Ceridwen Coaching

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Retired coach sharing the knowledge!
🚴 Multiple Gran Fondo finisher | ISSA-certified
Cycling endurance, recovery & adventure. ISSA-SSC & NASM-CNC certified.

I help the weekend warrior prepare for endurance events by providing one-to-one coaching. Packages for training and nutrition plans.

08/21/2026

We were told the same thing: get protein in within 30 minutes of finishing, or you've wasted the work. So we'd chase a ride with a shake before we'd even racked the bike.

It turns out the clock isn't nearly as loud as we were told. The reason timing might matter for a cyclist has almost nothing to do with the reason it usually gets talked about. It's not about building muscle. It's about recovering well enough to ride again.

My latest post breaks down what the science actually says: why the 30-minute window is mostly a myth, how much protein endurance riders really need (spoiler alert: it's more than most of us eat), and why fast turnarounds like a stage race are the one situation where getting fuel in quickly actually matters.

The 30-minute anabolic window is mostly a myth. Here's what protein timing after exercise actually does for endurance recovery.

08/19/2026

We've all had the ride that falls apart in the last hour. The one where you head out feeling great on a coffee and good intentions, then hit the climb and you just... have no energy.

It's easy to blame your fitness for a day like that. More often, it was decided before you clipped in, by what you ate (or skipped) in the hours beforehand.

Pre-ride nutrition is one of the few places in cycling where the honest answer is usually eat more, not less, and it should be matched to the work ahead. My latest post breaks down the whole thing: how to match your fuel to the ride, when to eat your last meal, whether riding fasted is actually helping you, and why a plain cup of coffee does most of what a fancy pre-workout claims to.

The weather is getting nicer and many of us have started training again! Here are some of my favourite pre-workout nutrition strategies.

08/14/2026

“What supplements should I be taking to ride faster?”

I get some version of this question a lot. And the answer is “fewer than you think.”

The supplement industry is huge, loosely regulated, and very good at selling hopes and dreams. But when you strip it back to what’s actually been tested (repeatedly with real athletes under real conditions) you’re left with 5. And those 5 are supported by the IOC and Australian Institute of Sport.

In my latest post, I break down what each one does (caffeine, beetroot juice, creatine, beta-alanine, and sodium bicarbonate), whether it’s genuinely worth it for an endurance rider, and hopes I’d prioritize them depending on the kind of riding you do. Plus the one that matters more than any of them.

Have a read 👇

Most performance supplements do nothing. Here are the 5 that hold up in cyclists, what the research shows and how to prioritize them.

07/23/2026

There's a line in the current RED-S research that I think about a lot: the syndrome overlaps so heavily with overtraining that athletes routinely mistake one for the other.

Which means a rider whose power has stalled, whose recovery has stretched out, who's feeling flat and cold and catching every bug going around, will very often conclude they've trained too hard. So they rest. And rest doesn't fix an energy deficit, it just removes the training while the deficit keeps running.

I've written a follow-up to my earlier post on low energy availability, because LEA on its own isn't really the diagnosis. It's the input. RED-S is what it turns into when the shortfall runs deep enough, long enough: bone, hormones, immune function, mood and metabolism all downshifting together.

The cycling-specific part is worth knowing about. Long rides burn more than most people can comfortably eat back, appetite is suppressed for hours afterwards, and cycling is non-weight-bearing so it doesn't build the bone that would partially offset the cost. Studies in competitive road cyclists have found low lumbar spine bone density in over 40% of riders tested, with energy availability the strongest predictor.

The piece covers how the progression unfolds, what the warning signs look like in ordinary life rather than on a lab report, why the well-known threshold number is a poor thing to aim at, and how long recovery actually takes.

It's not a substitute for medical advice — if it sounds familiar, please talk to a sports physician or a registered dietitian. But it might be the thing that makes you book the appointment.

How chronic low energy availability becomes RED-S — the long-term effects on bone, hormones and performance, and why endurance cyclists are especially at risk.

07/11/2026

New post is up. Training for a multi-day hike, and why being reasonably fit and being able to carry your life on your back for four days are two completely unrelated skills.

I learned that the slow way, somewhere around forty minutes into my first loaded carry, when my shoulders filed a complaint and my hips filed a louder one.

What’s in it: why the load is the actual problem, why downhill hurts more than uphill, and why almost nobody trains for day two even though day two is the entire point.

(This is posted on my Teresa Uncharted site. I’m making Ceridwen Coaching a cycling resource.)

Training for a multi-day hike is less about fitness and more about load, hills and recovery. What actually worked, from someone who learned it the slow way.

07/09/2026

It's been a while! This space looks different now... The coaching chapter's closed, and what's left is the writing. I'm sharing everything I actually learned riding these events, free for anyone training toward their own event.

First up, a gran fondo plan that respects the distance. The base you can't skip, the fuelling most first-timers get wrong, and why the first hour decides how your fifth goes.

A gran fondo training plan built from real race experience. Training phases, pacing, and fuelling that get you to the finish line strong, not just surviving it.

03/14/2025

If you’ve ever felt exhausted, stuck in a training plateau, or just not recovering the way you should, stress might be the culprit. Specifically, cortisol—the hormone your body releases in response to stress—could be working against you.

If you’ve ever felt exhausted, stuck in a training plateau, or just not recovering the way you should, stress might be the culprit.

03/10/2025

Long-distance cycling isn’t just about grinding out miles—it’s about smart training, good snacks, and keeping your head in the game.

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Courtenay, British Columbia

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http://www.ceridwencoaching.com/, http://teresaedgar.com/

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