Coachingsarah & anthony

I TRIED ZONE 2 TRAINING FOR 3 MONTHS, HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED | RIDER SUPPORT

with Rider Support

34:18·24 May 2024

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TOPICS

CYCLING TRAINING PLANS

Anthony shares his complete transformation from 15+ years of high-intensity cycling to a zone 2 focused approach—and why he ditched race season to prioritize long-term health. We cover the supplements that actually matter, the honest conversation about Strava cheating, and why group ride etiquette (and headphones) matter more than you'd think.

Key Takeaways

Excessive training intensity breaks your consistency—too hard and you burn out, take weeks off, and lose the frequency that matters most for lifelong fitness
Walking and low-intensity training aren't shortcuts; 26 hours of mostly zone 1-2 work beats the old model of crushing yourself for unsustainable blocks
Core supplements worth your money: omega-3s, creatine (5g daily), vitamin D, adequate protein (1.5-2g per kg bodyweight), and magnesium for sleep quality
Strava segments are internal motivation competitions—if someone cheats, it says nothing about you; don't waste energy policing others' data
Group ride safety requires silence and hand signals, not constant shouting of 'car up' and 'hole left'—unnecessary noise creates chaos
Headphones (even silent ones) on group rides signal unavailability and block your ability to hear critical safety calls from other riders

Expert Quotes

"I was looking at and going I've been so specialized in just cycling that I've neglected so many other parts of physical fitness that I'm not going to be able to do this stuff when I'm 70 and 80 years old and that scared the [expletive] out of me."

"The number one reason that people break their frequency habit is because of too much intensity—so it was the high intensity training that was breaking my consistency for 15 years."

"If somebody else is going to go and cheat it's like why does anybody cheat in any aspect of life... if you can stay true to that internal motivation I think you're going to be a lot happier with not just Strava but your cycling and performance in general."

KEY QUOTES

“The number one reason that people break their frequency habit is because of too much intensity and that's what up me for years I was training so hard that I would have these periods like a winter break where I'd say I'm going to take two weeks and the two weeks it extend to four weeks it extend to six weeks and then I find myself getting back into shape over Christmas in the New Year.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

“I'm typically trying to hit at least 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight ideally two per day so I'm at around 80 kilos the moment that's actually quite difficult like 160 grams of protein is not easy to get in.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

“I observed my data on my wearable for about a week and tracked it then I started taking my magnesium supplement my triple magnesium on from pillar observed the data and I had a marked change in my sleep my quality of my restorative sleep and my HRV levels.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT8 SECTIONS

