July 31, 2025 • 39 mins
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
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back Time Crunch fans and TDFF fans.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford.
This week it's all about theFOM, the Tour de France FOM of
X-Swift that is.
And with me again for all thesespecial edition episodes, is my
co-host, renee Eastman.
Hi, renee.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning Adam, hey everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And if you've been joining us for the past several
stages, thank you.
We hope that you're reallyenjoying it and if so, please
share it with a friend.
That helps to grow the showeven more.
And if you have any questionsfor us and all things Tour de
France, vamabeck, zwift, women'sracing, training or physiology
(00:41):
feel free to drop it in thecomment section on Instagram or
YouTube, or head over totrainrightcom backslash podcast
and click on ask a trainingquestion.
We'll do our best to answer iton a future episode or like
Renee did this morning.
Uh, there was a question thatwe could answer really quickly
in the comment section onYouTube.
We just answer directly there.
So we will and are getting toyou.
So for anyone that is justjoining in and they're wondering
(01:02):
where the Time Crunch Cyclistpodcast is, welcome to you.
Coach Renee and I are here togive you the best podcast that
not only recaps the women's tour, but we weave in coaching and
training tips and whatever theheck else that we want along the
way.
So we hope you're enjoying thepod.
And you know what Renee?
(01:23):
She gives us a great stagerecap 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 choseto speak on the basis of
anonymity, but we do havefriends in low places as well as
(01:43):
high places that you haven'theard actually directly from on
the pod.
So, renee, can we hear thoseupdates?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Absolutely so.
Yesterday we were talking aboutsalaries in the 300 range and
that was way off.
They're probably more in the700 range, which is great, and
(02:13):
it makes sense that it's alittle closer to Demi, that the
top is a little bit closer, butthe facts are that two-thirds of
the peloton are not even closeto that, because it's very top
heavy, kind of like the men'sfield.
To be honest.
You know Pokachar making ninemillion stuff.
I think that's great newsactually, because it does mean
(02:35):
that more women are getting paid.
Still have a ways to go, butit's it's.
I'm actually really happy to becorrected that way.
But it's, it's, it's.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I'm actually really happy to be corrected that way.
Yeah, yeah, and and you knowit's any corrections like that
because we do our best to to getinformation from all the
sources as quickly as we can ina daily podcast, which is way
(03:07):
more challenging than I thought,including some of our high
quality audio and video thatRuddy thank you, ruddy has been
working on so, as we go, growand learn, thank you for our
friends in low and high placesto help us along the way.
Renee, with that taken care of,can you give us a stage recap
from?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
stage six.
Stage six this is our first dayin the proper mountains.
It's a relatively flat start tothe stage.
There was a gigantic breakawayabout 20 riders that got away
and they were getting awayaround the first climbs there
and they started to get broughtback as the Peloton approached
(03:46):
the first big category one.
So your window watch alert.
Today I'd start watching.
With like 40 K to go, that'swhen they top out or get on the
first big climb of the day.
Back to the race.
I'm not going to go througheverybody in the break we spent
here all day.
But I think the key to gothrough everybody in the break
We'd spend here all day.
But I think the key players tonote in today's break Elise
(04:09):
Shabby from FDJ Suez and SilkaSmulders from Livalu Lajeko
those guys have been duking itout for the mountain points so
you can look for that race tocontinue through the week.
They were going at it the mainpack behind.
(04:31):
They kind of came up the bigclimb all together as they were
absorbing the break.
Nothing happened on the climbbut coming off of that, but
coming off of that, the descentoff of that category one,
shadreen Kerbal starts rippingit on the descent, absolutely
(04:54):
ripped it.
That's how she won a stage lastyear.
Adam, she attacked over the topof the climb, ripped down the
descent.
She and Cassia were a littlebit off the front.
Um, I think that's just a signof things to come for tomorrow
which we'll get to um.
So the, the, the gc leaders areall together going up the, the
(05:18):
second big climb which came soonafter the, the category one, um
, about 20, 20 odd.
Uh, ladies up there as they'regoing over the top of that
category two, mavis wibbin ofteam uae, adq.
She just kind of slips off thefront.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
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 tolike ask Renee.
I was like they're saying itwas a heart attack and it's like
no, it's kind of more of asneaky slip off the front.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I think I blinked too because I don't know got a
glass of water and stuff and allof a sudden she's off the front
.
But she is a young French rider,up and coming talent 23 years
old yeah, one uh won a stage ofthe ardash last year and she was
second in one of the bigmountain stages in the tour last
(06:13):
year as well.
So you know, keep an eye forher.
Um, the, as the group got overthe climb and she was away, she
built up a lead about a minuteand a half and the GC group
behind.
They were just kind of chill.
(06:34):
You know they were going hard,people were coming off the back,
but there were no big attacksfrom the GC group on any of the
climbs, except maybe the bonussprint.
There was a bonus sprint afterthe second climb on the way to
the finish, about 12k to go.
Um, no surprise, kel pc oryellow jersey, she got that
(06:55):
ahead of cassia.
So those guys are both gobblingup.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
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 increasedsnappiness.
She was right there, I think,damien, I mean looking strong
(07:19):
and was patient, but I thinkshe's even maybe a little
surprised by it.
It was like, oh, cassia snappedand then like stuck to
LaCorte's wheel Like that wasimpressive to me.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, she has.
I've noticed that too.
She, she's got a little bitmore pop, because Cassia in the
past has been known as a notsprinter Like she, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Steady good, always there consistent great bike
racer, but not snappy.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah.
So Mieva Squibben ended upstaying away for the win.
It was awesome.
French rider, french crowds,you know, biggest win of her
career.
That's really really awesome tosee and the French went 1-2,
today too with LeBleu they did.
Yeah, the GC group about 15,stayed all together, save but
(08:10):
Juliette LeBou who kind of snuckoff the front a little bit
coming into town.
She finished a couple ofseconds ahead of the rest of the
GC group and LeCourt sprintedfor third, you know.
So she, you know again gettinga couple more bonus seconds.
So by the end of the day thejerseys remain the same.
(08:34):
Kim LaCourte's in yellow,Shabby has an even more
significant lead in the polkadots.
Julie Viego's, still in thewhite jersey.
She was behind the the leadgroup, uh, today, but she's
battling ninka vinka for forthat white jersey.
Who?
That just is the best name inthe peloton, oh, yeah,
(08:57):
absolutely, we cheer on.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
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 thename is isn't announced it's
just awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So the only other change in the top five Adam was
Cassie actually leapfrogged Demi.
She's in third now, just on thebonus seconds.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yep, yeah, which was again super smart, very crafty.
I love that move that'sprobably what to me anyway, like
a very good move of the day interms of the GC.
I mean, Squibben obviously wasthe writer of the day in my, in
my book, but, um, but yeah, Ithink that's very noteworthy.
(09:34):
Renee, thank you for, uh, thatwhole recap.
You do a great job of that andI really appreciate you taking
notes as we go and recappingthat for us.
