FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Sweet spot vs. zone 2 seems to be the big debate between rides. In our opinion at FasCat, the adaptations we've seen with sweet spot compared to zone 2 are undeniably larger. Therefore, athletes accomplish more with one hour of sweet spot training than they do with one hour of zone 2 training. In this episode of FasCat, we're going to cover the 6 most prominent physiological adaptations gained through sweet spot training as opposed to lower intensity aerobic training. These adaptations include: Increased Plasma Volume Increased Mitochondrial Enzymes Increased Lactate Threshold Increased muscle glycogen stores Increased Stroke Volume Increased VO2 Max The proportion of sweet spot training to stimulate those 6 physiological benefits above to the rest of your training hours is described in a "How Much Sweet Spot Should Your Do" training tip and podcast.  Ready to start sweet spot training? Sign up here: https://fascatcoaching.com/collections/sweet-spot

The BigCat checks in with Coach Jake about his new MeetUp and talks all things Zwift. We give you a step-by-step guide on how to join our Zwift meet-up rides, how to draft during group rides (I personally think it’s extremely difficult to do!), how we both use Zwift as a training tool for our athletes when coaching, and how to navigate the more technical side of Zwift. What we discuss: 2:00 - Directions on how to join Jake for meet-up rides on the Zwift companion app 5:30 - Calculating wattage for the Zwift group ride 10:00 - How to draft on Zwift 17:15 - How Jake uses Zwift for coaching 30:00 - Understanding how to navigate Zwift Want help getting started with your training and follow one of our plan on Zwift ? Head over to www.fascatcoaching.com/collections/training-plans

The new 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 with a healthy dose of each to help you go faster. What’s the key component? Sweet spot training. 32655The one and only “Six Weeks to the Sweet Spot Training Plan” We’ve talked about sweet spot a lot on the show and it’s weaved into almost everything FasCat does, but this week on the last episode of the year, Coach Frank breaks down how and why you should be incorporating sweet spot training into your plan to build a bigger and better base for 2022. He’ll cover: What is Base Training? Why Sweet Spot is Better than Zone 2 for Base Training Power Based Sweet Spot Metrics – Quantitate the SIZE of your base How many weeks to Sweet Spot? What training plans to do to get your Sweet Spot on What Sweet Spot base Building looks like day-to-day in a training plan And plenty more. Also, for even more sweet spot nerdiness check out our youTube channel and video training tip on Why Sweet Spot training is better than Zone 2. You may also find the Fatigue Dependent Training Plan Design tip a helpful read. As always, thanks to everyone for subscribing and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, your support this year has been incredible! We’re extremely grateful, and excited about what’s to come in 2021. Now go ride your bike and begin sweet spot training! Copyright © 2022 FasCat Coaching – all rights reserved.

This podcast is for all the athletes who are making new year's resolutions for their 2022 training and goals. Just because it’s a new calendar year, doesn’t mean you will automatically reach your goals. In order to do so, you need to develop new habits. What habits do we recommend you adopt in order to set yourself up for success in 2022? I share 8 training habits you can easily adopt for achieving big results in 2022! What I discuss in this episode… 9:00 - Habit 1: Consistency 11:00 - Habit 2: Indoor training 17:00 - Habit 3: Group Rides 21:00 - Habit 4: Pay attention to your training load 24:00 - Habit 5: Winning in the kitchen 30:00 - Habit 6: Practicing yoga 33:00 - Habit 7: Lift Weights 35:00 - Habit 8: Sleep Take advantage of our killer coaching deal ending January 6, 2022! Get $500 off 8 months of coaching now by clicking here: https://fascatcoaching.com/products/season-long-coaching-deal

In this episode of the FasCat Coaching podcast, we are joined by U.S. Cross country mountain bike 2020 Olympian, Erin Huck. Coach Allie takes over as host because guess what? Allie and Erin are both badasses on the bike and are also both pregnant. What Allie and Erin discuss: - Managing pregnancy as an athlete  - The similarities and differences of their pregnancies - Expectations vs. their realities while pregnant - How they are handling riding/working out (It's different for them both!) - How their handling the pregnancy mentally and physically - Adapting to the changes in their bodies - Erin's big racing plans in 2022   Find more from Erin: @eehuck Check out our training plans: www.fascatcoaching.com        

The best tool you can utilize for optimizing your performance are your training zones. Why? Because training zones bring professional level sport science to your handlebar in a simple, easy to understand and follow training method. Even if you are new to training, you can use zone-based training and literally train the same way Tour de France Pros. In this episode of FasCat Coaching, I give you a step-by-step guide on not only understanding what the seven different training zones are, but how to actually utilize them in your training. I break down each zone individually and explain how to set them, what they accomplish, and how you can use them in your training. Plus, I give you a sample workout for each training zone. Ready to start using training zones? Get your Zone Training plans now here. Related Links:  YouTube: Why Sweet Spot Training is Better Than Zone 2 for Cycling Performance Blog: How Much Sweet Spot Training Should You Do?  Blog: Training Zones for Cyclists  Chart: The Physiological Benefits of Sweet Spot  

Just because it’s winter, doesn’t mean you should stop training. No one wants to show up in the spring on their first group ride and get dropped, right? Training through the winter isn’t as difficult as you think, and in this episode of FasCat Cycling Training Tips, I share 3 habits to adopt if you want to stay on top of your game.   Implementing these three habits will no doubt have a dramatic effect on your riding next Spring and they are include: consistency, nutrition, and strength and mobility. Plus, I include a bonus tip at the end, which in my opinion is the best/most important of them all. For each habit, I give you a deep dive into how you can easily implement them into your routine. If you’re ready to dive into your off season training, this episode is for you!   Links mentioned:   Get your off season training plan here: https://fascatcoaching.com/collections/off-season Get your nutrition plan here: https://fascatcoaching.com/collections/meal-plans Checko out our “Winning in the Kitchen” blog post here: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips/winning-in-the-kitchen   Don’t forget…   For a limited time, FasCat podcast listeners can get a free Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor for with the purchase of a Karoo 2. Visit hammerhead.io right now and use promo code FASCAT at checkout to get yours today.

In this week's podcast, the FasCat team continues with our annual Thanksgiving tradition of sharing short messages of gratitude to our loyal podcast listeners and athletes! We hope you all enjoy the episode and we wish you all a wonderful holiday season!

In this podcast, Coach Frank reintroduces the topic of timing as it relates to the 3 main phases of a cyclists' annual training plan including lifting weights, building base, and high-intensity interval training. He explains in detail the ways athletes can line up these phases depending on what their race calendar looks like for the upcoming season. He also answers the question that athletes frequently ask at this time of the year, which is whether they should lift weights or start building up their base.   

On today’s podcast Coach Frank speaks with Alex Dowsett, a Pro World Tour Rider who is attempting to break the Track World Hour Record on November 3rd. Alex is no stranger to what it takes to achieve this feat, as he set the same world record in 2015! In the episode, they chat about Alex's training, his special equipment, nutrition, DadWatts, as well as the foundation Little Bleeders that he started to raise awareness of hemophilia and to encourage young hemophiliacs to engage in sports.