Rethinking training for longevity

Welcome to this week's ryer support we're going to be talking about what supplements you need to be taking straa cheaters stick around till the very end where you're going to hear some pretty cutting abuse about Sarah's training at the moment and it's not from me it's from a listener but first I tried Zone 2 training for the last three months and guess what happened Anthony question number one one I've been following your journey really closely the last few months and know that you are using a different Training Method and changing your mentality around training I'm looking to doing something different how have the last few months changed your Fitness and your outlook and that's from Brandon oh yeah it's been a really big shifts for me I've been probably 10 actually more probably 15 years where I've ridden the bike more than 15 hours a week so the bike has been such a huge part of my life for basically my adult life and I've shifted it up completely in the last three months where it was off the basis of a couple of conversations I had and they're all up on YouTube you can check them out or back on the podcast there uh Dr Steven seller was one of them in Yaki deapo was another and Howard luks and taking kind of a combination and Distilling what each of them said into kind of one uh takeaway point it was really if you look at stuff you want you want to do when you're 70 80 we're really bad at understanding what we want in the future it's this idea of H mimic desires we mimic desires that other people want so we never really have our own grasp on it so we're not too sure what we want when we're 70 or 80 but you can guarantee there's some things you want to be able to do you want to be able to stand out of a chair without help you want to be able to lift a grandkid over your head you want to be able to put Luggage in an overhead compartment so I started chatting to the guys and I realized that you can forecast pretty well based on your expected rate of muscle atrophy Through The Years what you're going to be able to do given your current strength and I was looking at and going I've been so specialized in just cycling that I've neglected so many other parts of physical fitness that I'm not going to be able to do this stuff when I'm 70 and 80 years old and that scared the [ __ ] out of me and that prompted a total change in my training so my training now is much more Zone one zone two focused where I'm still trying a lot I trying 26 hours last week which is massive it's my biggest week in years but it was pretty much all low volume a lot of low intensity walking that's very humbling because it's you need a lot of patience to walk and as someone who's been you know high performance high octane for a decade it's pretty humbling to just walk around the park with you know the dog moms and H Granny's out walking their dogs and you're like hey this is my session for today I'm actually going walking in the park so I've been walking an awful lot like maybe 15,000 steps I'm trying to aim for most days think I'm falling a little short I'm averaging around 14,000 at the moment even when I'm going out running the goal is it's this really lowlevel metabolic adaptation I'm looking for so my runs are walk run and I started off with a three minute run 2minute walk protocol again this is massively humbling cuz it's not like I can't go for a 60 Minute run like obviously can run for 60 minutes you have to keep your ego in check don't you I mean it's yeah it's very very difficult and I think this has really struck a chord with listeners because we've had so many questions in I think a couple of them even go into it as we go on through the questions on in this episode that people are they have been chasing this high intensity hit sessions I need to get on the bike and absolutely kill myself and you know people are following your journey quite closely now over the last couple of months well something that Dr seller said that was really interesting was we have these different levers we have frequency we have duration and we have intensity and when you map someone's long-term outcomes over a long enough timeline like their entire life the thing that stops people from achieving their long-term health goals like all that stuff we talked about it's when they have massive breaks in their training where they have six months out where they have a year out where they have a 2ear and they have to kickart it again so that's when his frequency is disrupted frequency being the number of times we train per week but he said the number one reason that people break their frequency habit is because of too much intensity and that's what up me for years I

Low-intensity training lifestyle benefits

Was training so hard that I would have these periods like a winter break where I'd say I'm going to take two weeks and the two weeks it extend to four weeks it extend to six weeks and then I find myself getting back into shape over Christmas in the New Year in a proper old school Yan ol periodized training style this is much more low intensity which means that I'm never really struggling for motivation cuz everything is so low intensity plus there's variety like I'm in the gym one day I'm walk and running the next day like today I don't walk run again I've graduated to four minutes run one minute I know is brutal four minutes walk one minute run for an hour and then a gym session later on so it's been a total change but I have noticed some changes definitely yeah I mean as your partner I have certainly noticed loads of changes as well Brandon I don't know if you have a significant other but I'm sure they will if you do kind of adopt this they're going to start seeing way more balanced Energy across the day not these massive highs and lows of energy nap time required sometimes a dip in mood kind of you know those swings that you get when you're chronically tired or training really really hard the other thing that I'll say is that I absolutely love the fact that your training is mixed up and we can go for a hike we been going to the gym a lot together and it's not you know I feel like kind of like the equivalent of a golf Widow a cycling Widow where you're gone all day Saturday you're gone all day Sunday You're Gone most evenings in the summer and when you come home you're absolutely stuck to the couch completely useless don't want to do anything else so I feel that as a lifestyle it's it's much nicer to kind of be able to you know ease into your training have more energy for other things and yeah I I think it's been amazing Energy's definitely been one of them that I've experienced motiv is another to I'm not don't have to sit around and watch like 40 minutes of David goin's videos to JP the bike and nail and high energy drinks to try and get on the bike that's not really a problem anymore it's pretty easy to motivate myself to do training because it's always pretty easy can definitely notice some strength changes and some my fitness evolving in a different way like when I started going out run I started going to the gymm a lot of Doms the next day and that's kind of eased off but it's only been a three months period so I'm cautious to like George gains inside a two three Monon window I think this needs to be evaluated 6 months in 12 months in I kind of said to myself I was going to give it a full season I've written off this Race season as such I'll dip in and out with local races but I've written off this Race season terms of performance and seeing what this new shift is going to bring and then evaluating you know maybe a go back racing next year yeah so I'm sure we'll keep on checking in as the months progress okay next question hey Anthony love the show I'm a 41-year-old cyclist and like you I'm casting my mind into the future when I'm 50 60 and 70 and I want my actions today around training Health Fitness and Nutrition to really set me up for my later years so obviously there's a million questions I have around this but the biggest thing I want to know right now is what are the top supplements you take and why and that's MIT see as I said there's so many questions coming in around this new you know casting your your mind's eye into the future and you can set yourself up for health in your later years I'm at the moment pretty D I normally take the same supplements every single day I'm taking omega-3 fatty acids they're great for overall health they're anti-inflammatory they help recovery after training sessions they're also beneficial for heart and cognitive function research on them is pretty good creatine is a supplement that's come up almost every time I've chatted to a nutritionist on the podcast I'm taking five grams of creatine a day the reason being as we age our muscle mass generally decreases and creatine has been shown to improve muscle strength vitamin D is staple that's especially for people who aren't getting enough sun exposure as much as it is summer here in Ireland we still do get a lot of gray days so that's crucial for bone health and absorbing calcium it's another one I'm really bullish on it's kind of boring the next one but it's protein and this has been a big Focus for me in my diet since I changed adding in strength training and the lower intensity stuff it's making sure I'm hitting my protein gos each day so I'm typically trying to hit at least 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight ideally two per day

