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FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Release Date: 12/22/2025

The 8-Minute Workout That Increases Your VO2 Max show art The 8-Minute Workout That Increases Your VO2 Max

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

8 minutes of full-gas work. 14% VO2 max gain. But only if you do them right on the CoachCat training app. Your first 7 days FREE: Dr. Izumi Tabata's 1996 study proved that 20-second efforts at supramaximal intensity produce more anaerobic capacity AND VO2 max gains than traditional steady-state training, and in a fraction of the time. In this training tip, Coach Frank Overton breaks down the exact workout 20+ years of FasCat athletes have used to win races: 3 sets of 8 × 20 seconds at 170% of FTP, with 10 seconds rest and 10 minutes between sets. There's a RIGHT way to do Tabatas and a WRONG...

info_outline Build a Custom Training Plan from these 5 Questions show art Build a Custom Training Plan from these 5 Questions

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Build a custom cycling training plan in 5 questions. For a visual walk through of the custom plan builder watch this podcast on our youTube channel here https://youtu.be/nO94dhqgjBg In this podcast & video, Coach Frank walks you through the new CoachCat Custom Training Plan Builder. We use over 100 of our coach-built training plans as phases of your training — Sweet Spot base, builds, intervals, weight lifting, and event-specific phases for road, gravel, fondo, century, time trial, triathlon, mountain bike, cyclocross, and crits — and stitch them together based on your answers to 5...

info_outline Full Gas Zone 4, 5 & 6 Intervals show art Full Gas Zone 4, 5 & 6 Intervals

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Are you doing your zone 4, 5, and 6 intervals as hard as you can? Try CoachCat free:  In this video, Coach Frank shows you how to go full gas and get more out of your intervals — more watts, more physiological benefits, and more race craft. Plus the 3 best zone 4, 5, and 6 interval workouts we prescribe to our 1:1 coaching athletes and in the CoachCat app. 🚴 THE 3 WORKOUTS  Zone 4 Threshold: 3 x 8 minutes @ 103-110% FTP  Zone 5 VO2 Max: 2 sets of 2 x 3 minutes @ 106-120% FTP  Zone 6 Anaerobic: 2 sets of 3 x 1 minute @ 120%+ FTP 🐱 TRAIN WITH COACHCAT Your AI cycling...

info_outline 5 Training Rules for Masters Cyclists (What Bicycling Magazine Left Out) show art 5 Training Rules for Masters Cyclists (What Bicycling Magazine Left Out)

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Are you a master's cyclist trying to get faster but feel like something is missing from mainstream advice? Train this way FREE for 1 Month In this video, Coach Frank breaks down the 5 most important training rules for cyclists over 40, 50, and 60+ , and more importantly, what Bicycling Magazine didn’t have space to tell you. Frank was recently featured in their article on coaching older cyclists, and while they nailed the headlines, there’s a lot more nuance that can make or break your performance. Today, Coach Frank is giving you the full coaching perspective. 🚴‍♂️ What You’ll...

info_outline Unbound Gravel Training: Developing Your Diesel Watts show art Unbound Gravel Training: Developing Your Diesel Watts

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Coach Frank describes a 3 month Unbound training plan that you can follow FREE for 30 days →  Develop your Diesel Watt power by knowing how to train it in March, April, and May to arrive in Emporia fresh, fit, and ready to send it. Whether you're lining up for the 200, 100, or XL, this video covers the training concepts that have helped thousands of FasCat athletes finish strong,from sweet spot base building to full gravel simulation rides to the art of a proper taper. You'll learn: the Gravel Power Workout (the single best workout for gravel racers) how to build your long ride from...

info_outline Gravel Pacing: the Right and the Wrong Way show art Gravel Pacing: the Right and the Wrong Way

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Are you making this gravel pacing mistake? It could be costing you 30 minutes or more — and you won't even feel it happening until it's too late.   In this video, Coach Frank breaks down the #1 pacing mistake I see in gravel race power files, why it happens, and exactly how to fix it. I'll show you the one tactical decision you need to make in the first hour of your next gravel race that could save you 30 minutes — without being any more fit than you already are. What you'll learn: - Why gravel racing is really a time trial (and why that changes everything) - How to use Intensity...

info_outline Winter Workouts that bridge the gap between Base and Race show art Winter Workouts that bridge the gap between Base and Race