Um, but I'm going to turn to aquestion that we had today from
our social or sorry, a questionfrom yesterday that we had on
our socials when our girl,Allison Jackson, was off the
front in the break yet again.
(09:55):
But the question is awesomebecause I was getting a ton of
text messages from other coachesand athletes that I coach,
asking basically this and sohere's the question, quote
everybody is thinking couldRenee speak a bit about Allison
(10:16):
Jackson from pedaling in a bike?
Fit perspective, Always a bitof an odd style, but today at
the tour, dot dot, dot, questionmark, question mark.
So, Renee, I'll kick it over toyou first and then I've got a
few things to say.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, this was in reference to Allison in the
breakaway and I think I evensent you a text because she
started to look a little roughon the bike.
I think the official technicalterm is pedaling squares.
She was just tired and when youget tired you're trying to put
(10:54):
everything into the bike to makeit go forward.
So your upper body's going,you're not as smooth and things
like that.
So really that's what I sawfrom Allison and you know you
see a lot of different positionsout there and not everybody
looks beautiful on the bike andfar be it.
(11:18):
For me, some amateur bikefitter.
Well, I guess I'm aprofessional bike fitter, but an
amateur over here watchingsomebody on TV questioning a pro
tour rider's fit.
She has people, she has a teambehind her who are dialing in
her fit.
I trust their expertise and Idon't know about you, adam, but
(11:42):
you know what.
What do you think about Alliefit?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Uh, so I can.
I can speak at lengths and fora time on this because we have
worked on it, but I think thefirst and foremost and this goes
to like commentators, both inthe women's tour as well as the
men's tour it's a long timetalking and so one of the things
that commentators across theboard do is, uh, you know, make
(12:07):
note and start to comment onpeople'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 optimizeperformance based on that fit.
Okay, so we'll look at someexamples here coming up soon.
But in terms of Allison Jackson, yeah, like, if you go full
(12:31):
tilt, all in and I think my, mytext message to you was a
commitment has its consequences,right, when you go on the break
and you go full tilt andremember Alison Jackson is more
of a classics rider, she's acaptain on the team, but she
gives it her all, okay, Like,she is one of the hardest
fricking workers in the wholePeloton and she came, she was a
(12:54):
farmer, she's a Canadian bisonfarmer, okay, so when she goes
back, she's got to uh, wrestlechores and last, uh, or
yesterday, she was wrestling herbike and I I wanted to ask her
if we could talk about some ofthese bike fit things.
Uh, uh, but she was already inbed by the time we decided to
talk about this and I didn'twant to blow up her phone before
(13:15):
the stage.
So I'll just say this we'veworked on her fit over time and
there's a few things that wetried to change.
It didn't work, kind of made itworse.
Shorter cranks on the timetrial bike was good and that
felt appropriate, but when wewent shorter that was bad.
So then we went back and Ithink we're at 165.
(13:35):
And, allison, I know you'relistening so you can correct us
on the crank arm length on bothyour road bike and your time
trial bike if you want.
But we've been working on thatright.
In the end she's aero, sheperforms well and she feels good
.
You can get a rider into a moreaggressive position, but when
they don't feel good, the lowerback hurts or they can't produce
power over time it ain't goingto work.
(13:57):
So you go back to where theyfeel good and produce that power
.
Two last things is there's howyou look and then how you
perform.
So a couple of things that wedid work with her was her
cadence.
We went toward higher cadencebecause she was getting bogged
down oftentimes both in hillclimbs and then in exit speed
(14:20):
with speed work and things likethis and changing her habits
coming out of corners to get onthe get on the cranks a little
bit better and a little bit moresnappy.
That has made a big difference.
But in terms of looking acertain way, in performing a
certain way, I'd say be very,very cautious when you make
judgments on looks, becauselooks can be deceiving.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Well, we have some great examples too.
I think everybody can rememberChris Froome and his elbows out
and his knees everywhere andjust windmill spinning his legs.
He didn't look great on thebike In his day.
He was very, very goodfour-time winner of the tour.
(15:03):
Annemiek van Vleuten is anotherone.
She looks a mess on the bike,but very fast.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Jonathan Milan.
I do not like watching that guysprint.
Personally, he's like his headis, but he's fast and he wins.
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
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 justthink it's because they're Dutch
.
Those guys, they come out ofthe womb and they just put them
right on the bike.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
And I think too.
I mean, in athletics there'saesthetically appealing that
matches performance.
And then there's the rest of us.
And I think again.
For me anyway, when I'm workingwith an athlete, I focus on
performance, and if there'ssomething that takes away from
aerodynamics or tactics meaningyou're just like sitting out in
the wind or something like thatI mean you correct for that, and
(16:02):
then you work on developing thebody to become more aerodynamic
.
If we have to work on corestrengths or low back mobility
or something like this, you doit, but you do it slowly, you do
it gradually over time and youdon't mess with a high performer
.
If it is working for them andif the things that you can
measure doesn't take away, youlet it go.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
So, speaking of bike fit Renee, do you notice any
differences between when you'refitting men versus women?
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I do.
Women, as we know, have widersit bones.
Pelvis sits a little bit moreupright.
In terms of fit issues, weusually have a little bit more
soft tissue pressure.
Our anatomy is different wherewe sit on the saddle.
(16:58):
So those are some things I see,and if you guys are watching the
race, you might be thatarmchair quarterback being like
these girls look like they allneed bike fits because you do
tend to see women rolling aroundon the saddle a little bit more
.
And it's not that their bikefit is bad, it's that their
(17:23):
pelvis sits differently on thesaddle a little bit more.
And it's not that their bikefit is bad, it's that their
pelvis sits differently on thesaddle.
Women tend to have a moreanteriorly rotated pelvis and
with that you get more softtissue contact, especially in an
aggressive road position.
So instead of sitting squarelyon their sit bones, there's more
pressure up front and thatcauses them to shift and move
around a little bit more often,and that's just the body
(17:46):
protecting itself.
So it's not that they have badfits, it's just that it looks
different than the male becauseour pelvises are shaped
different different.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Um, so it it, and there's been a big change in
some technology, especially likewith the uh specialized power
saddle uh coming out and and uhAlison Tetrick had a lot to um
to do with that innovation,working with specialized, for
example.
So there's innovations to helpwith the difference in uh
anatomy in men versus women whenit comes to bike fit, and I
think that it's still evolvingas well.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, and this is not .
We are not sponsored bySpecialized, but I will say this
that Power Mimic Saddle.
It works for like eight out of10 women who are dealing with
that.
So that's a free tip for youguys.
So yeah.
So, girls, next time you're onthe group ride and some guy
(18:46):
rides up to you and is like, hey, your saddle's too high because
you're rolling around on thesaddle, feel free to tell him to
shove off as you drop him onthe climb.
Yeah, yep, I fully understandyou drop them on the climb.
Yeah, yep, I fully endorse that.
Yeah, the only other thing Iwanted to add about bike fit
(19:12):
bike sizing for ladies.
