Chris is a lifelong endurance athlete with a diverse academic and professional background. He has degrees and experience in neuroscience, clinical psychology, art, documentary photography, and journalism, and has decades of professional experience in the cycling and travel industries. Most recently, he founded Alter Exploration, which crafts challenging, transformative cycling journeys in some of the world’s most stunning destinations.
Chris was born and raised in southeastern Connecticut. He took up running in elementary school, and it quickly became his sole competitive outlet. Ultimately, he won multiple state championships in cross-country and track.
Chris attended Colgate University and graduated with degrees in neuroscience and art. He spent the next three years at the National Institute of Mental Health conducting research on patients with schizophrenia. After another year researching a stem cell treatment for Parkinson’s disease, he decided to pursue his second passion. This led him to the graduate journalism program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he concentrated in documentary photography. This is where Chris rediscovered his love of cycling, joining the collegiate team before expanding into categorized racing.
In 2012, Chris became the managing editor of VeloNews magazine, a position he held for nearly eight years. It was during that time that he became co-host of Fast Talk.
His cycling pursuits took him around the world to race on the road, mountain, and in cyclocross, to places like Taiwan, Costa Rica, Israel, and throughout Europe. He has stood on the podium at several cyclocross national championships, and is a silver medalist at master’s cyclocross worlds.
Chris is the author of The Haywire Heart, a groundbreaking and critically important guide to heart care for athletes, and the first book to delve into the relationship between long-term endurance athletics and heart health.
He is a cofounder of Fast Talk Labs, with Trevor Connor, and was the COO of Fast Talk Labs and The Paleo Diet until January 2022.
We discuss how to find solutions when you’re dealing with injuries without an obvious cause, then we review new research that demonstrates that changes in progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone do not negatively impact performance in males or females.
A healthy gut and appropriate inflammation are critical to our training, but finding the right balance is challenging. Cardiologist Dr. Fred Chaleff discusses the ways we can all find equilibrium.
Zwift revolutionized indoor training, but they didn’t stop there. We talk with Nick Kalkounis and Ryan Cooper about both the history and future of Zwift’s innovations.
Based on their recent research article, the Seilers discuss the proliferation of training zone systems and compare them to the highly touted Norwegian five-zone model.
Purists say never do efforts on long base rides, but recent research is challenging whether a few efforts really do any harm. More importantly, can doing some neuromuscular work help?
In this week’s potluck episode, we discuss when and how to best use average power from our rides, whether there’s a ceiling to our VO2max capacity, and how we can replicate success from season to season.
Mattering is the experience of adding value and feeling valued, both to the self and interpersonally. It’s the feeling of being seen, heard, valued, and needed. It’s a psychological need and a human instinct, but is rarely discussed in performance contexts.
Technology has penetrated deep into the wilds of the world, be it with GPS, satellite communications, drones, or other forms of gadgetry. Adventure photographer and endurance athlete Chris Burkard breaks down how tech is impacting our wild sides.
The truth about base training for time-crunched cyclists—what to cut, what to keep, and what actually moves the needle.
Across cycling disciplines, American riders male and female had exceptional success. USA Cycling’s Chief of Sports Performance details the highlights, addresses.
Athletes can now perform sweat analysis, check skin temperature, and monitor insulin in the field. But should they? We review the latest in nutrition technologies. We also talk about the potential adverse impacts of carbohydrates and caffeine on our health.
For our 400th episode we invited three of the most prominent names in exercise physiology to discuss where we are and where we’re going in endurance sports science.
As athletes, we understand the need for training plans, but have you ever considered applying the same principles to your nutrition? This episode discusses how it’s done.
Two new studies challenge common assumptions: intensity may matter more than volume for healthy aging, and triathlete injury patterns aren’t what most coaches would predict. We unpack what this means for training prescription, and why neuromuscular and strength work belong in every plan.
Drawing from the latest in sports psychology, this course gives coaches a structured approach to developing mental skills and resilience with guidance from Dr. Simon Marshall and pro triathlete and world champion Lesley Paterson.
This course from Dr. Brian Butki and coach Grant Holicky shows coaches how to prepare athletes mentally for race day with Race Day Cognitive Plans, visualization drills, and plug-and-play cues to help athletes achieve their IZOF.
We unpack what pain really means in endurance sport and how ultra-athletes use interoception, mindset, and adaptive coping (vs. maladaptive spirals) to finish stronger—less suffering, more control.
In this week’s potluck episode, we discuss whether there are issues with coming down from altitude, how to do a fatigue week with limited time, and whether or not to use auto-pause.