Show Notes
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 Factor (IF) as your real-time pacing gauge - The art of "self-dropping" — and why the tortoise always beats the hare - A 4-step process for finding the right group without blowing up - First-hour IF targets for every race duration from 2 to 8+ hours Want course-specific pacing instructions in watts for YOUR next gravel race? CoachCat's AI can give you section-by-section wattage targets so you always know what's too hard and what's just right. 🚀 Start your free trial: https://fascatcoaching.com/app
More from FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Want to climb faster without adding a single watt? Improve your power to weight ratio. This week on the FasCat Podcast, Frank Overton, the Big Cat, explains how cyclists can lose weight the right way: without losing power, wrecking recovery or bonking on the bike. Here's the truth: 80% of weight loss happens in the kitchen and 20% happens on the bike. Ride more and eat less is old school thinking, and it stops working once you've lost the first few pounds. Frank shows you how to win in the kitchen. In this episode: Go Fast vs Go Slow foods: the simple framework our athletes use at the grocery store, because what comes home goes in your mouth Diet by math: why a 250 to 500 calorie daily deficit adds up to about 1 lb a week, or 10 lbs in 10 weeks, without hurting your training How to use your power meter to fuel: 1 kilojoule on the bike is about 1 calorie of food Protein targets for cyclists (1.2 to 2 g per kg of body weight), plus 3 meals and 4 snacks a day and how much water to drink When to diet and when NOT to: why the off season and base phase are the time, and why you should never cut calories during intensity, weight training or race season Zone 2 endurance rides and teaching your body to burn fat How to use CoachCat to fuel your workouts and stay on track We're live every Friday at 2pm ET. Two ways to ride faster: the CoachCat app or expert 1x1 personal coaching. Both start with a complimentary consultation and a custom training plan. 👉 Start your free trial or schedule your consultation: https://fascatcoaching.com/ 📖 Read the training tips: Weight Loss for Cyclists: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips/weight-loss-for-cyclists/ Performance Nutrition: Winning in the Kitchen: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips/performance-nutrition/ Winning in the Kitchen Weight Loss Meal Plan: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips/weight-loss-meal-plan/ ⭐ Share your FasCat story, and you might be next week's review of the week: https://fascatcoaching.com/pages/customer-reviews/ Work hard, ride fast, have fun and as always FtFP!
Hope is not a training plan. Most cyclists sign up for a race, ride hard and hope the fitness shows up on race day. The FasCat way is the opposite: pick your event first, then work backward from race day. In this episode, Frank Overton, the Big Cat, walks through exactly how our coaches build a season and builds four real 2027 plans live with our new Pick Your Event, See Your Plan tool: Unbound Gravel 200: the full build with weights, Sweet Spot base and the Unbound plan, with no punchy intervals for a flat, hot course GFNY New York City: what happens when you have fewer than 34 weeks, and how the phases compress The Firecracker 50: a marathon MTB race at altitude, and why climbing intervals go in before the event plan Your spring group ride: why you should treat it like a race, plus our 4 Week Group Ride Interval Training plan Plus: The four FasCat training phases (weights, Sweet Spot base, intervals and event specific), how long each one lasts and what to protect when you're short on weeks Why your age decides your plan level, and how CoachCat builds age appropriate plans A live demo of the CoachCat custom plan builder: five questions and your whole season is on your calendar The FasCat Winter Training Group grows to three rides a week: Turnt Up Tuesdays, Zone 2 Thursdays and Sweet Spot Saturdays Links from the show: 👉 Build your 2027 plan for free in CoachCat: https://app.fascat.ai/ 👉 Read the article and try the Pick Your Event tool: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips/build-your-perfect-2027-training-plan/ 👉 Join the Winter Training Group (first ride Tuesday, Nov 17). Join the FasCat Coaching club in Zwift: https://fascatcoaching.com/pages/winter-group-training/ 👉 Refer a friend and earn cash back: https://fascatcoaching.com/refer-a-friend 👉 Share your story for a chance to be our next review of the week: https://fascatcoaching.com/pages/customer-reviews/ Two ways to ride faster: the CoachCat app or 1x1 personal coaching with a FasCat coach. Both start with a complimentary consultation and a custom training plan. Start your free trial and save 50% with an annual subscription ($17.50 a month): https://fascatcoaching.com/app Work hard, ride fast, have fun and as always FtFP!
