Every season we talk about peak performance as if it is something you simply arrive at. Train consistently, build fitness, and eventually the peak shows up on race day. In reality, peak performance is not an arrival. It is a decision.

In this final episode on annual training, we are going to work backwards from peak performance. Instead of asking how fit do I want to be, we ask a more important question. What am I willing to spend to perform at my best?

The performance phase carries a real cost. To express fitness, you have to stop accumulating it. Training shifts from building capacity to spending capacity. Volume often comes down. Recovery demands go up. Training becomes more specific, more focused, and less forgiving of extra stress. What made you fitter earlier in the year is not what makes you fast now.

This episode breaks down how to plan for that transition. How to recognize when it is time to stop building and start expressing. What changes in training structure, intensity, and recovery are required. And why failing to budget for this phase is one of the most common reasons athletes miss their peak.

Peak performance is not free. But when it is planned for, when the cost is understood and accepted, it becomes something you can deliver on demand rather than hope for.

Welcome to the BaseCamp Coaching Podcast, where we dive deep into the science and strategy behind smarter training. In this episode (Part 2 of 3), we’re deconstructing the Train phase, the foundation of every athlete’s performance journey.

Modern coaching is no longer about rigid blocks on a calendar. It’s about understanding systems, neuromuscular, metabolic, structural, and how they interact to create adaptation. The goal of this phase is simple: build multifaceted fitness.

But the process is complex. Strength training lays the groundwork for power. Nutrition drives adaptation and recovery. And targeted on the bike work ties it all together, shaping the physiological systems that sustain high performance.

We’ll break down how to integrate these elements, how to time your strength, structure your aerobic development, and use fueling strategies that support growth. We’ll also explore what athletes experience during this phase: the fatigue, the trade offs, and the discipline required to stay the course when freshness fades.

Finally, we’ll discuss the emerging science of durability, what it is, how it’s built, and why it’s becoming one of the most important markers of performance potential.

Join Tim Cusick and Dr. Namrita Brooke as they unpack how to train smarter, build stronger systems, and prepare your body and mind for the performance phase ahead.

Welcome to Breaking the Line, a podcast about evolving how we think about training and performance. This is part one of a three-part series exploring the shift from traditional linear periodization to a functional approach that connects structure with adaptation.

Periodization is an excellent process that organizes training, recovery, and performance, but it is not the driver. The real driver is function—how the body adapts, builds capacity, and expresses fitness.

Each episode dives into the Train Perform model, exploring concepts like chronic training load, durability, and readiness, and how they shape a modern athlete’s path to peak performance.

Breaking the Line is for coaches and athletes who want to understand not just the structure of training but the system of adaptation behind it.