Like a woman's bike, they don'treally exist anymore, and if
they do have a bike that'smarketed towards a woman, it's
usually just the touch pointssmaller handlebars, maybe a
different saddle that comesstock, maybe it comes in pink or
purple.
Those are the main differences.
You're looking for a size offrame that matches your height
(19:35):
and just a broad generalizationis 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 onthe bigger bike you're going to
run into a reach problem, likethe top tube is just going to be
(19:57):
too long, you're going to endup with a 50 millimeter stem.
So that would be the onlydifference.
I'd really say there.
The bottom line on fit, it's tothe individual.
It's not really about gender.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yep, yep, fully agree with that and shameless plug.
If you have any bike fitconsultation desires, feel free
to reach out to Renee Eastmanand you can find her contact
information on trainwrightcom.
But yeah, she can.
She can definitely help you ifyou, if you're looking for a new
bike, you want to get a bikefit, especially in Colorado.
Um, I would definitely go toher because she is a
(20:33):
professional bike fitter and shefits both professionals and
amateurs.
So, yeah, delicate question,but also just a real question,
is how a bike fit might changefor women, especially saddle
issues after having a baby.
And since neither Renee or I aremothers however, you're a dog
(20:55):
mom, as proof by the t-shirtthere we decided to ask a best
super mom that we know.
So, coach Jane Marshall.
Let me do a quick intro of herand then we'll get onto a little
snippet of video.
Jane has actually been on thepodcast before.
She's a CTS coach, has a coupleof kids and she's a dear friend
(21:18):
.
Jane and I did our internshiptogether at CTS.
You, a couple of kids and she'sa dear friend.
Uh, jane and I did ourinternship together at CTS, you
know, like 20 years ago, whichis um getting there, getting up
there in years now, renee.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, you guys were a pain in my butt.
Yes, this is true, I was aresident coach uh manager at the
time, so I was their boss.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, so we were.
We were messing up a lot ofthings 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, janeand I stuck around at CTS and we
learned and we grew with thebest of them.
We became good coaches and andand Jane is still a full-time
(22:00):
coach as well as a mother, andshe had her kids and came back
to competition.
Um, uh, coincidentally, Icoached Jane as well and she's
still at the top of her game andin Colorado and it's awesome to
see she used to be a promountain biker, uh, went on to
be a coach, then had her kids,then came back biker, went on to
(22:21):
be a coach, then had her kids,then came back, and I definitely
saw a boost, a boost inanaerobic power, vo2 power and
after the first child, and itwas fun to see the physiological
changes in that.
And so, with that said, let'scue the first video from Jane.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
One of the biggest things that I've passed along to
other moms who've trained andraced bikes before kids and then
after kids is like go redo yourbike fit after you have a baby.
You, I would guess that yoursaddle width and your sit bone
width changed, so that was a bigthing for me.
After my first I went to awider saddle size after a couple
(23:02):
months of battling saddle soresand just as comfort and pain
and it made a huge difference.
You know your body changesafter you go through childbirth
and it's worthwhile to get thatchecked out, get it measured,
make sure your bike fit iscomfortable.
Uh, after you have kids.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Well, that's great advice, as always from coach
Jane.
Getting a bike fit after amajor change, like having a baby
, is great advice, but that'sgood advice for any athlete
after a huge change, and thatcould be an injury, a knee
replacement, or just when thingsaren't feeling right.
Renee, how can an athlete finda good bike fitter?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
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 motioncapture technology and I'm able
(24:05):
to analyze a rider when they'repedaling under load, rather than
that old-fashioned static.
Hold your leg there while I tryto measure it, because there's
a lot of inaccuracies when youdo that.
I'm not only looking at thoseangles of the knee angle, ankle
angle and things like that, butalso the right and left motion
(24:28):
of knee tracking, things likethat.
So I lead in with that onfinding a bike fitter, because
you can find a Retool bikefitter near you.
You can find a Retool bikefitter near you.
We'll put a link in the shownotes of you know, go to
retoolcom and find a fitter nearyou.
And I don't want to say thatevery single Retool fitter is
(24:51):
fantastic, because it's just atool that we use.
You have to have experience tobe a good fitter, but you can at
least.
If you have no idea where tostart, that's a place you can
start because you know there'sat least a minimum amount of
training that somebody has to doto be a retool fitter.
So that's a starting place, butother than that.
(25:12):
I would ask your friends, askthe people on the group ride
where they got to fit, becauseword of mouth is really probably
the best way to find a goodbike fitter in your area and you
know it's fair to ask yourfitter.
You know how long they've beendoing fits.
I've been doing fits for Idon't know 20 years Way better
(25:35):
than I was 10 years ago, betterthan I was five years ago.
I'm better than I was last week, adam.
Just recently I had a paratriathlete above the knee,
amputee both legs.
He challenged my fit process.
(25:56):
I had to put on my thinking cap.
I had to learn some new thingsand that's what really counts
with the fit is experience, andI'm still learning with every
athlete I fit, from thebeginners to the pros.
I probably learn more from thebeginners because they have more
(26:17):
problems because they have moreproblems.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Very true, and and um , two quick side notes here.
Uh, if uh, since I live in theDMV uh area, which is DC,
maryland and Virginia, if you'rea DMV rider and you're looking
for a good bike fitter, uh, stuWarren over at Parvilla bikes I
refer a ton of athletes over tohim.
He's super good.
He's hard to get into.
Kerr Son is another really goodbike fitter at VeloFit.
(26:47):
He's in Reston.
Highly encourage people to gothere.
Ryan McKinney, who's been onthe podcast before, big fan of
Kerr Son.
And then, finally, andy Cicero.
He's a great friend and he doesfits out of his his home studio
.
So if you're interested in Andyhe doesn't have a website hit
me up.
(27:07):
But one thing I'll say aboutRenee is I go to her for uh, a
lot of uh like quick feedbackand 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 wedid a quick, just little
adjustment.
Two weeks later she wonnational championship.
(27:31):
So it wasn't, it wasn't justRenee, uh, you know, but these
subtle adjustments to from afar.
I'll send Renee a quick videoand we'll kind of banter back
and forth and and she's goodenough to and has the experience
to be able to do something likethat from afar.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
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 athletessend me a video side view video
and I can at least say you gotto go get a fit.
You know like we need some helphere, right?
(28:03):
So, um, yeah.
So, moving on with that, jane'scomments about you know bike
fit after being a mom we wantedto ask Jane a little bit more
about that, because we know momsare awesome, but having a baby
doesn't mean that somebody'sathletic career is over.
(28:27):
A lot of women actually findsome of their best performances
after having a kid.
A lot of women actually findsome ofon who is famously a mom.
(28:51):
She has a couple of kids in therace, but she retired right
before the race started becauseshe's having another baby.
She's an example of somebodywho she was a world champion
before she had a baby and thenshe had at least one or two of
her kids and then she ended upwinning the first women's
(29:14):
peri-ruby, so she came rightback up to the top.
And there are uh, some othersthat um, you know for for, uh,
ellen van dyke and eleanorbarker, and I'm probably
forgetting some others, so youguys can correction corner me.
