A common question we get is which “level” of our plans should we do?
The three levels we offer with most of our plans is Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced.
We separate these levels by three primary things, 1st time available to train, 2nd experience within training, and then 3rd age.
The most important thing to consider is time to train as that is the biggest difference is the versions.
Basic : 4 - 8 hours per week to train. Cat 4-5. 50+ Masters Category.
Intermediate : 8 -12 hours per week to train. Cat 3. 40+ Masters Category.
Advanced : 12-18 hours per week to train. Cat 1-2. 30-40 Masters Elite.
These are rough categories to separate the levels and it might take a plan or two to figure out exactly what level works best for you. You also might want to have different level of plans for different times of the year depending on your races and schedule. A good rule of thumb we have found is that if you are in between levels, go with the level down and then adjust to add on a little bit if you end up having more time.
One more note. It is very simple for us to trade out your plan if you find that a level is to light or heavy. So just let us know!
" I did get the new plan. Thank you very much. I had a few questions though. Ideally, for me the best day to take a day off is Monday. How can I manipulate the plan you sent so that I can get that as my regular day off? Also, I noticed that throughout this plan, the total weekly training hours are right around 6 hours. That seems very lite to me. Is that due to my age or how is that determined? I ask because a 10 hour week is normal. A big week is 13-14 hours and an easy week is about 7 hours. Can your plan be adjusted accordingly or is the 6 hour a week plan what I get? Lastly, I am not going to use a power meter for this plan because I don’t have one. I plan to use HR. Will you guys determine my zones after I download my first 20minute effort?"
For Six Weeks to Sweet Spot 3, we do have days off as Mondays so I would just double check that you started the plan on a Monday.
Looks like you purchased the Basic version of the plan which is a 4-8hours per week target. Might be better for you to trade out to Intermediate which is a 8-12 hour target. Let me know if you would like to do this and I’ll trade it out for you.
You can also adjust your training plan : Check this page of our forum out How to Adjust Your FasCat Training Plan
Lastly, using HR with our plans is no problem. Check out or page here to help with setting up your training zones Setting Up Training Zones and A 20 Minute Power-Based Field Test for the best approach to doing your test to get your baseline number for your zones.
Thanks for all the great questions! Hopefully this helps.
I’ve used the intermediate 18 weeks sweetspot plan in the past. My main focus is longer duration time trials and this year I have more time to train due to changing jobs. What is the difference between the intermediate plan and advanced plan? I managed the intermediate with no problems and am considering the advanced plan for this year’s base. I can’t seem to find a description other than the time difference which wouldn’t be an issue for me. Thanks.
The primary difference is time to train and recover from the volume increase. There are slight changes in progression of intervals as well on some builds.
Biggest thing is just making sure you have the extra time available to train and then recover as well
Hey! I am more than happy to help you with that. Can you shoot me an email to help@fascatcoaching.com with the email that you used to purchase your plan?
