Turnt Up Tuesday
- Builds: top end, repeatability, race craft
- Led by Coach Jake
- First ride: Tuesday, Nov 17
Indoor Cycling &
How to Make It Not Suck
How to use indoor training to stick to your plan all winter
How this guide works
Most cyclists say the trainer sucks. Most of what makes it suck is self inflicted: the wrong workouts, the wrong setup, and riding alone. This guide is how we tell our own athletes to use the trainer: as a tool to follow the plan, not a different kind of training. Same plan, same zones, indoors or out. And a crew so you never do the long ride alone.
Chapters
- The trainer is a tool, not a planYour plan doesn't care about the weather.2 min
- Follow the plan indoors: build base, don't raceThe sunny day rule and sweet spot on the trainer.4 min
- The setup that makes it not suckFan, FTP, a dedicated spot.3 min
- Workouts that don't suckBursts, criss crosses, over unders, and how to ride Zwift.3 min
- Make it your atomic habitMorning rides, the survival week, flexible not flaky.3 min
- The Saturday problemThree hours on the plan, sleet outside. Don't ride it alone.2 min
- Ride with us: the Winter Training SeriesThree coach led rides a week on Zwift, included.4 min
- Your indoor checklistTick it off. Saved in this browser.2 min
The guide opens with chapter 1 below. Enter your email on that first screen to read all eight chapters, right here on this page. It stays unlocked on this device.
Watch: Ask a FasCat #47, the companion show to this guide. Friday October 30, 2:00pm ET.
Chapter one01
The trainer is a tool, not a plan
Your plan doesn't care about the weather.
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- The sunny day rule and sweet spot on the trainer
- The setup that makes it not suck
- Workouts that don't suck
- An indoor checklist that saves your progress
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Written by the FasCat coaches, the team behind sweet spot training
The idea
Your plan doesn't care about the weather.
Same plan, same zones, same workouts, indoors or out. The only thing that changes is where the pedaling happens.
- The sunny day rule: whatever you would do outside on a perfect day, do that on the trainer.
- Indoor is not easier or harder training. It is the same training with no coasting.
- Your CoachCat workouts export to Zwift and your smart trainer. The plan comes with you.
Chapter 1 summary
One week, two versions
The outdoor week and the indoor week, side by side. Same zones, same minutes in zone, shorter durations indoors.
Racing out of Michigan meant my winters were on the trainer. Tuesday and Thursday sweet spot, an hour each, and a long one on Saturday. I do the exact same thing now on Zwift, early, before the kids are up. The engine does not care where you build it.Jake Rytlewski FasCat coach, former pro road racer, 6th at US Pro criterium championships
Chapter two02
Follow the plan indoors: build base, don't race
The sunny day rule and sweet spot on the trainer.
The idea
Picture a rider in Tucson or San Diego who can ride outside all winter.
What does their winter look like? Sweet spot base miles and zone 2, building the engine. Not a race every Tuesday night. Now move that rider to Michigan and put them on a trainer. The plan didn't change. The zones didn't change. Nothing should change.
Build base, don't race
- Indoor Training App Syndrome: a winter of races and hard group rides at 4 to 5 hours a week is too hard to be base and too short to build durability. Fast in February, dropped in May.
- Winter on the trainer is zone 2 and sweet spot. Intervals are a sharpening tool for the 6 to 8 weeks before your goal.
- Hold your zone. The race lobby is open and nobody is going to stop you but you.
- The trainer is the best place to sweet spot: no stoplights, no descents, no coasting. One hour indoors is worth about ninety outside.
- Two or three one hour sweet spot sessions midweek at 84 to 97% of FTP. One zone 2 day. One long sweet spot ride on the weekend.
Chapter 2 summary
Two power files, same hour
The Tuesday night racer: every zone, no structure. The winter version: steady sweet spot.
Exhibit 3A typical indoor base week
| Day | Ride | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Off | – |
| Tuesday | Sweet spot | 1:00 |
| Wednesday | Sweet spot | 1:00 |
| Thursday | Zone 2 | 1:00 |
| Friday | Off | – |
| Saturday | Long sweet spot on Zwift | 2:30 |
| Sunday | Zone 2 | 1:30 |
Exhibit 4The first five weeks of sweet spot, on the trainer
| Week | Trainer workout (×2 or ×3) | Sweet spot per workout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 × 10 min, 5 min easy between | 20 min |
| 2 | 2 × 15 min | 30 min |
| 3 | 3 × 12 min | 36 min |
| 4 | Easy week. 1 × 20 min, or nothing structured | 20 min |
| 5 and on | 2 × 20 min, then longer intervals and group rides | 40 to 60+ min |
A basic session of 3 × 5 minutes is the practical minimum. Well conditioned riders build toward 2 to 3 hours of sweet spot in one ride. Over 50, aim for 45 to 90 minutes total and do it more often.