But back to what we talkedabout yesterday and some of the
(29:35):
advancements on the world touris that UCI rules mandate that
these ladies have to have paidmaternity leave, and that is
huge, huge.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, and they do that at the kind of top level of
triathlon as well.
One of my good friends, jackieHerring she's 41, absolutely
still crushing it at the top ofher game, and went through that
experience too.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah.
So, adam, we know a lot of ourlisteners are moms out there or
maybe they're going to be momsin the future.
So we question, we asked coachJane is what to expect in
returning to competition afterhaving a child.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Biggest surprise after giving birth.
I think kind of how looseygoosey I fell on the bike the
first six to eight weeks, nineweeks after giving birth, you
know tendons, pedal strokes,sitting on the saddle,
everything just kind of felt alittle bit weird, different.
I kind of think mom walks are areal thing.
(30:43):
I mean, your body was workingso hard to keep and build this
little human inside you.
There has to be some fitnessbenefit from that.
I don't know, we'll see if thestudies actually come out.
I think after Sydney, my second,I did some of my best anaerobic
power ever.
I think six months postpartumI'd have to look back at
(31:04):
training peaks Compared to aninjury.
I feel like coming back, justfeel fitness wise after birth is
is easier, at least it was forme.
Um, keeping, you know, losingthe weight, all that was pretty
easy.
Um, through breastfeeding, youknow.
(31:27):
Other women really strugglewith that, um, and that would be
super challenging, kind ofbalancing the nutrition needs,
feeding the baby.
The sleep deprivation, goingout and riding and enjoying very
little sleep and needing thatand seeing how little you can
function on was surprising.
Not a good or bad thing, butjust a thing.
(31:48):
And yeah, just how resilientand how fast you know if you
work, the body can bounce back.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Jane is right.
Mom watts are a thing, butthere's actually research behind
it.
Changes happen to the bodyduring pregnancy.
Some of the changes are similarto what happens with endurance
training.
On the cardiovascular sidewe're going to see increases in
(32:19):
blood volume, in cardiaccapacity.
Blood volume increases by 40,50 percent, Red blood cell
volume by 20% or 30%.
Now hematocrit is going to dropa little bit just due to
dilution effects.
But that EPO increase duringpregnancy will stimulate red
(32:46):
blood cell production upwards oflike 150%.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
It's pretty wild From baseline baseline.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So even though you know bloodvolume and red blood cell count
goes up during pregnancy,somebody's top end fitness VO2
max usually stays the same ordrops a little bit during
pregnancy.
You know the body's under a lotof physical stress and most
women are not doing powerintervals during pregnancy.
(33:12):
However, postpartum athleteswill tend to see a rebound one
to 12 weeks after delivery.
Red blood cell volume remainselevated about 5% above
pregnancy.
Vo2 max and maximum power canimprove by 5% or 6% from
(33:33):
pre-pregnancy, especially whensomebody's training and returns
to training and does someintensity.
You have to do that to getthose improvements.
The reasons are it's becausethe higher blood volume sticks
around for a while, as well asthe elevated EPO levels.
It isn't doping, it's just thebody's natural response to what
(33:59):
happens.
And you know there's also somechanges that happen with the
heart.
You know there's a little bitresearch that shows that these
(34:23):
changes can stick around forabout a year after having a baby
having a baby.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yeah, mom doping, mom doping is a thing, even though
it's not really doping.
But but I think, like havingcoached a few people through
this, now I think again, thoseyou don't have a child to get
those benefits, obviously, butif you, if you do it right, you
can capitalize on those benefits.
And I think when you're doingit right, I mean I am not the
(34:53):
man that's going to sit here andmansplain how to have a baby
and return to competition.
But I will say I listen to myathletes and I encourage them to
keep training normally, as muchas tolerated, up to the point
where we just got to back itdown, not do power intervals in
their third trimester and thistype of thing, and also just
encourage them that, hey, notall is lost.
(35:15):
Here's what the research says.
And as soon as they'recomfortable in getting back to a
regular exercise first, likeyou know, hiking, maybe a little
bit of running just return backto good habits, then we get the
bike fit, done, change thingsthere, 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
(35:37):
thing.
Then we we do some testing andand, and I think through the
testing and seeing some biggernumbers of you know soon enough.
Uh, I think that helps to buildthe confidence.
Using these data points to toreassure the athlete that you
know not all is lost, includingyour identity as an athlete,
after a pregnancy, because itcertainly isn't, and if you time
(35:59):
it right, you do it right, youkeep good habits and you keep
yourself kind of in the in theguardrails of stuff.
Um yeah, you could have aamazing year after that first
job.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Absolutely Well.
We've got to thank Coach Janefor contributing.
She's a good friend of mine aswell and just you know fun fact
about Jane she's four-time agegroup national champion.
She's won both before and afterhaving children.
(36:31):
So it's true, that is true,moms are winning.
Uh, she's won both before andafter having children.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
So that is true, moms are winning Moms, moms are
winning, and a shout out to allthe moms out there we wouldn't
be around without you and welove you dearly.
So, uh, also fun fact, my momuh, my mom and her sister are in
town this week, so I've had thejoy of explaining bike racing
(36:53):
and the Tour de FranceFond-Montbeck-Swift to them.
I'm not sure that they fullyget it, but they're watching and
they appreciate it.
So how about that?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
It's awesome.
My sister watches the tour,just for the scenery.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Just for the yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
The race, just the scenery, and that's a perfectly
good reason to watch the course,perfectly good reason,
absolutely.
So, looking ahead, can you bringus 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.
(37:32):
First, 50 miles or so, flat androlling, but it does have three
climbs near the end of thestage last 30 miles, 50
kilometers or so.
The main feature of the day iscold, green air.
It's 9 kilometers, 5%, so it'snot going to be like super hard
(37:53):
climb, but it is 15 or 20Kdownhill to the finish.
So after what we've seen thelast couple days, I think we
could expect some people goingfull send on that descent.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
I would expect the best gc descender to win.
Who would that be in youropinion?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
um cassia, but since I have sadrine carball on my
fantasy team, I'm gonna justgive her a pick yeah, yeah,
she'll be up there.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Um, also, I'll say this uh, when it comes to
working on tactics and all thiskind of stuff, um, one of our uh
tactics with Alison Jackson wasto basically follow Kerbal down
.
Uh, all the descents duringteam 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.
(38:54):
Sometimes you just need a goodwheel to follow and you point it
downhill.
Yes, I definitely agree withyou.
Cassia's going to be up there.
I have to look at the stage fortomorrow.
I did not, but the way thatshe's descending and ripping and
she has some snap.
I might be putting my fantasytour on Cassia at Neodoma Finney
(39:14):
.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
That's a good pick.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yeah, okay.
So, um, we're not super shorttoday, but we, you know, we
talked a ton about mom'sphysiology, bike fit, and I
think the audience is going tolike this one, renee.
So thanks for puttingeverything together and driving
the ship on the TDFF Time CrunchCyclist podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
You're welcome, Adam.
Let's get out of here.
I got a couple of bike fitsthis afternoon.
