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: https://fascatcoaching.com/app
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 way that wastes the workout. This video covers both, with the pacing strategy, terrain selection, ERG-mode trap, and mental tips you need to actually finish all 24 reps and get the adaptation Dr. Tabata's research promised.
📊 THE WORKOUT (found in the CoachCat app)
3 sets × 8 reps 20 seconds at 170% of FTP
10 seconds easy between reps
10 minutes rest between sets
Flat road. Fresh legs.
ERG OFF
 🧠 THE SCIENCE Tabata, I., et al. (1996). "Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max." Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 28(10), 1327–1330.
📖 KEEP LEARNING → Full Tabata blog post: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips/tabata-intervals/ →
The Right Way and Wrong Way to do Cycling Intervals: https://youtu.be/-7Ui3MORgbk →
All FasCat training tips: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips
🐾 ABOUT FASCAT & COACHCAT FasCat Coaching has been turning amateur cyclists into faster, fitter, race-ready athletes for over 20 years. Coach Frank Overton invented Sweet Spot Training, holds US Patent #7202067B2, and built CoachCat — the AI-powered cycling coaching app that prescribes workouts like this one automatically, based on your data, your goals, and 20 years of proven FasCat methodology.
1:1 coaching & training plans: https://fascatcoaching.com
Instagram: @fascatcoaching
Work hard. Ride fast. Have fun. And as always — FtFP. #TabataIntervals #VO2Max #CyclingTraining #CoachCat #FasCat #SweetSpotTraining #HIITforCyclists #CyclingIntervals #FTP #BikeRacing #AnaerobicCapacity #CyclingCoaching #BikeTraining #IndoorCycling #PowerMeter

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 simple questions:
1️⃣ Your fitness level and how many hours a week you can train
2️⃣ What you're training for
3️⃣ When that goal is
4️⃣ Whether you want to include strength training
5️⃣ Your availability — including the days you can't train and your preferred long ride day
The result: the right phase at the right time, lined up to your goal date, fit to your week.
What's new in this builder:
→ Specify the days you can't train (3, 4, or 5 days a week — your call)
→ Choose your long ride day (Saturday default, but pick any day)
→ Climbing-specific training if your event has climbs
→ Smart strength training: 10-week lifting in Fall/Winter, maintenance in Spring/Summer
Plus, a closer look at:
Event-specific phases for every cycling discipline
Why timing your peak matters
The strength training question — and why most athletes get it wrong
Already training with CoachCat? Click "Build a Custom Plan" inside the app — your plan also comes with a complimentary coaching consultation to verify the build and suggest improvements.
🚴 About FasCat & CoachCat
FasCat Coaching has been training cyclists for 20+ years. CoachCat is our AI-powered coaching app that delivers personalized training, daily check-ins, and the same coaching methodology we've used with World Tour pros and amateurs alike — at a fraction of the cost of 1:1 coaching. 
🔗 Links → Build your custom plan: https://fascatcoaching.com/app
→ Browse training plans: https://fascatcoaching.com/collections/training-plans/
→ FasCat Training Tips blog: https://fascatcoaching.com/blogs/training-tips

Are you doing your zone 4, 5, and 6 intervals as hard as you can? Try CoachCat free: https://fascatcoaching.com/app
 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 coach built on 20 years of FasCat methodology. CoachCat builds your custom training plan, prescribes these exact intervals at the right time, tells you what wattages to hit, and analyzes your power data after every ride.
👉 Start your free week: https://fascatcoaching.com/app
🏆 WORK WITH A FASCAT COACH 1:1
Ready for personalized coaching? Our coaches work with athletes from World Tour pros to weekend warriors.
👉 https://fascatcoaching.com/coaching
00:00 Introduction
00:50 SmartTrainers = DumbTrainers
01:17 What "Full Gas" Means
01:56 The Art of Pacing
03:07 Turn ERG Mode Off
03:25 Imperfect is better than "Perfect"
03:44 Outside is Better ‼️
04:33 Coach Frank's 3 Favorite Zone 4 Interval Workout
06:16 Favorite VO2 Max workout
06:51 Zone 6

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 https://fascatcoaching.com/app
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 Learn:
- Why more miles ≠ more fitness (and how to balance training with recovery)
- The truth about high-intensity (Zone 6) work for older athletes
- How to strength train the right way (without sabotaging your riding)
- Why you don't need a race to train with purpose
- The #1 mistake masters cyclists make: taking extended breaks
⚠️ Stick Around for Rule #5
If you take winters off, skip riding on vacation, or think breaks help you reset… this could be holding you back more than you realize.
📖 Read the Original Article https://www.bicycling.com/training/a70723113/older-cyclist-training-rules/
🤖 Want Help Applying This?
Try the CoachCat AI Coach:
✅ Personalized training plan
✅ Feedback on your workouts
✅ Built specifically for masters athletes
👉 Start your FREE 30-day trial (includes coaching consultation): https://fascatcoaching.com/app or Hire a FasCa Coach: https://fascatcoaching.com/pages/hire-a-coach
💬 Let Us Know: Which of these 5 rules are you already following—and which one surprised you the most?
👍 If this helped, hit like and subscribe for more training tips for masters cyclists. Work Hard. Ride Fast. Have Fun. FtFP.

Coach Frank describes a 3 month Unbound training plan that you can follow FREE for 30 days → https://fascatcoaching.com/app
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 2.5 hours to 5+,
why Flint Hills repeats matter, and
what race-winning power data from Ian Boswell, Pete Stetina, and Cam Jones tells us about pacing Unbound.
📱 The CoachCat app gives you a custom Unbound training plan, AI coaching to adjust on the fly, and nutrition guidance — all free for 30 days.
🚴 Let us know what distance are you riding at Unbound 2026? 
#UnboundGravel #UnboundGravel2026 #GravelTraining #FasCatCoaching #CoachCat #SweetSpotTraining #DieselWatts #GravelSimulationRide #FlintHills #EmporiaKansas #GravelPowerWorkout #HowToTrainForUnbound #GravelRacing #CyclingTraining