My best seasons started with the most boring winters. No racing, no group ride heroics, two sweet spot days a week and a long ride on the weekend. The years I got excited in January were the years I was cooked by summer.Ricky Arnopol FasCat coach, former pro, yellow jersey at Redlands and the Tour of the Gila
Chapter three03
The setup that makes it not suck
Fan, FTP, a dedicated spot.
The idea
Most of what feels hard about the trainer is heat, friction and boredom.
Fix those three and the trainer gets a lot easier. Your FTP doesn't change.
- A fan pointed at your chest. Two if you can. Towel, two bottles, room around 68 degrees.
- Keep your FTP. Do not lower it for the trainer. You have one FTP. If the trainer feels harder, fix cooling, setup and boredom, not the number.
- A dedicated spot so the bike is always on the trainer and ready. Setup friction kills consistency more than lack of motivation.
- Sixty minutes, not ninety. ERG mode for sweet spot and over unders, free ride for the long days.
- Connect your smart trainer and Zwift to CoachCat so the workout is loaded before you clip in.
Chapter 3 summary
The pain cave checklist
Fan, towel, two bottles, screen or music, trainer mat, bike mounted, workout loaded.
Five tips:
- Dedicated space with a fan
- Fun diverse short workouts
- Be consistent
- Use the technology
- Analyze your data
Chapter four04
Workouts that don't suck
Bursts, criss crosses, over unders, and how to ride Zwift.
The idea
Steady power is boring.
4 x 8 minutes steady is productive and miserable. Add bursts, criss crosses and over unders and the hour flies by.
The workouts
- Sweet Spot Bursts: 3 x 8 minutes at sweet spot with a short zone 7 burst every 2 minutes. Back to sweet spot after the burst, not recovery. One hour total.
- Criss Cross, Tempo / Sweet Spot: 4 x 8 minutes, each one switching between tempo and short sweet spot surges, with zone 2 between. 75 minutes total.
- Sweet Spot Over Unders: 45 minutes of zone 2, then 4 x 5 minutes at sweet spot with a zone 6 effort at the start and end of each. ERG mode is money for this one.
- Zwift: ride it, don't race it. Pick the terrain that matches the day's job. If your FTP is 3.5 w/kg, join the C ride at 2.5 to 3.1 so you can sit in. Save racing for the interval phase after base.
- Find all of these in the CoachCat Library. Search "bursts", "criss cross" or "over unders".
Chapter 4 summary
The three workouts
Find them in the CoachCat Library. Search "bursts", "criss cross" or "over unders".
Indoor training does not need to be one of Dante's nine circles of hell.Frank Overton FasCat founder, former Cat 1 racer, invented sweet spot training in 2005
Chapter five05
Make it your atomic habit
Morning rides, the survival week, flexible not flaky.
The idea
The trainer is the most reliable consistency tool you own.
Bike ready, fan on, workout already loaded, no decisions at 5:45am on a Tuesday in January. That is how you stay consistent when a static plan would fall apart.
- Morning if you can. The day cannot steal a workout that is already done.
- Be flexible, not flaky. Rain, dark, cold: you move the ride indoors, you don't skip it. The plan is still the plan.
- The survival week: two one hour sweet spot sessions and 30 minutes of squats. Three hours. Never zero.
- Tell CoachCat when life gets in the way. "I only have 45 minutes today." It shortens the workout and your streak stays alive.
Chapter 5 summary
Three versions of a winter week
Exhibit 9Three versions of a winter week
| Week | Hours | What stays | What goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full week | 8–10 | Two or three sweet spot days, long ride, endurance ride, one lift. | Nothing. |
| Busy week | 5–6 | Two sweet spot hours on the trainer, one two hour weekend ride, one lift. | The endurance ride. The second long ride. |
| Survival week | 3 | Two one hour sweet spot sessions. Thirty minutes of squats or split squats. | Everything else, guilt included. |
Three survival weeks in a row is a sign to shorten the plan, not to quit it.