Welcome back Time Crunch fans and TDFF fans.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford.
This week it's all about theFOM, the Tour de France FOM of
X-Swift that is.
And with me again for all thesespecial edition episodes, is my
co-host, renee Eastman.
Hi, renee.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning Adam, hey everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And if you've been joining us for the past several
stages, thank you.
We hope that you're reallyenjoying it and if so, please
share it with a friend.
That helps to grow the showeven more.
And if you have any questionsfor us and all things Tour de
France, vamabeck, zwift, women'sracing, training or physiology
(00:41):
feel free to drop it in thecomment section on Instagram or
YouTube, or head over totrainrightcom backslash podcast
and click on ask a trainingquestion.
We'll do our best to answer iton a future episode or like
Renee did this morning.
Uh, there was a question thatwe could answer really quickly
in the comment section onYouTube.
We just answer directly there.
So we will and are getting toyou.
So for anyone that is justjoining in and they're wondering
(01:02):
where the Time Crunch Cyclistpodcast is, welcome to you.
Coach Renee and I are here togive you the best podcast that
not only recaps the women's tour, but we weave in coaching and
training tips and whatever theheck else that we want along the
way.
So we hope you're enjoying thepod.
And you know what Renee?
(01:23):
She gives us a great stagerecap 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 choseto speak on the basis of
anonymity, but we do havefriends in low places as well as
(01:43):
high places that you haven'theard actually directly from on
the pod.
So, renee, can we hear thoseupdates?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Absolutely so.
Yesterday we were talking aboutsalaries in the 300 range and
that was way off.
They're probably more in the700 range, which is great, and
(02:13):
it makes sense that it's alittle closer to Demi, that the
top is a little bit closer, butthe facts are that two-thirds of
the peloton are not even closeto that, because it's very top
heavy, kind of like the men'sfield.
To be honest.
You know Pokachar making ninemillion stuff.
I think that's great newsactually, because it does mean
(02:35):
that more women are getting paid.
Still have a ways to go, butit's it's.
I'm actually really happy to becorrected that way.
But it's, it's, it's.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I'm actually really happy to be corrected that way.
Yeah, yeah, and and you knowit's any corrections like that
because we do our best to to getinformation from all the
sources as quickly as we can ina daily podcast, which is way
(03:07):
more challenging than I thought,including some of our high
quality audio and video thatRuddy thank you, ruddy has been
working on so, as we go, growand learn, thank you for our
friends in low and high placesto help us along the way.
Renee, with that taken care of,can you give us a stage recap
from?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
stage six.
Stage six this is our first dayin the proper mountains.
It's a relatively flat start tothe stage.
There was a gigantic breakawayabout 20 riders that got away
and they were getting awayaround the first climbs there
and they started to get broughtback as the Peloton approached
(03:46):
the first big category one.
So your window watch alert.
Today I'd start watching.
With like 40 K to go, that'swhen they top out or get on the
first big climb of the day.
Back to the race.
I'm not going to go througheverybody in the break we spent
here all day.
But I think the key to gothrough everybody in the break
We'd spend here all day.
But I think the key players tonote in today's break Elise
(04:09):
Shabby from FDJ Suez and SilkaSmulders from Livalu Lajeko
those guys have been duking itout for the mountain points so
you can look for that race tocontinue through the week.
They were going at it the mainpack behind.
(04:31):
They kind of came up the bigclimb all together as they were
absorbing the break.
Nothing happened on the climbbut coming off of that, but
coming off of that, the descentoff of that category one,
shadreen Kerbal starts rippingit on the descent, absolutely
(04:54):
ripped it.
That's how she won a stage lastyear.
Adam, she attacked over the topof the climb, ripped down the
descent.
She and Cassia were a littlebit off the front.
Um, I think that's just a signof things to come for tomorrow
which we'll get to um.
So the, the, the gc leaders areall together going up the, the
(05:18):
second big climb which came soonafter the, the category one, um
, about 20, 20 odd.
Uh, ladies up there as they'regoing over the top of that
category two, mavis wibbin ofteam uae, adq.
She just kind of slips off thefront.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
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 tolike ask Renee.
I was like they're saying itwas a heart attack and it's like
no, it's kind of more of asneaky slip off the front.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I think I blinked too because I don't know got a
glass of water and stuff and allof a sudden she's off the front
.
But she is a young French rider,up and coming talent 23 years
old yeah, one uh won a stage ofthe ardash last year and she was
second in one of the bigmountain stages in the tour last
(06:13):
year as well.
So you know, keep an eye forher.
Um, the, as the group got overthe climb and she was away, she
built up a lead about a minuteand a half and the GC group
behind.
They were just kind of chill.
(06:34):
You know they were going hard,people were coming off the back,
but there were no big attacksfrom the GC group on any of the
climbs, except maybe the bonussprint.
There was a bonus sprint afterthe second climb on the way to
the finish, about 12k to go.
Um, no surprise, kel pc oryellow jersey, she got that
(06:55):
ahead of cassia.
So those guys are both gobblingup.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
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 increasedsnappiness.
She was right there, I think,damien, I mean looking strong
(07:19):
and was patient, but I thinkshe's even maybe a little
surprised by it.
It was like, oh, cassia snappedand then like stuck to
LaCorte's wheel Like that wasimpressive to me.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, she has.
I've noticed that too.
She, she's got a little bitmore pop, because Cassia in the
past has been known as a notsprinter Like she, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Steady good, always there consistent great bike
racer, but not snappy.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah.
So Mieva Squibben ended upstaying away for the win.
It was awesome.
French rider, french crowds,you know, biggest win of her
career.
That's really really awesome tosee and the French went 1-2,
today too with LeBleu they did.
Yeah, the GC group about 15,stayed all together, save but
(08:10):
Juliette LeBou who kind of snuckoff the front a little bit
coming into town.
She finished a couple ofseconds ahead of the rest of the
GC group and LeCourt sprintedfor third, you know.
So she, you know again gettinga couple more bonus seconds.
So by the end of the day thejerseys remain the same.
(08:34):
Kim LaCourte's in yellow,Shabby has an even more
significant lead in the polkadots.
Julie Viego's, still in thewhite jersey.
She was behind the the leadgroup, uh, today, but she's
battling ninka vinka for forthat white jersey.
Who?
That just is the best name inthe peloton, oh, yeah,
(08:57):
absolutely, we cheer on.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
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 thename is isn't announced it's
just awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So the only other change in the top five Adam was
Cassie actually leapfrogged Demi.
She's in third now, just on thebonus seconds.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yep, yeah, which was again super smart, very crafty.
I love that move that'sprobably what to me anyway, like
a very good move of the day interms of the GC.
I mean, Squibben obviously wasthe writer of the day in my, in
my book, but, um, but yeah, Ithink that's very noteworthy.
(09:34):
Renee, thank you for, uh, thatwhole recap.
You do a great job of that andI really appreciate you taking
notes as we go and recappingthat for us.
