a month and a whole winter off really cost you, why your Fitness line falls faster than you do, and how little riding it takes to hold on. Spotify · Read the article
- Episode 3 · 10 min How many hours a week do you really need? What three, five and ten hours a week can each build, the trial that put an end to non-responders, and how little training keeps the fitness you already have. Spotify · Read the article
- Episode 2 · 11 min What is FTP, and is your test telling the truth? What Functional Threshold Power really means, how good the 20 minute test is, why most amateurs can't hold their FTP for an hour, and how to test it properly. Spotify · Read the article
- Episode 1 · 11 min Is Zone 2 worth the hours? Why easy riding builds the engine, what the best evidence says about polarised and pyramidal weeks, and how much Zone 2 fits into six to ten hours. Spotify · Read the article
Voices produced with ElevenLabs. James's voice is a clone of his own, Lyra is an AI voice, and James reviews every script before it is published.