Twenty years of winters in the Blue Ridge taught me that the plan on paper is not the plan. The plan is what you can do on a Tuesday in January when it is dark at five. Make that version small enough that you never skip it.Justin Bowes FasCat coach, two decades of coaching and racing gravel, road, MTB and cyclocross
Chapter six06
The Saturday problem
Three hours on the plan, sleet outside. Don't ride it alone.
The idea
Your plan says 3 hours of sweet spot on Saturday.
It is 25 degrees and sleeting. You have two options: ride 3 hours alone in the garage and hate every minute, or get the exact same duration and time in zone with a crew, a coach on the mic, and people who expect you to show up.
- The long ride is the one that builds the engine. Do not skip it because of the weather.
- Accountability is a person, not an app. An appointment beats an intention.
- A Zwift club ride at sweet spot pace is the same workout as the road. The kilojoules add up and the time flies.
- That is why we run the Winter Training Series. Next chapter.
Chapter 6 summary
Alone in the garage vs the club ride
I have raced for pro teams in Europe, and the winters I remember best are the Knoxville ones: the same four or five people at the same gas station every Saturday, whatever the weather. Having people waiting for you is a better training tool than any power meter.Stephen Bassett FasCat coach, 2024 US criterium national champion
Chapter seven07
Ride with us: the Winter Training Series
Three coach led rides a week on Zwift, included.
The idea
Included with CoachCat and every 1:1 coaching level. No extra fees.
Three coach led group rides a week on Zwift, a FasCat coach on the mic in Discord, and a sweet spot plan that matches the ride you are on.
Three rides, every week
Turnt Up Tuesday. Zone 2 Thursday. Sweet Spot Saturday.
- Turnt Up Tuesday: short, spicy race pace surges. The wintertime intensity in your plan, done with a crew. Builds top end, repeatability and race craft. Led by Coach Jake. First ride Tuesday, Nov 17.
- Zone 2 Thursday: conversational watts with a coach on the mic. Builds aerobic base, fat oxidation and durability. Led by a FasCat coach. First ride Thursday, Nov 19.
- Sweet Spot Saturday: the classic FasCat base ride, the heart of every winter plan we write. Builds FTP, muscular endurance and a big base. A and B groups with Coach Jake, C group with Coach Frank. First ride Saturday, Nov 21.
- Rides run Nov 17 through the end of February, no rides Thanksgiving week. Ride the ones that fit your week. Your plan covers the rest.
Exhibit 11The three rides
Zone 2 Thursday
- Builds: aerobic base, fat oxidation, durability
- Led by a FasCat Coach
- First ride: Thursday, Nov 19
Sweet Spot Saturday
- Builds: FTP, muscular endurance, big base
- A & B groups led by Coach Jake, C group led by Coach Frank
- First ride: Saturday, Nov 21
Ride with your group
A coach for every watts per kilo
- Every ride splits into pace groups by FTP in watts per kilo, the same A to E categories Zwift uses: A 4.0+, B 3.2 to 3.9, C 2.5 to 3.1, D under 2.5, E open at any w/kg. A FasCat coach rides with each group, so nobody gets dropped and nobody gets bored.
- Don't know your FTP? CoachCat detects it from your rides.
Exhibit 12The pace groups
A
4.0+ W/kg
Strong racers and fast group riders
B
3.2 to 3.9 W/kg
Experienced racers and fit club riders
C
2.5 to 3.1 W/kg
Regular riders building toward racing or big events
D
Under 2.5 W/kg
Newer riders and anyone rebuilding fitness
E
Open any W/kg
Ride at your own pace, no pressure, still coached
Find your group
Enter your FTP and weight. Don't know your FTP? CoachCat detects it from your rides.
Your plan matches the group
16 weeks of sweet spot, one season
- The Nov to Feb framework is 16 Weeks of Sweet Spot, Parts 1 to 4: build your base (late Nov to Dec), boost your base (Dec to Jan), base to race (Jan to Feb), fresh and fast (Feb). Join on day one or in January and CoachCat drops you into the right phase.
- Each ride format trains a system your plan already calls for: Saturday sweet spot, Thursday endurance, Tuesday intensity. The group ride is the workout, not a replacement for it.
- Athletes typically raise FTP 5 to 20% over the 16 weeks.