Protein, magnesium, and creatine staples

So I'm at around 80 kilos the moment that's actually quite difficult like 160 grams of protein is not easy to get in yeah when you're building your meal it's literally okay how do I build my this meal around Protein that's the way you have to kind of change your mindset it's not like oh I'll have a sandwich it's not like that anymore it's like what protein am I having and then everything else is kind of dressing on it and then the last one which I take every single night it's one of our show sponsors but even if they weren't one of our show sponsors I'd be taking them and I always say this is the easiest ad we'll ever do for the podcast because you actually don't need to sell the idea of taking a magnesium supplement all I done at the very start was I observed my data on my wearable for about a week and tracked it then I started taking my magnesium supplement my triple magnesium on from pillar observed the data and I had a marked change in my sleep my quality of my restorative sleep and my HRV levels I would highly recommends that triple magnesium supplement from pillar that's like one of my Staples as well yeah so I I've never been very good at consistently taking vitamins so every night every evening Anthony lays the vitamins out for me on the table and I don't know God only knows what he's putting in there I just trust him and and take them I have to say the pillar has made a huge difference to my Sleep Quality I've never had a massive amount of problem with sleep or falling asleep but I do know that my deep and my quality sleep is better since I started taking it and creatine I absolutely am obsessed with this I did an entire podcast on a couple of months ago it really is an amazing supplement to take it's produced Naturally by the body so there's no fear that it can kind of have any issues with you and that creatine in particular is so good if you're trying to build muscle or if you're getting stuck into the gym so they would be certainly my top two okay next question Anthony and Sarah I know you have spoken about straa a few weeks ago my question is how do we stop people cheating and taking K there's a local guy I know and he trims his ride to a second after the start and before the end to give his time a boost I know this as I can spot this little turck he does every time I was thinking of messaging him or perhaps I should say it to him if I meet him on the road what do you think also what's your opinion on cheating and straa and why do people do it Rob I wouldn't say it to him on the road imagine someone came up to me on the road it's like hey I noticed you're trying on St like you're getting crashed into the ditch go away I don't know I think it could be like nothing that like sending him little note is it's a little bit better to do face to face maybe he knows this guy I don't know and he's just like oh it doesn't sound like he knows him he said it's like a local guy it's a local guy but he obviously potentially has could meet him on the he could meet him on the road St Warfare reminds me of kind to commuter racist that happen at the traffic lights and everyone Sprints to the next red light everyone our position everyone does that don't tell me you've never done that you see a comp commuter out and you're like oh I'm going to pass that person out the only time I'll maybe do it is if there's like a triatlon club and I'm riding home my brmt and I'll try and ride past them like with no hands on the bars taking a phone call or something while they're in their skis just for comedy H yeah I guess if you're I'm not huge in as we talked about last I'm not huge into the straa culture I think my some my rids auto post there but I actually don't know how they Auto post there have some connection set up somewhere uh it is frustrating when people cheat in time TRS and they cheat in road races when they cheat in anything there there's a frustration it's because it's important to Rob and it's important to some people that really buy into St that these K and Q are legit and it's obviously something that keeps them motivated to keep improving so they can get K or retain a k yeah but the idea of like messaging them or saying to him at a cafe I feel like straa is you know it's something different for everybody but my idea of what makes tra really good it's more of an internal motivation than an external motivation it's a competition against yourself rather than competing against your peers so you should be aiming to improve your times regardless of what other people are doing if somebody

