5 Things I Learned about Gravel from Kristen Legan

We recently had Kristen Legan on our podcast, and as a triathlon coach and a bit of a training nerd (though I don’t really like to race), I was excited to pick up her brain. You should listen to the full podcast, but if you can’t, here are the CliffsNotes

If you want to become a better cyclist, find a coach.

Not only does having a coach take the guesswork out of what you’re doing in your training, but it also gives you the chance to see your progression.

Accelerating your recovery is the key to accelerating your performance.

Over the years, Kristen has seen that one of the most significant benefits of coaching is that a coach understands when their athlete needs to recover. Those periods of recovery are the times that help our bodies become stronger.

Add different efforts to your training.

Not every ride should be an all-out effort, and not every ride should be a party pace effort. By varying efforts, we will become stronger cyclists.

It’s okay to be disappointed that our events are getting canceled.

It’s okay to feel disappointed and not to want to ride for a few weeks. Let yourself feel that disappointment and then find a new goal.

We underestimate ourselves all the time.

This was probably my favorite part of the conversation. I asked Kristen to help us evaluate how we can know we’re ready to train for a big event like Dirty Kanza. She said that we need to stop thinking, ‘can I do this?’ and start thinking, ‘how can I do this?’. We are much more capable than we think we are.

By the way, Kristen is a badass female cyclist in her own right. She’ talks about her favorite event and getting back out there after not being able to complete the DK 350. I think you’ll love her as much as we did.