Um, but I'm going to turn to aquestion that we had today from
our social or sorry, a questionfrom yesterday that we had on
our socials when our girl,Allison Jackson, was off the
front in the break yet again.
(09:55):
But the question is awesomebecause I was getting a ton of
text messages from other coachesand athletes that I coach,
asking basically this and sohere's the question, quote
everybody is thinking couldRenee speak a bit about Allison
(10:16):
Jackson from pedaling in a bike?
Fit perspective, Always a bitof an odd style, but today at
the tour, dot dot, dot, questionmark, question mark.
So, Renee, I'll kick it over toyou first and then I've got a
few things to say.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, this was in reference to Allison in the
breakaway and I think I evensent you a text because she
started to look a little roughon the bike.
I think the official technicalterm is pedaling squares.
She was just tired and when youget tired you're trying to put
(10:54):
everything into the bike to makeit go forward.
So your upper body's going,you're not as smooth and things
like that.
So really that's what I sawfrom Allison and you know you
see a lot of different positionsout there and not everybody
looks beautiful on the bike andfar be it.
(11:18):
For me, some amateur bikefitter.
Well, I guess I'm aprofessional bike fitter, but an
amateur over here watchingsomebody on TV questioning a pro
tour rider's fit.
She has people, she has a teambehind her who are dialing in
her fit.
I trust their expertise and Idon't know about you, adam, but
(11:42):
you know what.
What do you think about Alliefit?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Uh, so I can.
I can speak at lengths and fora time on this because we have
worked on it, but I think thefirst and foremost and this goes
to like commentators, both inthe women's tour as well as the
men's tour it's a long timetalking and so one of the things
that commentators across theboard do is, uh, you know, make
(12:07):
note and start to comment onpeople'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 optimizeperformance based on that fit.
Okay, so we'll look at someexamples here coming up soon.
But in terms of Allison Jackson, yeah, like, if you go full
(12:31):
tilt, all in and I think my, mytext message to you was a
commitment has its consequences,right, when you go on the break
and you go full tilt andremember Alison Jackson is more
of a classics rider, she's acaptain on the team, but she
gives it her all, okay, Like,she is one of the hardest
fricking workers in the wholePeloton and she came, she was a
(12:54):
farmer, she's a Canadian bisonfarmer, okay, so when she goes
back, she's got to uh, wrestlechores and last, uh, or
yesterday, she was wrestling herbike and I I wanted to ask her
if we could talk about some ofthese bike fit things.
Uh, uh, but she was already inbed by the time we decided to
talk about this and I didn'twant to blow up her phone before
(13:15):
the stage.
So I'll just say this we'veworked on her fit over time and
there's a few things that wetried to change.
It didn't work, kind of made itworse.
Shorter cranks on the timetrial bike was good and that
felt appropriate, but when wewent shorter that was bad.
So then we went back and Ithink we're at 165.
(13:35):
And, allison, I know you'relistening so you can correct us
on the crank arm length on bothyour road bike and your time
trial bike if you want.
But we've been working on thatright.
In the end she's aero, sheperforms well and she feels good
.
You can get a rider into a moreaggressive position, but when
they don't feel good, the lowerback hurts or they can't produce
power over time it ain't goingto work.
(13:57):
So you go back to where theyfeel good and produce that power
.
Two last things is there's howyou look and then how you
perform.
So a couple of things that wedid work with her was her
cadence.
We went toward higher cadencebecause she was getting bogged
down oftentimes both in hillclimbs and then in exit speed
(14:20):
with speed work and things likethis and changing her habits
coming out of corners to get onthe get on the cranks a little
bit better and a little bit moresnappy.
That has made a big difference.
But in terms of looking acertain way, in performing a
certain way, I'd say be very,very cautious when you make
judgments on looks, becauselooks can be deceiving.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Well, we have some great examples too.
I think everybody can rememberChris Froome and his elbows out
and his knees everywhere andjust windmill spinning his legs.
He didn't look great on thebike In his day.
He was very, very goodfour-time winner of the tour.
(15:03):
Annemiek van Vleuten is anotherone.
She looks a mess on the bike,but very fast.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Jonathan Milan.
I do not like watching that guysprint.
Personally, he's like his headis, but he's fast and he wins.
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
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 justthink it's because they're Dutch
.
Those guys, they come out ofthe womb and they just put them
right on the bike.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
And I think too.
I mean, in athletics there'saesthetically appealing that
matches performance.
And then there's the rest of us.
And I think again.
For me anyway, when I'm workingwith an athlete, I focus on
performance, and if there'ssomething that takes away from
aerodynamics or tactics meaningyou're just like sitting out in
the wind or something like thatI mean you correct for that, and
(16:02):
then you work on developing thebody to become more aerodynamic
.
If we have to work on corestrengths or low back mobility
or something like this, you doit, but you do it slowly, you do
it gradually over time and youdon't mess with a high performer
.
If it is working for them andif the things that you can
measure doesn't take away, youlet it go.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
So, speaking of bike fit Renee, do you notice any
differences between when you'refitting men versus women?
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I do.
Women, as we know, have widersit bones.
Pelvis sits a little bit moreupright.
In terms of fit issues, weusually have a little bit more
soft tissue pressure.
Our anatomy is different wherewe sit on the saddle.
(16:58):
So those are some things I see,and if you guys are watching the
race, you might be thatarmchair quarterback being like
these girls look like they allneed bike fits because you do
tend to see women rolling aroundon the saddle a little bit more
.
And it's not that their bikefit is bad, it's that their
(17:23):
pelvis sits differently on thesaddle a little bit more.
And it's not that their bikefit is bad, it's that their
pelvis sits differently on thesaddle.
Women tend to have a moreanteriorly rotated pelvis and
with that you get more softtissue contact, especially in an
aggressive road position.
So instead of sitting squarelyon their sit bones, there's more
pressure up front and thatcauses them to shift and move
around a little bit more often,and that's just the body
(17:46):
protecting itself.
So it's not that they have badfits, it's just that it looks
different than the male becauseour pelvises are shaped
different different.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Um, so it it, and there's been a big change in
some technology, especially likewith the uh specialized power
saddle uh coming out and and uhAlison Tetrick had a lot to um
to do with that innovation,working with specialized, for
example.
So there's innovations to helpwith the difference in uh
anatomy in men versus women whenit comes to bike fit, and I
think that it's still evolvingas well.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, and this is not .
We are not sponsored bySpecialized, but I will say this
that Power Mimic Saddle.
It works for like eight out of10 women who are dealing with
that.
So that's a free tip for youguys.
So yeah.
So, girls, next time you're onthe group ride and some guy
(18:46):
rides up to you and is like, hey, your saddle's too high because
you're rolling around on thesaddle, feel free to tell him to
shove off as you drop him onthe climb.
Yeah, yep, I fully understandyou drop them on the climb.
Yeah, yep, I fully endorse that.
Yeah, the only other thing Iwanted to add about bike fit
(19:12):
bike sizing for ladies.
Like a woman's bike, they don'treally exist anymore, and if
they do have a bike that'smarketed towards a woman, it's
usually just the touch pointssmaller handlebars, maybe a
different saddle that comesstock, maybe it comes in pink or
purple.