Dealing with Strava cheaters

Else is going to go and cheat it's like why does anybody cheat in any aspect of life there's always people that are going to cook corn maybe it's for bragging rights for self-esteem for keeping up with the Joneses but if you can stay true to that internal motivation I think you're going to be a lot happier with not just straa but your cycl and performance in general because there's always someone faster yeah I agree I mean obviously you can report this but it doesn't seem like it's obvious enough to stra out for them to pull this guy or flag him or whatever I would say don't really don't worry about it Rob I think that's great advice Anthony just stra have also rolled out a new AI detection feature for detecting cheaters so you could if you were really nitpicky submit a ticket to that and let the AI deal with them which is feel like it's going to be more and more severe how AI will deal with people for the years like a robot kick my door yeah there could be a drone hanging out around your house ready to shoot a laser at you sta have come up with a couple of good updates in the last couple of weeks as well because they now have this safety feature for particularly running I'm not sure how it applies to cycling I'm sure it's the same but they have nighttime heat Maps particularly designed for women so you can kind of go and figure out like a heat map for r that you know there's going to be a lot of people on therefore it's safe so I think that's such a good idea both ways though that's like uh if there's a lot of other people on the run though the rapist can look at the heat map and see where everyone's going and position himself accordingly yeah maybe but there's going to be other people there I don't know it's I think it's quite quite a good spot and I like that Trav kind of listening to its users and thinking outside the box with it another weird one that SAA have decided to do is team up with Bumble do you know what Bumble is Anthony dating up yeah dating up you were all over Bumble back in the day were you bum um basically yeah they've uh they've teamed up a bumble and I'm they haven't really released they're kind of teasing at the moment to say we're going to partner up with them for some events during the summer so it's kind of a watch this space on it now I don't really like that they're partner partnering up with a dating app straa I think is completely separate to dating app I don't know do people slide into other people certainly no one ever slid into my DMs and straa to ask me out in a date or anything like that but I think that the two of them should be kind of kept separate personally this is something obviously you're going to be able to opt in and out of but I like the delineation between straa and Tinder grinder kind of cool because you can find someone like mine that's where it's activity based I think it's a nice idea Tom pockock actually has a H hoping to get him on the podcast to talk about it later in year maybe after the tour H name of it escapes me it's like my roid partner or something like that but it pairs it's it's a plutonic thing it's not for Dayton but it'll pair you with other riders in the area so you can find someone to meet up with and ride I think it's a pretty good idea like there's some problems imagine if you showed up and Tom poock was there and you're just imagine trying to hold his wheel well like you can filter for ability and stuff I assume but I think one of the problems where it's like are you going to repeat use it or you just going to get someone's number on WhatsApp and then text them after that totally I can't see how people will continue to use that no idea but that is a pretty decent uh idea particularly for women who struggle to find other women to ride with at their same level okay so good on you straa love a couple of those new features question number four Anthony do you have any thoughts on the new Shram group set it's been all over all the Publications this week so I haven't really looked into that I haven't used it I honestly hated Shram and then I got Shram on all three of my bikes last season and now I struggle to go back because Shram has the ability to click out your battery and change it and they've ingeniously it seems obvious but so many people just don't make these obvious features uh stick and they have created the same battery across Different Bikes so I can take the battery off my mountain bike and put it on my gravel bike on my road bike yeah I was using the mountain bike last weekend and it was dead so I just took the

