FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Frank is joined by Coach Jake in Boulder to answer listener-submitted questions! They cover Q's such as training on really hot days, training for Leadville at sea level, finding the joy in suffering, and more! Visit fascatcoaching.com to learn more about getting faster on the bike, and don't forget to subscribe to the show.

Coach Frank catches up with the former WorldTour rider and recent champion of the Unbound Gravel 200 to hear about his win, his preparation for the race, nutrition strategy, shift from the road to gravel, spirit animals, and what's next for the Boz. 

In this episode, we repost one of our original podcast episodes to celebrate our (almost) 3 year anniversary of the FasCat Podcast. Learn how Frank "invented" and popularized the concept of sweet spot training to improve cycling performance. For more training tips, visit fascatcoaching.com. 

There seems to be a lot of discussion about CTL, TSS, FTP, etc. as it relates to elite or world-class level cyclists, but what does this all mean for masters cyclists? Today on the podcast, we discuss masters CTL and the fundamentals of using CTL to quantify your training load as a masters cyclist and some key tips and advice from the Big Cat on this topic. Lots of good info here! For more info on...

Welcome back to another installment of our Q&A series, Ask a FasCat! Here we take listener questions from our audience and do our best to answer them. In this round, we tackle a variety of questions including first gravel race tips, nutrition for stage races, and plenty more! Thanks to everyone who submitted questions, and we hope this is helpful in your pursuit of getting faster on the bike! 6280...

 Are you new to riding and training with a powermeter? Here is your beginner's guide to start training with power.  In this episode, Coach Frank outlines 5 steps to begin training with power and using your data in TrainingPeaks. 62544Power-Based Intervals for Road Racing Training Plan Step 1: Upload your Data to TrainingPeaks Step 2: Look at your Power Graph  Step 3 is to set your power at thresh...

What makes a good Coach? Coaches come in all different sizes and shapes but what are the core values that makes a great one? 61959Designed by Good Coaches to help YOU Ride Faster In this podcast, Coach Frank describes the inspiration behind the podcast ( we're hiring ) and what he considers the qualities of a great coach  starting with these four core qualities: Results Knowledge Education and Exp...

  Switching from Base to Race Part 2: a continuation from our 2019 podcast on moving onto an interval phase of training after building a sweet spot base 61785Gravel Training Plan to help you practice what's described in this podcast! In this podcast, Coach Frank goes thru 10 instances Dave Letterman style of when you should switch from aerobic endurance training to high intensity interval traini...

 Coach Frank goes on a 14 minute rant about 'internet scientists' and the whole sweet spot versus polarized debate.  He espouses how the coaches are ahead on the scientists and bring it all back to the podcast topic: the long ride.  Frank describes his three long rides and how you can progress thru each. 61558Gravel Training Plan to help you practice what's described in this podcast! In this podc...

  Spring is around the corner and that means dried-out roads, sunshine, and GRAVEL. While gravel riding and racing is super hot right now in the cycling world, there are still a lot of cyclists who are intimidated or unfamiliar with how it all works. So, in this episode, Coach Frank breaks the gravel skills  down and offers some of his tried and true tips for gravel riding and racing as a vetera...

"Happy spouse, happy house" is an important mantra to keep in mind as a cyclist. Training and racing can be a selfish endeavor, and it's often easy to get sucked into the tunnel vision of goals and TSS and forget about the home life. Coach Frank shares some Valentine's Day wisdom for finding and keeping balance in the household while still hitting your cycling goals! 59525Sweet Spot part 3 top off...

  Welcome to the 16th edition of our "Ask a FasCat" podcast series, where we gather questions from our forum, website, and social media to help you ride faster!  This round Frank and Lacey dive into questions ranging from course pre-riding, long term development in cycling philosophy, starting training again after a crash, and tons more. Thanks to everyone for the thought provoking questions! 58...

Show Notes: This week on the podcast we are talking about ways to help you stay motivated!  That's right motivational tips and tricks to beat the mid-winter blues and follow your plan.  Coach Frank with sound bites from Coaches Isaiah & Jake expand on using these 18 examples to stay motivated in order to achieve your goals: 57324Sweet Spot Part 3 with Over Unders and Criss Cross Intervals Remember...