Those are the main differences.
You're looking for a size offrame that matches your height
(19:35):
and just a broad generalizationis 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 onthe bigger bike you're going to
run into a reach problem, likethe top tube is just going to be
(19:57):
too long, you're going to endup with a 50 millimeter stem.
So that would be the onlydifference.
I'd really say there.
The bottom line on fit, it's tothe individual.
It's not really about gender.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yep, yep, fully agree with that and shameless plug.
If you have any bike fitconsultation desires, feel free
to reach out to Renee Eastmanand you can find her contact
information on trainwrightcom.
But yeah, she can.
She can definitely help you ifyou, if you're looking for a new
bike, you want to get a bikefit, especially in Colorado.
Um, I would definitely go toher because she is a
(20:33):
professional bike fitter and shefits both professionals and
amateurs.
So, yeah, delicate question,but also just a real question,
is how a bike fit might changefor women, especially saddle
issues after having a baby.
And since neither Renee or I aremothers however, you're a dog
(20:55):
mom, as proof by the t-shirtthere we decided to ask a best
super mom that we know.
So, coach Jane Marshall.
Let me do a quick intro of herand then we'll get onto a little
snippet of video.
Jane has actually been on thepodcast before.
She's a CTS coach, has a coupleof kids and she's a dear friend
(21:18):
.
Jane and I did our internshiptogether at CTS.
You, a couple of kids and she'sa dear friend.
Uh, jane and I did ourinternship together at CTS, you
know, like 20 years ago, whichis um getting there, getting up
there in years now, renee.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, you guys were a pain in my butt.
Yes, this is true, I was aresident coach uh manager at the
time, so I was their boss.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, so we were.
We were messing up a lot ofthings 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, janeand I stuck around at CTS and we
learned and we grew with thebest of them.
We became good coaches and andand Jane is still a full-time
(22:00):
coach as well as a mother, andshe had her kids and came back
to competition.
Um, uh, coincidentally, Icoached Jane as well and she's
still at the top of her game andin Colorado and it's awesome to
see she used to be a promountain biker, uh, went on to
be a coach, then had her kids,then came back biker, went on to
(22:21):
be a coach, then had her kids,then came back, and I definitely
saw a boost, a boost inanaerobic power, vo2 power and
after the first child, and itwas fun to see the physiological
changes in that.
And so, with that said, let'scue the first video from Jane.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
One of the biggest things that I've passed along to
other moms who've trained andraced bikes before kids and then
after kids is like go redo yourbike fit after you have a baby.
You, I would guess that yoursaddle width and your sit bone
width changed, so that was a bigthing for me.
After my first I went to awider saddle size after a couple
(23:02):
months of battling saddle soresand just as comfort and pain
and it made a huge difference.
You know your body changesafter you go through childbirth
and it's worthwhile to get thatchecked out, get it measured,
make sure your bike fit iscomfortable.
Uh, after you have kids.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Well, that's great advice, as always from coach
Jane.
Getting a bike fit after amajor change, like having a baby
, is great advice, but that'sgood advice for any athlete
after a huge change, and thatcould be an injury, a knee
replacement, or just when thingsaren't feeling right.
Renee, how can an athlete finda good bike fitter?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
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 motioncapture technology and I'm able
(24:05):
to analyze a rider when they'repedaling under load, rather than
that old-fashioned static.
Hold your leg there while I tryto measure it, because there's
a lot of inaccuracies when youdo that.
I'm not only looking at thoseangles of the knee angle, ankle
angle and things like that, butalso the right and left motion
(24:28):
of knee tracking, things likethat.
So I lead in with that onfinding a bike fitter, because
you can find a Retool bikefitter near you.
You can find a Retool bikefitter near you.
We'll put a link in the shownotes of you know, go to
retoolcom and find a fitter nearyou.
And I don't want to say thatevery single Retool fitter is
(24:51):
fantastic, because it's just atool that we use.
You have to have experience tobe a good fitter, but you can at
least.
If you have no idea where tostart, that's a place you can
start because you know there'sat least a minimum amount of
training that somebody has to doto be a retool fitter.
So that's a starting place, butother than that.
(25:12):
I would ask your friends, askthe people on the group ride
where they got to fit, becauseword of mouth is really probably
the best way to find a goodbike fitter in your area and you
know it's fair to ask yourfitter.
You know how long they've beendoing fits.
I've been doing fits for Idon't know 20 years Way better
(25:35):
than I was 10 years ago, betterthan I was five years ago.
I'm better than I was last week, adam.
Just recently I had a paratriathlete above the knee,
amputee both legs.
He challenged my fit process.
(25:56):
I had to put on my thinking cap.
I had to learn some new thingsand that's what really counts
with the fit is experience, andI'm still learning with every
athlete I fit, from thebeginners to the pros.
I probably learn more from thebeginners because they have more
(26:17):
problems because they have moreproblems.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Very true, and and um , two quick side notes here.
Uh, if uh, since I live in theDMV uh area, which is DC,
maryland and Virginia, if you'rea DMV rider and you're looking
for a good bike fitter, uh, stuWarren over at Parvilla bikes I
refer a ton of athletes over tohim.
He's super good.
He's hard to get into.
Kerr Son is another really goodbike fitter at VeloFit.
(26:47):
He's in Reston.
Highly encourage people to gothere.
Ryan McKinney, who's been onthe podcast before, big fan of
Kerr Son.
And then, finally, andy Cicero.
He's a great friend and he doesfits out of his his home studio
.
So if you're interested in Andyhe doesn't have a website hit
me up.
(27:07):
But one thing I'll say aboutRenee is I go to her for uh, a
lot of uh like quick feedbackand 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 wedid a quick, just little
adjustment.
Two weeks later she wonnational championship.
(27:31):
So it wasn't, it wasn't justRenee, uh, you know, but these
subtle adjustments to from afar.
I'll send Renee a quick videoand we'll kind of banter back
and forth and and she's goodenough to and has the experience
to be able to do something likethat from afar.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
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 athletessend me a video side view video
and I can at least say you gotto go get a fit.
You know like we need some helphere, right?
(28:03):
So, um, yeah.
So, moving on with that, jane'scomments about you know bike
fit after being a mom we wantedto ask Jane a little bit more
about that, because we know momsare awesome, but having a baby
doesn't mean that somebody'sathletic career is over.
(28:27):
A lot of women actually findsome of their best performances
after having a kid.
A lot of women actually findsome ofon who is famously a mom.
(28:51):
She has a couple of kids in therace, but she retired right
before the race started becauseshe's having another baby.
She's an example of somebodywho she was a world champion
before she had a baby and thenshe had at least one or two of
her kids and then she ended upwinning the first women's
(29:14):
peri-ruby, so she came rightback up to the top.
And there are uh, some othersthat um, you know for for, uh,
ellen van dyke and eleanorbarker, and I'm probably
forgetting some others, so youguys can correction corner me.
