Other Cycling Coaches, Training Plans and Resources

Training
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Here has been my progression over the last 2-3 years of structured training (rode a few years unstructured prior to this)

(in chronological order)

  1. TR
  2. FasCat SS plans (not race plans)
  3. Custom plans based on remote consultations from coaches (INSCYD testing, just looking at WKO4/5 data, just looking at Training Peaks). Lots of “why do you need a coach?” in this stage. Meanwhile I’m thinking: “so you don’t want my money?” :man_shrugging:
  4. Tim Cusick training plan (no consultation, but consumed a bunch of WKO videos)
  5. Cody Waite training plan
  6. And finally, plans (really strategies, not specific plans) and advice from Steve Neal

Clearly I hunted for plans, but what I was really hunting for (beside the obvious: coaching) was philosophy and approach that fit. Some of that plan hunting was just to compare and contrast, as well as curiosity.

My take home lessons:

  1. Most intense - TR
  2. Best improved metrics that were not FTP - FasCat and Steve Neal (still found FasCat to be a bit too “sweet spotty”/intense, but I think that comes down to individuality)
  3. Best catered to individuality of athlete - Steve Neal (by a long shot…so much so that it might not be right for many)
  4. Least amount of thinking (just follow the plan idea) - Steve Neal (mostly because there really isn’t a plan. Once you understand the approach, you make up your own plan based on his input, which progresses, overload, etc. FasCat was a close second but I still had to make legit adjustments on the fly
  5. Best community - TR
  6. Most testing/assessments etc. - Steve Neal
  7. Least testing/assessments - TR (so just a Ramp Test?)
  8. Most academically sound - TR or Cusick. All the TSSes, TiZ, etc just make these beautiful graphs of progression and sawtooth shaped PMC charts that look so sexy until you actually go to do them. FasCat plans look like that too but Frank knows how to have you adjust.
  9. Most scientific - depends on what science you like. All of them are based on some level of scientific understanding. I’d rather have a good coach than a good physiologist.
  10. Cody Waite and Tim Cusick’s plans are very similar.
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