SRAM Red groupset review

Battery out of your road bike you didn't even actually I forgot to put the battery onto the mountain bike and when I was pedaling up I was like why why are my gears not changing and that is a little bit of a problem when you have so many batteries you start like forgetting to charge them but if you contrast that with Shamano where you actually have to plug it into a Main's adapter to charge it that's quite restrictive a lot of people store in the shed or know you can plug it into a USB charging kit or whatever but that ability to be bike packing and just carry a tiny spare battery with you flick it out and flick it in is a winner from Shram now that's not new that's across all the Shram range they have a patent on it apparently that's why no one else is copying it the new Shram red which I haven't used it looks amazing on the van Roosa bike that I seen they have peeled down the weight on it which seems to be where everything has gone these days they've dropped 154 grams compared to the previous Shram red apparently it shifts a little bit better but everyone always says that with each new group set that it shifts better so hard to know what to read into that brakes are meant to feel lighter require less effort which I think is quite a big thing for especially females because you noticed at the start when you were cycling you actually kind of struggled to get the power on to pull the brake yeah absolutely to do that kind of grab of the brakes yeah no I totally I think that this is a an amazing feature certainly something like that would be a selling point for me yeah so that's really good for females or really weak males to the brakes uh there's also a lot more gear choices uh they've gone 20 1028 and a 1036 rear cassette spr sh similar to kind of like we spoke about last week Shimano they've gone to 13 speed is that similar sham Red's 13 speed yeah okay it is 13 they have Sprint shifters on as well but again that's not really too new and I think mean it just means it drops down a couple of Gears no there's a little blip in the in the you know the loops of your bars there's a little blip there so if you want to change gear you can just squeeze the bar oh my God I already have it on myad bike the hoods you can you don't have to like if you're sprinting at like 11 1200 watts and you know there people left and right of you you don't have to move your hand back up to shift you can just flick by squeezing your hand it's kind of cool but look it's not new either it's been out a while but I think it's coming a standard as far as I know parameters again aren't new on bikes but it's coming as standard in all the SHRM red ones now H so it looks like for me Shram were a long long way behind Shimano then Shimano had the exploding cranks which took a lot of publicity you seeing the big teams like maybe yumbo Lisa bike moved across the Shram the Caton are on it this year as well um they're pretty close to the market later now yeah I think there was a lot of after Co and component scarcity Shimano took a little bit of a you know there was a risk of getting parts and but I do know that people are either very much team Shimano or team Shram and as you said I think that that's the lines are getting a little bit blurred there as Shram kind of up their game with it so they're not calling this EAP anymore that's gone that's gone since they're they're they're getting rid of that so it's just called red Shram red AXS hey Ro man excuse the short Interruption I love riding the bike but on account of being so busy with the podcast at the moment I'm now what's called a time crunch Rider I never thought i' see to day but I have a tool I'm using what bike to keep myself sharp and on point with specific sessions to maximize that available training time I have a w bike atam right here in the recording studio beside me and when I have an hour in between interviews I jump on it's removing all the friction points from me just no more 10 minute setup unfolding legs banging my knees off stuff getting my hands dirty usual connection issues it just works every single time the atom's perfect for virtual racing as well because it has crisp gear changes it has 1% accuracy and it has Max gradient capability of up to 25% if you're look look for an indoor trainer I honestly couldn't recommend this any higher I've been using a w bike since 2013 honestly it's the last indoor trainer that you're ever going to need if you head on over to what bike.com now and use code roadman 10 that's r a d

