FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

By FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast

What's FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast about?

The official podcast of FasCat Coaching, based in Boulder, CO. Coach Frank "Big Cat" Overton shares his extensive experience as a cycling coach to help you ride faster through training and racing tips, nutrition, and beyond.

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Holiday Gear Guide: Clothin...

12.08.2023

Training is more fun and effective when you’re comfortable and stoked on your gear. Sure, you could train like Rocky in cotton sweats in the freezing cold of a Philadelphia winter, or stare at the wall of a basement on ...

FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast episodes:

12.08.2023 Holiday Gear Guide: Clothing, Tech, Power Meters and More Training is more fun and effective when you’re comfortable and stoked on your gear. Sure, you could train like Rocky in cotton sweats in the freezing cold of a Philadelphia winter, or stare at the wall of a basement on ...
12.01.2023 Sweet Spot Series 2 of 8: How much sweet spot should you do? What, when and how much - those are the three big questions of training. We dig into that question for our second podcast in an 8-pod series on Sweet Spot: How much Sweet Spot should you do? There is no ...
11.24.2023 Sweet Spot Series 1 of 8: What the heck is Sweet Spot?! In the spirit of annual training and periodization, now that we have covered weight lifting, the next phase of your training is the base phase. And longtime loyal listeners know we love the sweet spot - the ultimate way to ...
11.17.2023 A different kind of intervals - but one that's still backed by science At FasCat we’re all about helping you get faster and have more fun, with training methods proven by science and our experience with thousands of athletes. One thing the scientific community has proven is that taking time to be grateful ...
11.10.2023 How to set your training plan: road, MTB, gravel and group rides! From the Flanders Sportive to the Leadville Trail 100 to Unbound Gravel to just being fit for the group ride, riders have a wide variety of cycling goals for 2024. But how do you get there? How do you time ...
11.03.2023 Want to ride 1,200km? FasCat Lisa Charlebois did 1,200 kilometers, or 745 miles. That's a long distance for an unsupported event! But that's exactly what Lisa Charlesbois did this year at Paris-Brest-Paris, arguably the oldest bicycle race in the world. She finished in 78 hours and 27 minutes, ...
10.27.2023 Coach Elliott's Top 5 Tips: More... carbs, self awareness, fun, flexibility & learning Coach and three-time U.S. MTB national champion Elliott Baring has raced all the main cycling disciplines and coaches his athletes in a wide variety of pursuits. On this podcast, he explains his Top 5 Training Tips that apply to athletes ...
10.20.2023 Go fast, stay warm: Clothing tips with Castelli's Alvin Nordell Cycling clothing has come a long way in the last few years, both in terms of comfortable construction and our understanding of how it can speed us up or slow us down. On this podcast, Castelli team liaison Alvin Nordell ...
10.13.2023 Ask a FasCat #26: maintaining strength as we age, balancing fitness gains with losing weight, and more You've got training questions; we've got answers! In fact, you had so many questions last week that we extended Ask A FasCat into a two-pod series. On this podcast, Director of Coaching Isaiah Newkirk fields an array of your questions ...
10.06.2023 Ask a FasCat #25: lifting weights, losing weight, boosting FTP & the Boogeyman It's that time again: you ask training questions, and we answer. Since we had well over 100 good questions come in this time, we're breaking this episode of Ask a FasCat into two. On this podcast, FasCat Founder Frank Overton ...
09.29.2023 Alternative Weightlifting Options for Cyclists At FasCat, we're big believers in the big three for weightlifting for cyclists: the squat, the leg press, and the leg curl. (Done for a 10-week block during the off-season.) But there are plenty of other great exercises out there ...
09.22.2023 Lift weights to get faster on the bike The off-season is a great time to do a cycling-focused weightlifting regiment in order to be stronger and faster next year. Why should cyclists lift weights? How should cyclists lift weights? And how does strength gained in the gym translate ...
09.15.2023 Having fun and staying fit in the off-season Coach Isaiah Newkirk shares the ways professional and amateur athletes can switch up their routines in the off-season to take a mental break, have some fun, and still maintain fitness and even gain some strength and mobility. Some of these ...
09.08.2023 Off-Season Training Starts Now If you want to be faster or fitter next year, what should you be doing in the off-season? That is exactly what this podcast is about. Frank Overton and Ben Delaney walk you through when your off-season should start, what ...
09.01.2023 How to take a season break properly As athletes, we need recovery to rebuild and come back stronger. This applies at the micro and macro levels, and applies to our mental health as well as our physical health. On this podcast, Coach Ricky Arnopol explains when, how ...
