Training Tips
Tulsa Tough Training
Races, Training with Power
Tulsa Tough training is all about anaerobic intervals. Zone 6 intervals 20 – 60 seconds in length + sprints will prepare you optimally for this style of bike racing. When we designed a training plan for Tulsa Tough,…
Setting Up the Performance Manager Chart
Training with Power, TrainingPeaks
The Performance Manager Chart (PMC) is the window to your overall fitness and race-readiness. Get it set up properly and it can be your most powerful training tool! They say a picture is worth a thousand words and…
How to Perform VO2 Max Intervals with your PowerMeter
Intervals, Training with Power
(This post was originally written for Velonews) When the hammer drops on your next group ride it is likely a VO2 effort. I see it all the time in reviewing athlete’s power data: the crux of getting into…
Criss-Cross Intervals
Intervals
Criss-Cross intervals mimic the power demands* of road and mountain bike races. In this training tip, we’ll describe the how, what, where, and why of criss cross intervals and give you some example workouts plus a 4 week interval…
Maximal Lactate Steady State Testing
Off-Season Training, Training with Power
The FasCat Maximal Lactate Steady State Protocol A long time ago in a galaxy far far away we had a physiology lab and used the gold standard maximal lactate steady state (MLSS) protocol to determine athletes’ Functional Threshold…
Setting Up Training Zones
TrainingPeaks
Setting up training zones for heart rate and power in TrainingPeaks is easy to do with 20 minute Field Test data. Once the athlete has uploaded their file, we go into TrainingPeaks and find their 20 minute Normalized Power…
How to Perform Intervals Properly with a PowerMeter
Intervals, Training with Power
by Frank Overton February 19, 2003! revised February 2016 When I bought my first powermeter in 2001, one of the things I first learned is that intervals are performed so much better by power than by heart rate. In…
Open Water Pool Drills for Triathlon
Triathlon
Open Water Pool Drills for Triathlon Maybe you’ve just signed up for your first triathlon. Maybe you’re just looking to get more comfortable in the chaos of water swimming. But even if you are part fish, you’ll still…
How To Sweet Spot During a Group Ride
Sweet Spot
Nearly 12 years ago, I wrote the original sweet spot article and it is nice to hear how many athletes have added it to their training and benefited. Sweet Spot Training is incredibly effective! Since then I’ve written the “How…
Training Zones
Intervals, Training with Power
Training zones enable athletes and coaches to achieve precise physiological adaptations from their training. In essence, training zones tell the athlete how hard or easy to pedal in a workout or on a training plan. FasCat uses the seven…
Transform your Cycling in 9 Ways
Coaching Advice
A year 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’. This motivation came from two cyclocross seasons of getting my ass kicked.…
A 20 Minute Power-Based Field Test
Training with Power
by Frank Overton, January 2015 One key question we ask ourselves as coaches at FasCat, is if the athlete is responding to the training we have prescribed. Aka, are they getting faster? Our favorite “experiment” to answer this…
Muscle Tension Intervals
Off-Season Training
by Isaiah Newkirk, October 2016 Cyclists can pair Muscle Tension Intervals with weight training for cycling for an even better physiological adaptation. As we leave the 2016 season behind, do you feel that your biggest weakness was not having…
Building Your Annual Training Plan
TrainingPeaks
Success for Tomorrow Starts Today: Building an ATP (Annual Training Plan) to lay out a plan for the next season’s success. For the road and mountain bike racer now can be the perfect time to start thinking of…
Training for the Iceman Cometh MTB Race
Races
by Jake Rytlewski, August 2015 If you have ever heard of or been to Kalkaska, Michigan chances are you have done or heard of the Iceman Cometh. The Iceman Cometh is a 27 mile point to point mountain…
Cyclocross Skills to Bring to Your First Race
Cyclocross
So you want to race cross? Yes! Here are 4 cyclocross skills to bring to your first cyclocross race! You’ve heard of this thing called cyclocross and you want to give it a try but don’t know where to start? Fortunately,…
Tabata Intervals
Intervals, Training with Power
In the cycling world, the ability to go extremely hard for a short period of time often determines the outcome of a race. From a 10 second finish line sprint at 60kph, to a 30 second, 10% steep climb; raw…
Cyclocross Running
Cyclocross
You may or may not love running, but your cyclocross running should be skill to focus on during cyclocross season. Building a progam for cyclocross running that is specific to your abilities as a cyclist is the key.…
Teaching Criterium Tactics Using On Board Cameras
Intervals, Training with Power