But back to what we talkedabout yesterday and some of the
(29:35):
advancements on the world touris that UCI rules mandate that
these ladies have to have paidmaternity leave, and that is
huge, huge.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, and they do that at the kind of top level of
triathlon as well.
One of my good friends, jackieHerring she's 41, absolutely
still crushing it at the top ofher game, and went through that
experience too.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah.
So, adam, we know a lot of ourlisteners are moms out there or
maybe they're going to be momsin the future.
So we question, we asked coachJane is what to expect in
returning to competition afterhaving a child.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Biggest surprise after giving birth.
I think kind of how looseygoosey I fell on the bike the
first six to eight weeks, nineweeks after giving birth, you
know tendons, pedal strokes,sitting on the saddle,
everything just kind of felt alittle bit weird, different.
I kind of think mom walks are areal thing.
(30:43):
I mean, your body was workingso hard to keep and build this
little human inside you.
There has to be some fitnessbenefit from that.
I don't know, we'll see if thestudies actually come out.
I think after Sydney, my second,I did some of my best anaerobic
power ever.
I think six months postpartumI'd have to look back at
(31:04):
training peaks Compared to aninjury.
I feel like coming back, justfeel fitness wise after birth is
is easier, at least it was forme.
Um, keeping, you know, losingthe weight, all that was pretty
easy.
Um, through breastfeeding, youknow.
(31:27):
Other women really strugglewith that, um, and that would be
super challenging, kind ofbalancing the nutrition needs,
feeding the baby.
The sleep deprivation, goingout and riding and enjoying very
little sleep and needing thatand seeing how little you can
function on was surprising.
Not a good or bad thing, butjust a thing.
(31:48):
And yeah, just how resilientand how fast you know if you
work, the body can bounce back.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Jane is right.
Mom watts are a thing, butthere's actually research behind
it.
Changes happen to the bodyduring pregnancy.
Some of the changes are similarto what happens with endurance
training.
On the cardiovascular sidewe're going to see increases in
(32:19):
blood volume, in cardiaccapacity.
Blood volume increases by 40,50 percent, Red blood cell
volume by 20% or 30%.
Now hematocrit is going to dropa little bit just due to
dilution effects.
But that EPO increase duringpregnancy will stimulate red
(32:46):
blood cell production upwards oflike 150%.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
It's pretty wild From baseline baseline.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So even though you know bloodvolume and red blood cell count
goes up during pregnancy,somebody's top end fitness VO2
max usually stays the same ordrops a little bit during
pregnancy.
You know the body's under a lotof physical stress and most
women are not doing powerintervals during pregnancy.
(33:12):
However, postpartum athleteswill tend to see a rebound one
to 12 weeks after delivery.
Red blood cell volume remainselevated about 5% above
pregnancy.
Vo2 max and maximum power canimprove by 5% or 6% from
(33:33):
pre-pregnancy, especially whensomebody's training and returns
to training and does someintensity.
You have to do that to getthose improvements.
The reasons are it's becausethe higher blood volume sticks
around for a while, as well asthe elevated EPO levels.
It isn't doping, it's just thebody's natural response to what
(33:59):
happens.
And you know there's also somechanges that happen with the
heart.
You know there's a little bitresearch that shows that these
(34:23):
changes can stick around forabout a year after having a baby
having a baby.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yeah, mom doping, mom doping is a thing, even though
it's not really doping.
But but I think, like havingcoached a few people through
this, now I think again, thoseyou don't have a child to get
those benefits, obviously, butif you, if you do it right, you
can capitalize on those benefits.
And I think when you're doingit right, I mean I am not the
(34:53):
man that's going to sit here andmansplain how to have a baby
and return to competition.
But I will say I listen to myathletes and I encourage them to
keep training normally, as muchas tolerated, up to the point
where we just got to back itdown, not do power intervals in
their third trimester and thistype of thing, and also just
encourage them that, hey, notall is lost.
(35:15):
Here's what the research says.
And as soon as they'recomfortable in getting back to a
regular exercise first, likeyou know, hiking, maybe a little
bit of running just return backto good habits, then we get the
bike fit, done, change thingsthere, 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
(35:37):
thing.
Then we we do some testing andand, and I think through the
testing and seeing some biggernumbers of you know soon enough.
Uh, I think that helps to buildthe confidence.
Using these data points to toreassure the athlete that you
know not all is lost, includingyour identity as an athlete,
after a pregnancy, because itcertainly isn't, and if you time
(35:59):
it right, you do it right, youkeep good habits and you keep
yourself kind of in the in theguardrails of stuff.
Um yeah, you could have aamazing year after that first
job.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Absolutely Well.
We've got to thank Coach Janefor contributing.
She's a good friend of mine aswell and just you know fun fact
about Jane she's four-time agegroup national champion.
She's won both before and afterhaving children.
(36:31):
So it's true, that is true,moms are winning.
Uh, she's won both before andafter having children.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
So that is true, moms are winning Moms, moms are
winning, and a shout out to allthe moms out there we wouldn't
be around without you and welove you dearly.
So, uh, also fun fact, my momuh, my mom and her sister are in
town this week, so I've had thejoy of explaining bike racing
(36:53):
and the Tour de FranceFond-Montbeck-Swift to them.
I'm not sure that they fullyget it, but they're watching and
they appreciate it.
So how about that?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
It's awesome.
My sister watches the tour,just for the scenery.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Just for the yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
The race, just the scenery, and that's a perfectly
good reason to watch the course,perfectly good reason,
absolutely.
So, looking ahead, can you bringus 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.
(37:32):
First, 50 miles or so, flat androlling, but it does have three
climbs near the end of thestage last 30 miles, 50
kilometers or so.
The main feature of the day iscold, green air.
It's 9 kilometers, 5%, so it'snot going to be like super hard
(37:53):
climb, but it is 15 or 20Kdownhill to the finish.
So after what we've seen thelast couple days, I think we
could expect some people goingfull send on that descent.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
I would expect the best gc descender to win.
Who would that be in youropinion?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
um cassia, but since I have sadrine carball on my
fantasy team, I'm gonna justgive her a pick yeah, yeah,
she'll be up there.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Um, also, I'll say this uh, when it comes to
working on tactics and all thiskind of stuff, um, one of our uh
tactics with Alison Jackson wasto basically follow Kerbal down
.
Uh, all the descents duringteam 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.
(38:54):
Sometimes you just need a goodwheel to follow and you point it
downhill.
Yes, I definitely agree withyou.
Cassia's going to be up there.
I have to look at the stage fortomorrow.
I did not, but the way thatshe's descending and ripping and
she has some snap.
I might be putting my fantasytour on Cassia at Neodoma Finney
(39:14):
.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
That's a good pick.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yeah, okay.
So, um, we're not super shorttoday, but we, you know, we
talked a ton about mom'sphysiology, bike fit, and I
think the audience is going tolike this one, renee.
So thanks for puttingeverything together and driving
the ship on the TDFF Time CrunchCyclist podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
You're welcome, Adam.
Let's get out of here.
I got a couple of bike fitsthis afternoon.
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