Exhibit 13Four phases, November to February
-
Late Nov to Dec
Build your base
Field test to set your zones, then progressive sweet spot. Saturdays carry the long sweet spot ride, Thursdays keep the aerobic engine humming.
Sweet Spot Part 1 → -
Dec to Jan
Boost your base
Longer intervals, more time at sweet spot. A second test around the halfway point measures your gains and updates your zones.
Sweet Spot Part 2 → -
Jan to Feb
Base to race
Long sweet spot OTS rides on Saturdays and short structured wintertime intensity during the week. Turnt Up Tuesday is that intensity, with a crew.
Sweet Spot Part 3 → -
February
Fresh and fast
The 3 > 4 > 5 minute VO2 max progression pushes your threshold higher, then a final test shows what the winter built. Athletes typically raise FTP 5 to 20%.
Sweet Spot Part 4 →
How to join
Find us in the Zwift Companion app
- 1Start your free week of CoachCat, no credit card, or hire a FasCat coach. Group training comes with both.
Get Zwift Companion on your phone. Tap Clubs, search FasCat Coaching, join the club.- 3Join the FasCat Discord to hear the coach and talk to the group.
- 4Open Club Events in Zwift Companion and sign up for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Add them to your calendar from the ride calendar on the page.
Everything you need, two ways in
Group training is included
- A typical winter group program: $400 to $500 one time, paid on top of your training app, ends when the program ends.
- CoachCat: $35 a month, group rides included, a custom plan that matches the group, and it keeps coaching you after February.
- 1:1 coaching from $199 a month, group training included, your coach works the rides into your week.
Exhibit 14Group training, two ways in
A typical winter group program
$400 to $500 one time, for one winter
- Paid on top of your training app
- Ends when the program ends
- Deposits and spots that fill up
Included
CoachCat membership
$35/month, everything included
- Coach led group rides Tue, Thu, Sat
- FasCat Coaches on Discord
- Custom plan that matches the group
- Keeps coaching you after February
Included too
1:1 Coaching
from$199/month, group training included
- Everything in CoachCat
- A personal FasCat Coach who writes and reviews your plan
- Monthly coaching call
- Group rides worked into your week
Frequently asked
Good questions
- Do I have to make every ride? No. Ride the ones that fit your week.
- Can I ride outside instead? Yes. Plenty of athletes ride Saturday outside and join Tuesday and Thursday indoors.
- What equipment do I need? A smart trainer or a power meter on a regular trainer, a Zwift account, and the free Discord app. Zwift is a separate subscription.
- What happens after February? Your membership keeps going.
Here's what happens when you follow the plan
“I’m not a racer, and am 68 years old, 10 months from hip replacement. I told Coach Cat that I didn’t want to race, I just wanted to finish and not be wrecked. I accomplished both goals.”
Ed M.106 miles at Unbound
“I have only been using it for about 9 months, but I was able to increase my FTP by almost 80 watts! … The app is so easy to use.”
Ryan C.CoachCat member
“I’ve only been cycling for a little over 3 years. … Thanks to the plan, I completed the ride in right under 13 hours, a total of about 200 miles.”
Emilio E.Mallorca 312 finisherEverything about the rides is on the Winter Training Series page.
Chapter eight08
Your indoor checklist
Tick it off. Saved in this browser.
Chapter 8
Your indoor checklist
Tick the box when it is done. Your progress is saved in this browser. In the order the winter happens.
0 of 29 done
Setup
The plan
Not sucking
The habit
The crew
You made it
That is the whole winter on the trainer.
Same plan, same zones, a setup that doesn't fight you, workouts that move, and a crew on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday so you never ride the long one alone. Do that and the trainer stops being the thing you dread and starts being the reason you show up fit in April.
The easiest way to follow this guide Start your free week of CoachCat CoachCat builds your custom plan and it matches the group rides. 7 days free, no credit card. Start free
Join the FasCat Coaching Club in ZwiftFirst ride Tuesday, Nov 17.
Read the Winter Training GuideLifting and sweet spot base are covered there.
Hire a FasCat coachFrom $199 a month, group training included.
Know a rider who hates the trainer? Share the guide.
From the coaches at FasCat, makers of CoachCat. Written by Frank Overton and the FasCat coaching staff.
© 2026 FasCat Coaching. All rights reserved.
© 2026 FasCat Coaching. All rights reserved.