by Isaiah Newkirk, July 2016 In cycling, it’s not always the strongest person that wins; it’s the smartest. Conserving energy, exploiting your opponents weaknesses, reading the competition in front of you, and using the race course to your…
Using your Powermeter for Weight Loss
Training with Power, Weight Loss
You can use your powermeter to help with your weight loss goals by paying attention to your work expenditure in kiloJoules. Fo example, a ride for 2 hours producing 1,000 kiloJoules of work equals roughly 1 Chipotle chicken…
Power Demands from US Master’s Road Race Nationals
Races, Training with Power
What it takes to win the Masters 35 – 39 National Road Race Championships, by Coach Jake Rytlewski & performed by Jonathan Jacob, Bissell ABG Giant Congratulations to FasCat athlete Jonathan Jacob, who won the Masters 35 –…
Phil’s File: Tour of California, 2016
Races, Training with Power
Power Data Analysis by Frank Overton, May 2016 FasCat Athlete Phil Gaimon is racing the 2016 Tour of California for Cannondale Pro Cycling and Coach Frank is dissecting his power data and asking questions about what was going on in…
Race Specific Cycling Intervals
Intervals
by Frank Overton, 2004, revised May 2016 Race specific cycling intervals: what are they, how and why you should do them. Smart training revolves around precisely understanding the power demands of your event and then designing workouts to simulate that power…
Phil Gaimon FasCat Athlete Interview
Coaching Advice, Training with Power
Interview by the FasCat Coaches, February 2016 FasCat Athlete and Team Cannondale Rider, Phil Gaimon is back in the European peloton for 2016 and off to a good start having just finished Provence and Haut Var. We asked Phil for his take…
Criterium Racing: Watts Up?
Intervals, Training with Power
by Frank Overton Beep, beep…beep, beep: We interrupt the regularly scheduled Tour de France coverage for an in depth close to home analysis of US criterium racing. What?! We can’t all enter races like the Tour. Some racers…
Road Racing Tactics and Strategies
Training with Power
by the FasCat Coaches Here are our core road racing tactics for the Category 3/4/5, Collegiate and Masters racer. Allen: If you have never been fed in a feed zone before, practice how to do it. Make sure your…
Criterium Race Tactics and Strategies
Intervals, Training with Power
by the FasCat Coaches, March 2016 Every week the FasCat Coaches get together to discuss and share ways to help out our athletes. We cover a variety of topics like off season and resistance training, indoor trainer workouts, TSS, the Performance Manager…
How to Adjust Your FasCat Training Plan
TrainingPeaks
You’ve applied your FasCat Training Plan, but now life has thrown a monkey wrench in your schedule? No problem! You can drag & drop workouts in your calendar to adjust them to better fit your schedule! Just left…
Make the Most out of Your New PowerMeter
Training with Power
by Jake Rytlewski, January 2016 Here are 3 ways to make the most out of your new powermeter (originally appeared on VeloNews.com , January 2016) Perform a 20 minute field test to establish a baseline and your wattage based training zones…
Enduro Training for Cross Country
Intervals
July 2015 Enduro racing is on the rise worldwide and more and more DH stars are choosing to race the new format. But XC racing is still king, and you can embrace a little enduro to help you…
Bike Fit: The Nagging Knee
Off-Season Training
The Nagging Knee, Nadia Sullivan, Retul Bike Fit Certified Now that summer’s in full swing and you’re logging big miles, it’s not uncommon to discover knee issues you didn’t have before. Maybe you got new shoes and/or cleats,…
Sweet Spot Training: Advanced Aerobic Endurance
Sweet Spot
by Frank Overton In January of 2005 I was working with group of coaches and sport scientists developing a new power based impulse-response performance model. While we were keeping a lid on it publicly, its revelations influenced my…
The Difference between Road and Mountain Bike Power Output
Training with Power
The Difference between Road and Mountain Bike Power Output and What Your Training Should Do About it. Cyclists and the industry as a whole know about the power demands of road racing, but in comparison, we don’t know…
Take a Recovery Day to come into Form
Coaching Advice
by Frank Overton: June 15, 2015 Now that racing has begun or is about to begin its time to go fast. You’ve lifted weights this winter, suffered through the horrible winter to put in your base miles, watched Tour…
Pacing the Bike for the Boulder Half Ironman Age Group Athlete
Triathlon
by Nadia Sullivan, June 2016 This year, the Boulder Half Ironman course was changed to 1 lap of the full course. That means athletes will get a chance to experience the rolling climb up Nelson Road that the…
How to Apply Your FasCat Training Plan
TrainingPeaks
You’ll receive an email from TrainingPeaks with a link to your FasCat Training Plan. Click the link to go to TrainingPeaks to get your FasCat Training Plan. Log into your TrainingPeaks account or create a new account…