08.25.2023 How to plan your 2024 season This is the third podcast in an eight-pod how-to series. Last episode we talked about 14 ways to review your season, and on this podcast we discuss how to map our your 2024 season for maximum results and fun. Coach ...
08.19.2023 14 ways to review your 2023 season How did this year go for you? What were the successes? What could you have done better? And how can you build on the momentum next year? In this episode, Frank and Coach Christian walk you through a 14-point checklist ...
08.11.2023 How to finish strong: End-of-season training techniques If your season is wrapping up or about to wrap up, this podcast is for you. Here, we talk about end-of-season training, and how it differs from training in the early and middle parts of your season. Some phrases and ...
08.04.2023 How to reset goals: reading the signs and making adjustments Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. This bit of life wisdom, from the inimitable Mike Tyson, certainly applies to racing bikes and our daily lives. This podcast is all about how to reset goals after ...
07.28.2023 7 watts per kilo! The Tour, the Women's Tour, and xPower... Seven watts per kilo. That is the number being thrown around as the new absolute best standard, courtesy Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard battling in this year’s Tour de France. Yesterday we saw Yara Kastelijn win stage 4 of the ...
07.21.2023 5 things I wish I knew earlier: Coach Zach Gregg Zach Gregg has twice won the US time trial national championship and currently races for the UCI Pro Continental team Project Echelon. But getting there took plenty of work and involved a few lessons learned the hard way. On this ...
07.14.2023 2x US champ Travis McCabe on hard-earned lessons & rewards Travis McCabe didn't want to work manual labor for his dad as a career, so he made a plan to be a bike racer. It took a few years, but through hard work, self-education and coaching, he made his way ...
07.07.2023 Ask a FasCat #24: the best power meters, improving sprinting power, riding the Tour de France route, and more How can I break up big rides into chunks? What power meter do you recommend for gravel? How can I follow a training plan when traveling for work? These and many other listener questions are answered in our 24th installment ...
06.30.2023 SBT GRVL training, preparation and special FasCat arrangements SBT GRVL is one of the biggest and most important gravel races in the world, and FasCat is all in on this beautiful event here in our Colorado backyard. In this episode, FasCat founder Frank Overton is joined by Ben ...
06.23.2023 High altitude training: Leadville 100 MTB The Leadville Trail 100 MTB is — to use an overused but perfectly apt word — epic. 105 miles of racing that starts above 10,000 feet of elevation and climbs nearly 12,000 feet. That much elevation affects and informs so ...
06.16.2023 Power alone won't cut it; build your skills! 'Serious training' is sometimes perceived as doing nothing but power-based intervals, and those are important! But being able to drive a bike - in a bunch, over terrain, around corners - is also vital. And just like practicing intervals will ...
06.09.2023 Effective self-coaching with data Everyone wants to improve, and there is more than one way to do so. At FasCat, we have two primary (and time-tested) methods. One-on-one coaching is the gold standard. And our training plans have worked well for thousands of athletes ...
06.02.2023 Zone-based training is dead! ...half of the time. Training only by zones is a sure-fire way to kill the joy of cycling and your very will to ride. Training by zones is extremely effective, and at FasCat we recommend it for about half your rides. But for the ...
05.26.2023 How to fuel for training and racing What and how much should you eat before, during and after training rides and races? It’s a simple question, with a lot of devils in the details. On this podcast we dig into those details with FasCat Coach Sierra Sims, ...
05.19.2023 FasCat 20th Anniversary Celebration, Part Two FasCat is officially 20 years old this month, and on this two-part podcast, we’re taking a long look back at the pivotal moments that formed the FasCat community. From pioneering work on training with power to discovering that Subway’s microwaves ...
05.12.2023 Celebrating 20 years of FasCat Coaching FasCat is officially 20 years old this month, and on this two-part podcast, we’re taking a long look back at the pivotal moments that formed the FasCat community. From pioneering work on training with power to discovering that Subway’s microwaves ...
05.05.2023 How to climb faster with Coach Jake Rytlewski Like many elements of cycling, climbing is at once so simple and so complex. How can you improve your climbing - especially if you live in a flat area? How should you pace climbs of different lengths? When should you ...