Airpods on group rides

M n t n and that's going to get you 10% off your W bike it's not as much like you said it's team Shimano or team Shram not so much it's more team Shimano and or Shram and team campag anyone that has campag is like obsessed with campag yeah it's like a cult is it CAG is a hardcore group and it's them versus us and they're like I'm not using group sets that also make fishing rods like with Shimano they won't use it but the Sham and Shimano guys are a little bit interchangeable it's getting more culty but because largely a lot of stuff is interchangeable between the two whereas CAG it's totally different okay question number five one of the Riders on the group rid wears his Apple airpods for the whole spin is this acceptable it really gives me the feeling like he can't be arsed with chatting or listening to anything anyone has to say it stops me from chatting with him when he rolls up beside me also hello safety not that not that I'm saying he has music playing maybe he does but just the fact that he has them in is bad enough what do you think and that's from Aaron well he definitely doesn't want to chat with you Aon we got to read the real there this is a weird one I can't imagine rolling up and having keeping my Apple airpods in while I'm going to an organized group spin I do see and I see it a lot more is the um the bone conductor ones um I've seen a couple people even on our group spin wear them but I think they just have them on for the commute over to our group Spin and then they don't bother taking them off why would they you know and I don't they don't have them on yeah you shouldn't really have headphones on the groups spin it's kind of weird the bone connu one doesn't actually affect your hearing but as I said they they don't have music playing as far as I know but the Apple airpods in your ears while you're riding in a group ride yeah I given someone the benefit of the doubt maybe they're you know I have one friend who really suffers from the wind going past his ears and he the odd time will leave headphones in that aren't playing to protect his eardrum from the wind but that's a really case it seems like this fell is just a bit of an arol to be honest yeah this is so weird because it's you when you it's when I'm in the gym and I have the big the big can headphones in or my my airpods in it's very much uh like please don't interact with me nobody chat me up nobody approach me please it's kind of gives the no signals and I think that this is pretty much the same when if you were airpods on a group spin no cuz you just shouldn't be R because it's also a it's a safety yeah there's a safety part too you need to be able to hear hey watch the hold there left Wy and like bom yeah and even if there's no music playing it still does affect the quality of your hearing outside you know so look I think Aaron this comes back again like we harp on about over and over and over on group spins that you do need to have a ride leader who is confident enough to pipe up about these safety issues that are T me in for a little bit like it's no a couple of our Lads TR me in on we have a segment that's a half an hour and you know you're not going to be talking it's going to be true off I've seen a couple of people throwing in one headphone on that I'll throw in headphones of I'm doing intervals on my own or even if I'm doing one if you're training with me you have them in yeah you set my wheel so I have headphones here if I'm training with you you need to go podcast H yeah I don't think it's totally unacceptable if you're one other person you're doing intervals but on a group right it's it's absolutely no and I think something should be said so you have my go ahead to say something to this chap Aaron okay next question does car up mean coming towards you and car down mean there's a car coming from the rear or is it the other way around I'm utterly conf confused by these verbal signals and that's from Felix Ro man I know how serious you take your goal setting whether they're Fitness or life related goals if you're looking for a powerful alloy to support you on this journey look now further than hu hu has become my secret weapon for when I don't have time to prepare a balanced meal it ensures I get the nutrition I need without sacrificing time or taste plus it stops me from reaching for that takeaway menu I always throw a bottle into my backpack when I'm heading into the city to work and it stops me eating junk convenience