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Learn how not to be the Group Ride Hero and Train the Right Way, Free for 30 days → One of the most common mistakes cyclists make is piling on high-intensity intervals before they’ve finished building their aerobic base. It feels great in February. You’re flying on the group ride. You’re winning town line sprints. But by May, when racing and big events actually matter, you’re flat, stale, and wondering what happened. In this video, Coach Frank Overton from FasCat Coaching shows you how to bridge the gap between base season and race season the right way. You don’t need to live in...

info_outline How to Use Your Coach, When You Get Sick or Injured show art How to Use Your Coach, When You Get Sick or Injured

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Getting sick or injured during a training block doesn’t have to ruin your season. Try Coaching (AI or 1:1) Free for the 1st 30 days →   In this video, Coach Frank breaks down how to use your coaching in the event of sickness or injury without making things worse and without losing weeks of fitness to a preventable layoff. You’ll learn a simple 6-step process used with real coached athletes to: ✅ decide when to rest vs train ✅ adjust intensity and volume ✅ avoid overdoing it ✅ revise your training plan ✅ rebuild day by day Most athletes don’t lose fitness from...

info_outline The #1 Nutrition Mistake Cyclists Make show art The #1 Nutrition Mistake Cyclists Make

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

Learn how to eat right for your cycling. Most cyclists try to lose weight by eating less and riding more and that doesn't work. Get the Go Fast Grocery List mentioned in this video for FREE →   In this video, Coach Frank breaks down the #1 nutrition mistake most cyclists make and explains why watts per kilo don’t improve on the bike… they start in the kitchen. This video introduces our long-standing FasCat concept called Winning in the Kitchen: a simple, sustainable approach to performance nutrition and weight loss that works for real cyclists with real lives. You’ll...

info_outline Base Training Advice is broken, and How to Make it Right with 4–8 Hours a Week show art Base Training Advice is broken, and How to Make it Right with 4–8 Hours a Week

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

The base training advice you’ve been getting from social media and indoor riding platforms is wrong.  Riding only Zone 2 all winter doesn’t work for cyclists with less than 8 hours a week to train. Riding hard indoors doesn’t work either. In this video, Coach Frank Overton (aka BigCat) breaks down how to build a REAL aerobic base on just 4–8 hours per week, using the Sweet Spot training methodology he has pioneered for the past 20 years. You’ll learn: 1️⃣ Where base training actually fits in your annual plan 2️⃣ Why Zone 2-only training fails when volume is low 3️⃣...

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What happens when you mix a live Sweet Spot group ride, real-time coaching, fueling advice, tech questions, and unfiltered athlete Q&A?

You get a live, no-BS training session led by Coach Frank that covers how cyclists train. Pardon the audio as we recorded from our discord channel that was live during the ride.

In this ride & podcast, we dove into a dozen or more topics, including:

1. How to ride Sweet Spot by feel (no rigid intervals required)

2. Why Sweet Spot is “not too hard, not too easy — just right”

3. Fueling correctly indoors (70–90g carbs/hr and why it matters)

4. ERG mode: when to use it and when it hurts your training

5. Using time-in-zone instead of chasing perfect watts

6. Heart rate vs power for Sweet Spot Time in Zone Accuracy

7. Training consistency, durability, and long-ride fatigue resistance

8. How to adapt training when life, travel, injuries, or holidays happen

9. Festive 500 strategy for road, gravel, crit, and masters athletes

10. Strength training + endurance: how to blend them without burnout

11. Why most plateaus are caused by doing the same thing too long

12. How CoachCat helps revise plans, answer questions, and guide decisions in real time 🎯

Who this ride and podcast is for:

Masters cyclists

Time-crunched athletes

Gravel, road, crit, and fondo riders

Athletes training indoors on Zwift

Anyone tired of over-complicating training

🧠 Key takeaway: Fitness comes from doing slightly more work than yesterday and recovering well enough to do it again tomorrow.

Sweet Spot training done right builds durability, raises FTP, and teaches you how to pace long efforts — without burying yourself.

🚴 Join us live again on January 3rd, 2026 Sweet Spot Saturday is part of a 7-ride progression series: Each ride gets 30 minutes longer Builds durability and confidence Ride #7 culminates in the legendary Uber Pretzel

📅 Next ride: January 3 👉 Join the FasCat Coaching Club in the Zwift Companion app

👍 Like • Subscribe • Share If this helped your training,

hit 👍, subscribe for science-backed cycling advice, and share with a riding buddy who trains hard but wants to train smarter. Train Smarter. Ride Faster. — Coach Frank 🐾