04.28.2023 5 things I wish I knew when I started racing: Coach Suzie Snyder Coach Suzie Snyder is a five-time Xterra national champion who is still racing at the international level in addition to coaching FasCat athletes of all levels. In this podcast, the veteran racer and professional coach shares five things she wish ...
04.21.2023 Gravel racing tips & tricks Gravel continues to blow up in popularity, and FasCat is all in on helping you prepare for your next big event, whether that’s 40 miles locally or 200 miles in Emporia, Kansas. On this podcast, Ben Delaney and Elliott Baring ...
04.14.2023 The Most Important Cycling Workouts What are the most important workouts? It's a question we get a lot at FasCat, and people ask it for two reasons. One - sometimes athletes following a training plan feel like work or family should take priority over a ...
04.07.2023 How and when to peak for top performance How do you get fast? That is the underlying question behind so much of what we do at FasCat. In today's episode, we talk about how you peak for top performance by applying an overload and then a taper. Many ...
03.31.2023 5 things I wish I knew when I was a pro: Coach Christian Parrett FasCat Coach Christian Parrett raced on the road as a pro for many years and learned many things. Now, with seven years of professional coaching also in the rearview mirror, there are a few things he wishes he could go ...
03.24.2023 Apple Watch Optimize integration is here! Optimize, our next-generation training and data analytics platform, now works with Apple Watch to balance your recovery data in the form of nightly HRV and Sleep with your training data from your power meter. Optimize balances an athlete’s training and ...
03.17.2023 Inside the coach/athlete relationship: A live coaching call So how exactly does one-on-one coaching work? On this episode, we take you inside the weekly call of Coach Jake Rytlewski and Zach Hoover, so you can experience the details that are discussed and the methodology used. While nearly all ...
03.10.2023 Optimized Coaching delivers personalized training advice and unlimited plans What’s up FasCat listeners? Chances are, if you listen to our podcast you enjoy the coaching wisdom we share, and maybe you like the idea of working personally with a coach - but that might not be financially feasible. We ...
03.03.2023 Six reasons to do group rides At FasCat Coaching, we are big fans of the group ride. They're fun, and they can be very effective training. In this episode, we detail the six reasons why you should incorporate a group ride or two into your regular ...
02.24.2023 Ted King on racing with Peter Sagan, bikepacking, and more Ted King raced as a professional on the road for years, working his way up through the American domestic ranks to join the world's best in Europe, where he raced alongside Peter Sagan for a couple of years with the ...
02.17.2023 Which training numbers matter? A special episode from FasCat Camp Cycling computers have hundreds of potential data field configurations, with scores of variations on power, tss, heart rate, speed, altitude, temperature, time, blood glucose, pace partners, and on and on. But how many data fields can you actually look at ...
02.10.2023 Wintertime training mistakes to avoid - Don't be the group ride hero! There are two basic mistakes you can make with your training in the winter. (And yes, it's still winter for many of us!) Mistake #1: doing too much Mistake #2: doing too little But how do you know how much ...
02.03.2023 Ask a FasCat #23 Your questions poured in for Ask a FasCat #23. Listen in as we dive into bike handling, HRV improvement, strength training, and much, much more. One lucky winner gets a Whoop 4.0, and everyone who wrote in with a question ...
01.27.2023 Inside WorldTour Success with Joanne Kiesanowski Three-time Olympian Joanne Kiesanowksi is team director for Human Powered Health, which just kicked off the WorldTour road racing season with a stage win and a white jersey at the Down Tour Under in Australia. In this episode, Joanne speaks ...
01.20.2023 How to do a DIY training camp with tips from the pros Training camps come in all shapes and sizes from professional-team operations to destination camps for amateurs to DIY camps that you can do at home simply by taking a couple of days off work. In this podcast, Coaches Allie Legg, ...
01.13.2023 The Five Fundamentals of Faster Improving doesn’t have to be complicated! Coach Isaiah Newkirk and Ben Delaney walk you through five things that can increase your power output, raise your threshold, help you lose some weight, and perhaps even achieve better balance in your life. ...
01.06.2023 How to train for gravel and other long endurance events Good news, FasCats! Belgian Waffle Ride announced today that we are the Official Coaching and Training Plan Technology Partner of their excellent series, which includes events from Arizona to Canada this year. We are honored to have Belgian Waffle Ride ...
12.30.2022 How to prioritize events for optimal training and enjoyment As much as we'd all like to be Wout van Aert — who is seemingly able to be on flying form year-round — most of us can only peak a couple of times a year. Further, real life prevents us ...

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