I listen in the car and have listened to every one of them. Recently I found I was hitting fast forward alot. The last one I am sure I only listened to 30 minutes…it was surprising how long some topics are.
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I don’t get your suggestion. Clearly, because of her career as a pro, Amber’s expertise overlaps with that Coach Chad — and she can do deep dives that are every bit as informative as those of Coach Chad. Plus, she knows plenty of things that Coach Chads doesn’t have experience with.
To relegate her to “telling stories about the pro peloton” would not just be insulting, but also a giant waste of talent.
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It is not the total length of the podcast but the amount of time spent on one topic that is too much for me. After I first found the podcast I went back and listened to all the old ones. I would listen to several a day on long commute days and enjoy all of it. Lately some of the deep dives are too deep and I lose interest. Just tell me your findings and what you recommend.
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I think a lot of the complaining lately is misplaced. You may not enjoy the podcast changes or length, but it isn’t about YOU. We are all in this together. An incredibly diverse audience listens to this podcast (as evidenced by the commentary in this thread). Whether you are a beginner cyclist/triathlete or an experienced one, whether you are here for the marginal gains or just trying to find your way in a new athletic endeavor, whether you just want the quick hits or thrive on the nerdy awesomeness of some deep dive learning, there is something here for everyone. So sit back, enjoy, and if not every bit of it is your cup of tea just realize that there are a lot of people out there that need/want the info being provided by the TR team for free.
EDIT: Especially right now. Social interactions are so limited right now due to Covid-19, who are we to judge about others seeking to socialize as much as possible in these difficult times. If the TR team wants to ramble for a bit to maintain some semblance of normalcy while the life we are accustomed to dramatically changes, so what. Show some empathy, patience, and acceptance. We’re all human and need that right now.
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Mark Twain, of irrefutable wisdom, once wrote: “I apologize for the long letter. I didn’t have time to write a short one.”
I agree that sometimes the double deep dives seem long. But I think asking someone to both do a bunch of research, and then not just regurgitate it but analyze it so deeply as to reduce it to something bite sized is asking more than we might realize.
I agree the pod casts a year ago were a bit more dense and useful. But I guess put me in the “I’m just here to hang” crowd? Gimme three hours, I don’t care. I just sort of listen to music or podcasts all day.
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I don’t know why we have long episodes. How long does it take for them to tell us all how to improve our Ramp Test by like 20% every time???
In all seriousness. I like the long episodes. There are only so many topics to cover individually. At some point they have to start doing deeper dives into the nuances of a topic. It is really unusual to get real good information in a podcast. Often the podcasters just give us a topic to go do our own research on. Here we get excellent info, which takes time.
I assume when we get back to normal, the podcast episodes will not be as long. Then people will be complaining that they went back to the normal hour to hour and a half.
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Yeah I think some of the answers can drag on, it can get a bit amsr! I still enjoy it, but you can forget what the question their answering is sometimes
This thread is too long. Can somebody index the best parts for me? Nobody has time for this length of thread.
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It’s called fast forward /s 
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It all about the data for @Nate_Pearson 
If it’s too long, then stop listening to it.
Why would shortening it for everybody be a better solution than you choosing how long/much to listen to?
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I did not mean to imply hers are less informative, only that when they both do deep dives it gets a little tiresome. To be honest, i do not care who does them, just that when both do I usually find myself zoning out. If you think the breathing segment was the right amount of information, we are at an impasse.
Of the two, Amber has more to bring to the table. Therefore, if ONE of them is going to do deep dives, it might as well be chad (especially since Amber is not a permanent member of the podcast). Amber still adds a ton of value beyond deep dives. I find it fascinating when she talks about tactics, training, setting goals, and her experiences as a world-class athlete. At no point did I say she should only tell stories about the pro peloton (not sure why you put it in quotes because clearly you are not quoting me).
Call me crazy, but if I had the chance to talk with a pro athlete, I would ask them something only a pro athlete could answer. I definitely would not ask them something any trainer, or sport physiologist could answer. Take the breathing segment for example again, I would have been much more interested if she discussed how breathing as a world class swimmer translated into her experience as a world-class cyclist. If she had to change anything when she transitioned to cycling, how it might have improved her ability to train, recover etc.
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I think TR would prefer to get feedback then for us to just stop listening.
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This. 
Although I have zero intention to stop listening.
The podcast is 
I hope y’all don’t change a thing! I look forward to it every week and think it’s the best thing going in the cycling podcast world!!!
Yeah, and I think her deep dives do just that. She understands the theory and has had the experience of putting theory into practice. It shows why she was such a great pro athlete. Just like race car drivers know a lot about cars so that they can tell their mechanics how to tweak the suspension setup, she is intimately familiar of human physiology and the relevant processes inside the human body.
They addressed exactly this point in the last episode.
You don’t need to listen to all episodes or entire episodes. I think it is fine if you skip some parts. Hence my suggestion to add chapters to the podcast. People like you can skip to the next question. And others who want to re-listen a segment can do that, too. Wouldn’t you think this would solve your issue with how the show’s format has evolved?
Good points.
But I still see the podcast as an added extra, and a free added extra as that, compared to the main product of the TrainerRoad software and program.
I totally agree that we are all encouraged to have critical views. Mine tends to be a bit sillier.
The livestream? Well I’m a teacher so I’m almost never going to be able to watch it live and contribute that way. But that’s my own circumstances, and I’m not going to criticise them for making the podcast at that time.
I think the issue is the post covid-19 change of not having everybody in the room.
What I think is happening is that everybody is chiming in on almost every question as they go round robbin which takes a lot of time for even basic questions.
When everybody was in the same room, 1 or 2 people might chime in on a particular question and then they would move on when the question was answered. It was a more compact discussion.
My suggestion would be that they decide ahead of time who will answer which question, who will do a deep dive, and then move on without giving all 4 people some minutes on the subject.
I don’t mean to sound harsh. I really enjoy the podcast but enjoyed it a lot more pre covid-19. On the last podcast some questions seemed to go on and on and on well after they were answered.
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Chapters would be nice, yes. However, as I said in the original post, I do not mind the length of the episodes (I actually like them quite long as it is the only podcast I listen to). I also said in the original post they could coordinate what/how much to present. I do not think that is a radical idea either.
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I heard, in the most recent podcast, Coach Chad say, in response to a simple Plan Builder question that Jonathan answered concisely and quickly:
“I’m guessing you’re question was just a plan builder one and we just summed it up in under a minute. I’m going to take much longer to answer a question that you’re probably not asking but I think is related”
Made me think of this thread and smile.
I have no issue with the length of the podcast, it is great for longer rides and although some of the deep dives (ones about lifting especially) aren’t my cup of tea I know i always have the option of jumping forward or tuning out for a while. No complaints here, it is a great resource for us all, no matter what our level.