 The recipes in our Winning in the Kitchen Meal Plans are designed to be template guides for meals and have nearly endless variations to fit your preferences and tastes. In this episode, Frank and Jackson discuss how to adapt a few of the recipes to change them up and how to approach incorporating the 5 key food groups for meal planning. Listen in to hear how to keep the kitchen exciting if you'v...

How about a little anaerobic work to go with your sweet spot base training? At FasCat in the wintertime we like to caress and nurture our athlete's anaerobic system.  One training myth we'd like to dispel is to only do base training for 2-3 months. Why not do both simultaneously, in the right amounts.  We've long been fans of fast fun wintertime group rides for the short 10 – 20 second forays abov...

 Happy 2021! Coach Frank is back in action to talk about what's coming down the pipeline for podcasts over the next few months of the new year. Winter training, nutrition challenge, and more! Frank also revisits an episode he recorded earlier in 2020 discussing the importance of measuring and tracking your FTP (functional threshold power) with a 20 minute field test, an essential metric to focus...

 I wrote this five years ago in 2016 and have been living it since – cycling is a lifestyle and in this training tip I'll share that lifestyle with you – Frank Overton Jan 9, 2020 Five year's ago my new year's resolution was to double down and make 2016 my year to have a great cycling season. You know, 'get serious'.   The motivation came from two cyclocross seasons of getting my ass kicked. That...

Welcome to another Q&A session of the FasCat Podcast, where we gather questions from our forum, website, and social media to help you ride faster!  This round Frank and Lacey dive into questions ranging from tips for young cyclists, heart rate behavior during workouts, tapering,  frequency of field testing, data fields to display, long term race goals, Haute Route nutrition, and so much more! Than...

The Performance Manager Chart in TrainingPeaks and WKO is one of THE best tools athletes can use for their training and performance.  Coach Frank busts out the pocket protector to explain and describe this impulse-response performance model. Athletes and coaches may use the model to plan training and therefore predict performance! One can literally design more watts into their annual training by u...

It's December, which means next year is upon us and thoughts are quickly shifting towards the race season. What are you doing to ensure an improvement over last year? What kind of training are you doing? Are you just winging it? There's a certain combo of art and science to the base building phase of a training calendar, and in Coach Frank's extensive experience of coaching cyclists he's come up w...

  Coach Frank drops some wisdom about what types of training we recommend for the next 22 weeks. Why 22 weeks? Well, that' how long it is from now until mid-May, where you likely want to be fast, faster, peaking, or crushing your A race. We'll also touch on: what if you have 25 – 26 weeks, which is the Memorial Day Holiday, traditionally a big event week? Or training for the June 5 Unbound Grave...

From the FasCat family to yours, thank you! For tuning in to the podcast, for letting us help you get faster on the bike, we're grateful to serve you. This week's show, the FasCat coaches + Jackson share short messages of gratitude for you, the listener! 49244Shop our off-season resistance training plan. It's a privilege to do what we do as coaches, and despite the uncertainties and madness of 202...

Coach Isaiah comes on the podcast today to explain whether or not you should be doing specificity training year round.  Isaiah defines 'specificity' in terms of power output, skills, training on (or up/down) certain terrain, equipment, nutrition and of course duration.  We also break down which specifics apply to what phases of your training such as off season weights, sweet spot base, intervals o...

Welcome to another episode of the FasCat Podcast! This week Coach Frank and Coach Jake explain how you can use Zwift to FtFP your FasCat Training plan. During the episode they touch on: How to FtFP Zwift Training  Zwift Group Rides & Zwift Racing  Analyzing your racing or training  Jake's two favorite workouts specific to Zwift Racing We will also be hosting a FasCat meet up via Zwift next week, s...

Welcome to another Q&A session of the FasCat Podcast, where we gather questions from our forum, website, and social media to help you understand training plan design and to help you get even faster on the bike. This go around we touch on a range of topics, including TT fits, fueling indoor workouts, and how strength training increases your FTP! Here are the questions and answers from the podcast:...