The Five Fundamentals of Faster
By FasCat Coaching + Trainer founder Frank Overton
Improving on the bike doesn’t have to be complicated! Do these five simple things to increase your fitness, lose some weight, achieve better balance in your life, and have even more fun at The Ride Collective events this year!
When we say simple, we mean simple in concept. And, frankly, they aren't too hard to do in practice, either; you just need to be mindful and commit to them.
The five fundamentals for getting faster are:
Be consistent yet flexible in your training
Ride more!
Train at different intensities
Rest!
Eat right
#1. Consistency in training means exercising 3-6 times per week, week after week, year after year. Sometimes consistency is riding for fun and other times of the year it is following a structured training plan. Sometimes riding a lot or a little and sometimes training hard or easy, but riding. Consistency is key.
Consistency is independent of duration and intensity. So, if you ride 45 minutes one day or three hours another day, both enable you to achieve consistency. The same goes for doing a hard workout or riding easy; either one at different times of the year achieve consistency.
The second part of consistency is being flexible. If you can't ride one day due to life circumstances, that's okay! Do the ride some other time in the week. Revise your plan. Flexibility enables consistency.
#2. What we mean by ride more is to really ride more than you have been. If you have been averaging 2 hours of riding per week, it is low-hanging fruit to improve by increasing to 4 hours per week. Within a few months if not weeks, you'll be riding faster.
The easiest way to know how to ride more is by tracking your data in terms of weeks, months and years. Strava does a really nice job of this, and you can also set annual mileage or time goals.
Riding more comes in many metrics, from hours to miles, to feet climbing, and even power-based metrics like TSS and OTS.
When you start riding more you will quickly get to the point where you don’t have time to ride more. At this point, you will have to start increasing your intensity to ride harder during the time you have. (We invented Sweet Spot Trainingto help you ride more without riding too hard. Sweet Spot training gives you more bang for your buck. In other words, you are able to achieve more training during your limited training time than by riding easier.)
#3. Train at different intensities means that when you get on the bike, not every ride should be the same amount of effort. Mixing in easy days with hard, intense days will make you faster and fitter.
There are a few ways to achieve this, but following a training plan is the simplest and most effective. You can gauge your effort by RPE (rate of perceived exertion), heart rate, or power if you have a power meter.
When you sign up for an event with The Ride Collective, you get 25% off all the training plans we've ever created at FasCat, and we have recommendations for a plan for each event in The Ride Collective. [LINK TO THE TRAINING PAGE]
#4. Rest. Sound simple? It is, in concept. Train, rest, repeat. That is the formula for getting faster.
Your body adapts to the training and makes you faster when you rest! Follow a scientifically designed training plan with well-thought-out rest days and rest weeks. Any good training plan contains rest days and even rest weeks, where you back off on the volume.
Besides giving your body a rest, this also gives you a chance to come up for air and balance out the rest of your life with errands, appointments and family time. That balance ensures consistency.
If your legs feel great at the end of a rest week, that means you took enough rest. If your legs don’t feel good towards the end of a rest week, that means you didn’t rest enough so you should keep resting!
#5. Eat right with good nutrition and good timing. Eat the high quality carbohydrates, lean cuts of meat (or don’t if you are plant-based) and high quality polyunsaturated fats. Oh, and don’t forget your vegetables! Vegetables are rich in minerals, nutrients, and fiber. Try to eat three servings of vegetables each day to enhance recovery and achieve optimal body composition
At FasCat, we call this 'Winning in the Kitchen' because 80% of weight loss occurs from the foods you choose while 20% comes from riding more.
You'll have a great time at The Ride Collective events - but follow these five tips and you'll have even more fun as you will feel better!
For more training information, visit https://fascatcoaching.com.