Over 40 and wondering why the same workouts, rides and races hit harder than they used to? On this episode of the FasCat Podcast Coach Frank answered that question and gave you a simple way to train for it: the Masters Diamond. The biggest change isn't intensity, it's recovery. A hard workout that took one night to bounce back from at 30 can take two nights at 55. After 20+ years of coaching Masters athletes at FasCat, here's how we train athlete's over 40/50/60/ & 70: ⚾ The Masters Diamond Picture a baseball diamond with four bases: 1️⃣ First base is Time: how many hours a week you actually have to train 2️⃣ Second base is Dose: your intervals, sets and reps 3️⃣ Third base is Recovery: the rest you need to absorb that dose 🏠 Home plate is Life: staying flexible when life happens Touch all four bases and you score a run, and that run is consistency. The bases are connected. Change one and you change the others. Skip a base and you're out. In this episode: 🔹 The four age bands we coach by (40+, 50+, 60+ and 70+) and what changes in each 🔹 VO2 max intervals by age: why 50+ athletes do 2 sets of 2 x 5 minutes instead of 3 x 5 🔹 The new Rønnestad VO2 workouts in CoachCat 🔹 Sweet Spot for Masters: shorter sessions (45 to 90 minutes), done more often 🔹 Sprint work at 40, 50 and 60+ and why you shouldn't give up Zone 6 🔹 The golden rule: cut sets and reps before you cut intensity, and pull the plug before you're fully cooked 🔹 How many hours a week you really need (even retired, more isn't better) 🔹 Recovery weeks, comebacks and why your plan's rest is the floor, not the ceiling 🔹 Year round strength training for Masters cyclists 🔹 How CoachCat adjusts your training for your age, from morning recovery scores to 8 to 12 week adaptation blocks 🔹 Live Q&A with your Masters training questions Whether you're 42 and chasing a PR or 68 and hanging with the fast group on Saturdays, this one's for you. Run the bases, stay consistent and you'll keep getting faster. 📖 Read the full article: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips/masters-coaching/ Want help? We provide two types of coaching to help you ride faster:
The rainbow jersey 🌈 will be decided on Mount Royal. Coach Frank breaks down exactly how many watts it will to win the 2026 World Championship road race in Montréal, built from race data, and which riders can make those watts/kg. What we'll cover: • The course: three climbs, twelve times. Mount Royal (1.6 km at 7.7%), the Polytechnique (370 m at 9%), the Pagnuelo (470 m at 7.8%) and the uphill drag to the line on Avenue du Parc • Our prediction: 8.0 W/kg (about 515 watts) for 3:40 on Mount Royal to win the men's race, 6.6 W/kg for the women, and about 9 W/kg on each of the two kickers • What the race files show: Pogačar's 3:27 up Mount Royal in 2024, and last week's GP Montréal where Seixas and Del Toro rode it at 7.5 W/kg twice on the exact Worlds lap • Why time above threshold decides this race: 45 to 60 minutes over threshold in short, repeated efforts, not one big number • No Pogačar, so who wins? Evenepoel, Del Toro, Seixas, McNulty and Quinn Simmons for the men. Niewiadoma-Phinney, Vollering, Reusser, Longo Borghini and Vallières for the women • The Montréal Worlds workout: 5 laps of Mount Royal in 70 minutes, waiting for you in the CoachCat workout library • Your questions, live 📊 Full power predictions, charts and race data: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips/montreal-worlds-road-race-power-predictions/ 🐱 Ride the Montreal Worlds workout in CoachCat described in this podcast, first week free: https://fascatcoaching.com/app 🚴 Work with a FasCat coach: https://fascatcoaching.com/pages/hire...
Most cyclists call the next five months the off season. We call it the ON season, because this is the time of year where you can add 10 to 50 watts or more by spring. Join Coach Frank Overton live Friday at 2pm ET for a walk through the training that makes that happen, straight out of our all-new 30 Week Off Season Weight and Sweet Spot Plan for 2026/2027. What we're covering: Why every month off costs you two, and how a two month break turns into a four month swing Winning in the gym: the 10 week, four phase cycling specific weight program covering hypertrophy, strength, and power Muscle tension intervals, and why they turn new strength into watts Sweet Spot base training between 84 and 97% of FTP, and why it beats zone 2 when your time is limited Zwift as your atomic habit, plus the Saturday Sweet Spot group rides with Coach Jake and Frank What's new in the 2026/2027 plan: refined periodization, rewritten workout descriptions, Coach's Tips from 20 years of FasCat coaching, demo videos, masters appropriate volume and intervals, and FuelTrix fueling on every workout Plus announcements, our reviews of the week, a live CoachCat onboarding walkthrough for new athletes, and your questions answered live in the comments. Drop what you're training for and Frank will give you his best coaching advice on air. Ready to start your on-season? Two ways to ride faster: 1. the CoachCat app or 2. expert 1x1 personal coaching. https://fascatcoaching.com/ Both begin with a complimentary phone consultation and a custom training plan. Start a free trial and follow the 30 Week On Season Plan. Work hard, ride fast, have fun, and as always, FTFP. What did you think about this episode? What do you want to learn about next? Drop a comment 👇