Empirical Cycling Podcast

Perspectives #39: An Unexpected Balance, with James McKay

Empirical Cycling Podcast

Show Notes

Our very own coach James Mckay sits down to talk about the road to achieving his cycling career goal, a victory at the Lincoln Grand Prix. As this was his last race being coached by Kolie, they take a retrospective look at all the challenges and hard work that went into the last four years of training that made this such an incredible moment: volume, race specific intensity, cramps, heat training, race weight, pressure for results, and the unanticipated way it all came together.

More from Empirical Cycling Podcast

Oct 11, 2026

This episode details our approach in coaching high quality training that isn't based on traditional intervals and power targets. We go over advantages and disadvantages of both approaches, and discuss how cyclists who don't enjoy intervals can still make progress. We advocate for a middle ground of "semi-structured" training, and different ways to take this approach in workouts as well as periodization. Plus your listener questions.

Sep 28, 2026

After discussing testing and getting descriptive with power profiling, we weigh the merits of several things power profiles are typically used for like training needs, fractional utilization and underestimated FTPs, race selection and scenarios, potential for training response. We also answer your listener questions on nature vs nurture, normalized power, and much more.

Sep 17, 2026

We take a very deep dive into the world of lactate. Starting out with "metabolic logic" to illustrate how and why lactate gets formed during exercise, we then get into the idea of "glycolytic strength" as well as the lactate shuttle hypothesis. Then we tackle lactate testing, with a critical eye on first threshold (LT1), lactate concentrations and various threshold definitions, as well as sources of variability that affect how valid test results may be. We end with your listener questions, including lactate gels.

Aug 26, 2026

This episode goes into our approach to periodization and training around holidays with and without bike access, injury and illness, extreme heat and cold, including how to adjust mid training block. Plus your listener questions on exam stress, weight loss, and more.

Aug 19, 2026

We discuss our process for learning from a season and applying it to the next one. Goals, roadblocks, recovery, availability, progressive overload, health, and more. We also answer your listener questions about what we're looking for in all that data, spotting limiters, race specificity, planning around holidays, and more.

See all episodes →