Group ride communication pet peeves

Food snacking on crossons and bars of chocolate because I know they don't support my training goals it's a handy nutritious meal on the go and it's got over 22 grams of protein hule is perfect for athletes that don't have time to cook or prepare food before a training session it's convenient nutritious fuel at your fingertips ensuring you hit your daily fueling needs for that session hu ready to drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals in every single bottle you're getting a whopping 175 health benefits plus it's made from natural ingredients like Topeka Sunfire seed coconut and more the best part it's the flavors there's eight crazy beautiful flavors iced coffee is what's in my backpack right at the moment you can get you directly to your home all you got to do is head on over to the hu website hu.com Roan yeah okay so I'll explain that in one second but firstly the amount of times you should be shouting car up or car down is very very very minimum this is like one of my pet peeves in group rides like slowing stopping whole left whole right the only information that you need to communicate is stuff that is actionable like there's no point in I pride ourselves on our group right is a very very quiet group right the only conversations going on are conversations between people there's not this constant shouting hand signals are much more appropriate for there's a hole on my left hole on my right because a hole on your left if your wheel one you signal a hole in your left with a hand signal you're telling the person needs to see that hole the person too that there's a he can move and then likewise he can pass that down the line rather than person one shouting hole nobody knows if the hole's left if the hole's right and it just causes General chaos with people getting bars Tangled and stuff and it's the same with car up and car down like if you're riding to a breast and you're planning on riding two a breast occupying the lane as you're entitled to the use of hearing the W car up like what are we going to do are we singling out here because if we're not singling out it's useless information I don't need to know does a car coming past because it's not actionable information the same with carard down so that's the first thing and that's a little bit of a rant on that cuz so many clubs are getting that so so badly wrong but car up car down the easiest way I got to remember it was goes up your bom down your tro that's the way I wasn't going to say it somebody told me that in a group swim before um and I was like okay that's rude but it's stuck that's how you remember up your bum down your throat so I hope you haven't offended anybody there but that's the way I also remember as well if I'm want a group is that the way they they taught it in France when you over there I just I totally agree with you the concentration and craziness and Carr up and hole and oil and everything it's very confusing very stressful terrify it's terrifying and yeah if you come on the road man spin you might be a little bit shocked as to how beautifully silent we all are and trusting of the person in front of us there are hand signals if there's something crazy like obviously it will be pointed out but yeah I think our groups been Works beautifully without all of that roaring and shouting I've done a group right A couple of years ago with another local club and it was just absolutely terrifying it was like 50 shouts of whole whole ho hole and then the one time it was actually a hole that was like significant enough to shout out and point out like utter silence and i r straight into it so it was a bizarre terrifying experience so yeah let's not replicate that as a model okay last question Sarah I follow you on Twitter thank you for all the content I saw a post from last I saw a post from last week where a guy kind of slated you do the comments bother you ever anyway I hope they don't because you've inspired me as a woman to join a club and compete complete some long distance sportifs and that's from Paula it was a pretty funny it was a pretty funny comment can we find it let me find it where is going to put this up on screen I'm sure JN the so for for a bit of context you find it for those that are listening last week I have been very consistent in my training so I post on Twitter XS like all of the time about my struggles I'm quite open about you know if I'm training if I'm not training mentally emotionally what I'm struggling with put up a picture last week and I was like oh you know struggling with consistency but made it out in the bike today it was amazing why don't I do this more often and

Handling online abuse and comments

Some guy basically was like oh can I follow you on straa a new follower and will I read it read it there yeah so yeah as Sarah said that's the exact preface to it so he says do you have the Strava app if yes can I follow you Sarah replies of course I'd love that if you search Sarah and Egan you should find me then he writes back three days later I thought you were a more active cyclist Sarah said wow that hurt I've been off the bike for a few weeks but now I'm back and that's really tame in comparison to some of the abuse or comments that we do get on social media or YouTube sometimes but yeah I just kind of that was kind of hysterical was it that he was just like oh yeah I thought you were active like what am I doing following you on straa I should have told him to piss off but yeah he he hurt my feelings you clicking his St no I actually didn't bother I this and rip them AP do a full show on it next week oh I don't know we do when you put yourself out in social media like that you do get people who are always going to have some kind of comments for that one did that one hurt it was literally under a post saying I haven't been very consistent do the comments bother you in general um they do let I could lie and be like no they don't and I think as well as that I think comments about Anthony BG me maybe even more so than the ones about myself I think it's quite unfair that people are like oh you're you're crap you're you're acent stupid you're ugly you're fat you're this you're that and you're just like why do they get to say that to me it's just not really very very fair but I think I've learned Anthony has barred me from responding to people on YouTube it just gives it oxygen I I I totally agree but in the moment you just kind of feel like saying well screw you like what have you ever put out there to the world you have no profile picture we've never put out any content but yeah that one from that guy Juan or whatever his name was that hurt that hurt bad did they hurt you don't really bother me just because there's no Rhyme or Reason to them there's total like I seen the other day on YouTube under the Greg lemon video two comments in a row which just summarized how like insane the YouTube comments system is one person said please stop interviewing the guest it's so annoying the comment the bo that said amazing that you just let the conversation flow and didn't interrupt the guest once and like okay which one of those true pick the first one definitely the amazing actually don't read most of them to be honest like like it's very easy to filter set up filters for you know cons like by following people where like I don't see a lot of Twitter stuff for people I don't follow so I get a lot of positive stuff from the community that we're building and then outside that Community it's just ni this really warms my heart though that Paula has followed and has been inspired to join a club and some and complete some races those are the bits that you're kind of like that makes it worth it like putting yourself out there getting a little bit of grief getting some haters haters going to hate but then people like Paula right in you're just like oh this is absolutely Savage so thanks for that Paula sir thanks for chatting folks thank you for tuning in if you're listen to the YouTube comments the video we put out last week with Matt Bol was of the best ever so I'm going to link that up here where we really deconstruct what it means to go faster on the bike time TR or otherwise also click down here and subscribe to the channel because as the channel grows we can have better and better conversations and attract bigger and bigger guests talk to you next day

