There are a hundred ways to train. But how do you know if any of them are actually working? How do you know you're getting better? After 20+ years of coaching everyone from WorldTour pros to time-crunched amateurs, that's still the question we come back to first, because if you can't answer it, you can't coach toward it. Here's how we define improvement, how we think about it as coaches, and the seven ways CoachCat measures it from your own data.
What "improvement" actually means
Most riders think improvement is a bigger FTP number. That's part of it, but it's the smallest part. A one-day spike in power that you can't repeat next week isn't fitness; it's a good day.
Real improvement is durable and repeatable. It's the kind that shows up six weeks from now, not just this afternoon. It's a higher sustainable power and the ability to recover from the work that built it, week after week, without breaking down. Improvement lives in the space between training hard enough to adapt and recovering well enough to absorb it. Push too hard on either side and you stall, or worse, go backward.
That's why we don't measure improvement with a single number. We measure both sides of the equation.
How we think about improvement as coaches
Our philosophy comes down to one idea: fitness is the result of consistent training stress that your body has time to absorb. It's encapsulated in our Five Fundamentals for Faster.
Two principles drive everything we do:
- Consistency beats intensity. The rider who trains steadily, week in and week out, beats the rider who crushes themselves for two weeks and then disappears. Always. The single biggest lever you have on your fitness is simply showing up.
- Training and recovery are two halves of the same job. You don't get faster during your hard intervals; you get faster afterward, when you sleep, eat, and let your body adapt. Train smart and recover well, and the gains take care of themselves.
A good coach watches both sides at once. The trick is that there are a lot of signals to watch, which is exactly the problem CoachCat was built to solve.
How we measure improvement with your data
Here's the part that used to take a coach years of experience to read at a glance. CoachCat watches all of it for you, from the data your rides and your wearable already generate. There are seven signals: four on the training side, two on the recovery side, and one that ties it all together.
#1 Consistency and Streak
Make as many days on your training calendar turn green as possible. Consistency is the top element of our training philosophy, and it's the first thing we look at, because it predicts improvement better than any single workout.
Just training consistently is the best way to improve. Life happens and demands flexibility, and that's fine. On the days you genuinely can't ride, mark it as an off day, and on the days you can, getting it done keeps your streak alive (some time on the bike always beats none). Being able to see how consistently you've trained at a glance, and watch that streak grow, is one of the most honest measures of improvement there is.
#2 Test with xPower
You can't know you're improving if you're not measuring. Many of our plans have you test at the start to set your zones, then test again six weeks later to measure the change. Not rocket science, right?
The handy part: CoachCat measures and tracks your best 20-minute xPower across all of your rides and races, so you can see your power trending up over time without always having to stop and do a standalone test.
We'll guarantee that six-week improvement
We're so confident in this approach that we put money behind it. Follow your CoachCat plan for six weeks, hitting 80%+ green days on your consistency calendar, and if your FTP hasn't improved, you get 100% of your money back, automatically tracked in CoachCat. No arguing, plus a call with a real FasCat coach to figure out why.
See the 6-Week Guarantee
#3 Pay Attention to Your Level
📈 Level (formerly 'Training Load')
Your Level goes up when you ride more and drops when you ride less. It is a rolling 42 day average of your daily OTS, and is a direct reflection of your FTP and fitness. Tap Level to view your 1w, 1m, 3m and 6m Level chart.
Levels are an evolution from the original Andy Coggan impulse-response model, we developed WAY back in 2004, pre-TrainingPeaks and Performance Manager Chart.
#4 Eat Right and Lose Weight: Improve Your Power-to-Weight Ratio
80 percent of weight loss occurs in the kitchen through food choices, and 20 percent occurs from exercise.
There are two parts of the w/kg equation: the power you put out, and the mass that power is propelling. Improving either side of the equation is helpful! Nutrition and food choices are a key component of weight loss for all endurance athletes.
There are some dietary changes we suggest before plunging into a caloric deficit (diet). Oftentimes simple lifestyle changes will result in a leaner, healthier, and faster athlete. For example, think about foods as being "go slow" or "go fast." Go slow foods include those with lots of sugar, partially hydrogenated fat, saturated fat, and alcohol. Go fast foods include complex carbohydrates, fruits and veggies, and lean proteins.
Also, eat often, aiming for three meals a day and four snacks. And drink lots of water! This is what we call "Winning in the Kitchen," and CoachCat includes meal plans where you can track what you're eating and get delicious, healthy meals just by FTfP'ing. Fueling is training. You can't adapt to work you didn't have the energy to do.
#5 Track Your Sleep
The more you sleep, the better you recover. The better you recover, the further you can take your training. CoachCat tracks not just your nightly sleep but your sleep trends over time, and the trend is the part that matters.
#6 Monitor Your HRV
Heart Rate Variability is one of the best indicators of how well your body is recovering from both your training load and your life stress. Like sleep, CoachCat tracks the micro and macro trends in your HRV so you can see recovery improving alongside fitness.
#7 Pay Attention to Your Recovery
Every morning CoachCat analyzes the amount of training you've done against the amount of recovery you've achieved. There are a lot of factors feeding both the training and the recovery sides of the improvement equation, and considering them all at once is overwhelming. That's exactly why we built CoachCat. Our proprietary algorithm weighs all of it and delivers a simple, color-coded score:
- Red: you're doing too much and not recovering enough. Back off.
- Yellow: you're fresh and ready to train hard and train more.
- Green: you're right on target. You're improving, and you're optimized.
One glance tells you which side of the equation needs your attention today, and CoachCat doesn't stop at telling you. This is where Adaptive Training comes in: CoachCat can change your prescribed workout for the day based on how recovered you are, how you're feeling, how much time you have to train, the weather, and whatever else life throws at you. Short on time? It shortens the session. Run down or stressed? It backs off the intensity so you actually absorb the work instead of digging a deeper hole. That's a coach reading your data in real time and adjusting your plan on the fly. That's exactly what a great coach does.
No wearable? No problem!
CoachCat works best with three tools: a power meter and bike computer to measure your training, and a wearable to measure your recovery. It works with all the major power meters, bike computers, and wearable devices.
Don't have a wearable? We've got you. CoachCat subscribers can get a FREE Whoop for one month through the Partners Discount section of the app.
The bottom line
Improvement isn't one number: it's a balance you maintain over time between training stress and recovery. Train consistently, recover deliberately, and watch the trends, not the single days. CoachCat watches all seven signals so you don't have to, and tells you in one glance whether you're on track.
Start working with CoachCat, your AI-powered coach available 24/7/365. Follow a custom training plan with unlimited revisions and instant analysis. The first week is free, and no credit card is required.
Get faster in six weeks, or your money back
Train with CoachCat, follow your plan, and get faster in six weeks, or we'll refund every dollar and get you on a call with a real FasCat coach to figure out why. Follow 80%+ of your plan, give it the full six weeks, and let CoachCat measure the rest. That's how confident we are that this works.
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