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

what happens to your fitness when you switch to zone 2 training only+

In the short term you may feel like you are losing fitness because the intensity drops sharply, but Anthony Walsh found that after three months his daily energy levels stabilised and motivation to train became much easier to sustain. The key adaptation is mitochondrial, meaning the benefits build gradually rather than feeling dramatic week to week.

why do experienced cyclists burn out from high intensity training+

Researcher Stephen Seiler, cited by Anthony Walsh, argues that excessive intensity is the primary reason athletes break training frequency over a lifetime. Accumulated fatigue from hard sessions forces missed days and weeks, which ultimately does more damage to long-term fitness than a lower-intensity programme ever would.

can you combine zone 2 cycling with gym work and still see aerobic benefits+

Yes, and Anthony Walsh structured his three-month block around exactly this combination, pairing low-intensity walk-run intervals and roughly 14,000 steps per day with gym sessions. The low-intensity movement keeps aerobic stimulus high without adding the recovery debt that hard cycling sessions would create.

do you need to skip racing to properly build a zone 2 base+

You do not always need to, but Anthony Walsh deliberately wrote off his race season to commit fully to the approach without the temptation to train harder around events. Racing raises intensity and disrupts the consistent low-stress stimulus that zone 2 base building depends on, so removing it makes adherence to the programme considerably easier.

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Key Takeaways

Excessive training intensity breaks your consistency—too hard and you burn out, take weeks off, and lose the frequency that matters most for lifelong fitness

Walking and low-intensity training aren't shortcuts; 26 hours of mostly zone 1-2 work beats the old model of crushing yourself for unsustainable blocks

Core supplements worth your money: omega-3s, creatine (5g daily), vitamin D, adequate protein (1.5-2g per kg bodyweight), and magnesium for sleep quality

Strava segments are internal motivation competitions—if someone cheats, it says nothing about you; don't waste energy policing others' data

Group ride safety requires silence and hand signals, not constant shouting of 'car up' and 'hole left'—unnecessary noise creates chaos

Headphones (even silent ones) on group rides signal unavailability and block your ability to hear critical safety calls from other riders

Expert Quotes

"I was looking at and going I've been so specialized in just cycling that I've neglected so many other parts of physical fitness that I'm not going to be able to do this stuff when I'm 70 and 80 years old and that scared the [expletive] out of me."

"The number one reason that people break their frequency habit is because of too much intensity—so it was the high intensity training that was breaking my consistency for 15 years."

"If somebody else is going to go and cheat it's like why does anybody cheat in any aspect of life... if you can stay true to that internal motivation I think you're going to be a lot happier with not just Strava but your cycling and performance in general."

KEY QUOTES

“The number one reason that people break their frequency habit is because of too much intensity and that's what up me for years I was training so hard that I would have these periods like a winter break where I'd say I'm going to take two weeks and the two weeks it extend to four weeks it extend to six weeks and then I find myself getting back into shape over Christmas in the New Year.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

“I'm typically trying to hit at least 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight ideally two per day so I'm at around 80 kilos the moment that's actually quite difficult like 160 grams of protein is not easy to get in.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

“I observed my data on my wearable for about a week and tracked it then I started taking my magnesium supplement my triple magnesium on from pillar observed the data and I had a marked change in my sleep my quality of my restorative sleep and my HRV levels.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

what happens to your fitness when you switch to zone 2 training only+

why do experienced cyclists burn out from high intensity training+

can you combine zone 2 cycling with gym work and still see aerobic benefits+

do you need to skip racing to properly build a zone 2 base+

I TRIED ZONE 2 TRAINING FOR 3 MONTHS, HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED | RIDER SUPPORT

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