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I'm taking the next couple weeks to share some of my favorite trainer sessions. You can do these using SIMPLE methods- perceived effort, counting your pedal strokes, heart rate, power meter, "dumb trainer", "smart trainer".. rollers! And I have been doing these for years.
Following on last week's trainer session- Muscular Endurance or Muscular Strength work, my next highlight is:
Sweet Spot!!
So what is "sweet sport" training, especially since one may not see this type of session in a typical zone based model (Recovery z1, Aerobic z2, Tempo z3, Threshold z5, VO2 max z5, Anaerobic Capacity z6)? Sweet spot when using Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is a range between 84-97% FTP (some guidelines state 85-93%) but either way it is mid to high zone 3/Tempo - low to mid zone 4/Threshold.
What's the benefit?
1) A range that extends from tempo into threshold allows the athlete to adapt the session to what they need on the day. Unless you are in constant communication with a coach who is adapting your schedule daily, you, your coach, or your stock plan, may not always get your "readiness" right. Maybe you aren't recovered from the weekend, perhaps work handed your ass to you, maybe you slept like poop, or were up all night because your puppy ate too much trail poop (ahem, Idunn).. but the reality is that sometimes we need to back it down from what is on the schedule. Alternatively, some days we may feel EVEN BETTER than what the planned session prescribes.. so moving between Tempo and Threshold according to your fatigue or readiness level allows for more precise programming and ultimately better long term fitness adaptations.
2) SS (sweet spot) provides more physiological training adaptations than tempo with less need for recovery than threshold. Therefore the intensity balances the training benefits and recovery time, thus the term "sweet spot". Although less physiological benefits than threshold, recovery is generally easier so athletes can do more training as a whole (this also requires a longer viewpoint, which I encourage instead of "smashing" one workout and being "wrecked" for the next). Prior to SS training, athletes would aim for threshold sessions and then be too tired for meaningful training the following day. With sweet spot, one can recover and repeat meaningful training the next day, therefore achieving more training adaptations and building more fitness over the course of the training block.
3) For indoor cycling, Sweet Spot feels comfortably hard and so can be more mentally stimulating than easy aerobic zone 2 rides (harder generally requires more focus thus reducing the "perceived time" one needs to spend sitting stationary in your basement/garage/strength building cave). You should feel that you are getting a good workout in without going too far into the pain cave. That being said, because of the reduced effort/power w.r.t threshold, one can and should be doing longer intervals.
Who should do these?
Everyone! But at differing amounts depending on the season.
- Sprint focused athletes should be spending significant amount of time at the higher end of sweet spot as the sprint distance is well aligned with effort/intensity of sweet spot.
- Olympic focused athletes should also be spending significant time at the higher end of SS into threshold and if you are a 40km time trialing specialist, even more so!
- 70.3 or half ironman focused athletes should aim to spend some of their time within sweet spot in most phases of their build. If the projected bike time is longer than ~3 hrs, the lower end of SS or tempo is where you may likely be targeting your race efforts. If you are faster than 3 hrs, you may be able to target higher sweet spot power as race day simulation efforts.
- Ironman or ultra-endurance/multi-day event athletes can benefit from sweet spot but it is not race specific (across the range of abilities, race pace/effort will likely be lower although some pros and elite AG athletes may be able to execute their race in low the Sweet Spot range). BUT it is still highly effective in the early base building part of the season, especially if an athlete needs to spend significant time on the trainer (weather, daylight, preference). Replacing the long (3-4+) zone 2 rides with a shorter 90 min SS ride and then focusing on strength, mobility, & recovery is very efficient and WILL boost aerobic endurance & power/FTP.
Okay, so how does one start this type of training? As always, I suggest aiming for the lower end of effort/%FTP and interval time. Most athletes should be able to handle something like 3 x 8-10 mins at the lower end of SS (more of a tempo ride). As one warms up, often the length of time and power or effort increases (to a certain extent, eventually fatigue will set in!). The amount of rest between intervals should be equal to the interval down to half the interval time (shorter recovery as the athlete becomes better adapted). Once these shorter sessions feel "doable", extending to ~ 3x 15 mins, or 2-3 x 20 mins is generally the goal.
I rarely prescribe more than 20 min SS intervals on the trainer and usually limit total time to ~45 mins or under an hour for those athletes that are well trained. I have found that there are diminishing returns at much longer total time and/or with longer intervals (30 mins is mentally taxing and on a trainer starts to feel VERY difficult towards the end of the interval and mental taxation along with the HR drift at sustained power, unless liberally adhering to the wide zone, adds to overall fatigue and "work done"). Specifically, the fatigue wracked up on sessions with long intervals or total time over ~hr starts to outweigh the physiological benefits.
How often should these session be done? I like to include these sessions once a week, up to twice. They could be done more than that but the cost then becomes a reduction in other impactful training modalities (i.e., muscular endurance/big gear work, VO2 max - which we will talk on next week, or targeted threshold work). BUT in theory, if done correctly, these sessions could be done 4-5 x week, not that I would recommend doing so!
Here is a fun one to try:
Warm up largely unstructured for ~5 mins
Ramp up:
1 mins 60% FTP PE 3
2 mins 65% FTP PE 3.5
3 mins 70% FTP PE 4
4 mins 75% FTP PE 4.5
8 x
40 seconds 90-95% FTP PE 6-7.5
20 seconds easy 40% FTP PE 1
3 mins recovery 50% FTP PE 1.5
Main sweet spot set:
Ramp up
1 mins 65% FTP PE 3
1 mins 70% FTP PE 4
1 mins 80% FTP PE 5.5
1 mins 85% FTP PE 6
Sweet spot interval #1
8 mins 84-88% FTP PE 5.5-6
Recovery
1 min 45% FTP, PE 1 <-- bring HR and breathing down
3 mins 55% FTP PE2 <--- settle in for recovery
SS interval #2
10 mins 88-92% FTP PE 6-7
Recovery
1 min 45% FTP, PE 1
4 mins 55% FTP PE2
SS interval #3
12 mins 92-96% FTP PE 7-7.5
Recovery
1 min 45% FTP, PE 1
5 mins 55% FTP PE2
SS interval #4
10 mins 84-96% FTP PE 5.5-7.5 (use the entire range and go with what feels comfortably hard!)
Cool down 5 mins 40-50%FTP PE 1-2
Total time: 90 mins, Sweet Spot total time: 40 mins
* While I have used narrower power/PE ranges for this session, I always encourage athletes to keep in mind and use the FULL range (84-96% FTP or mid zone 3 into zone 4, tempo into threshold) if they need when executing these sessions. Specifically- higher is not always better and if executing at 84% feels "comfortably hard" on the day, that is the right effort/power to use. Here, this narrower ranges may allow an athlete to get fully warmed up and not overshoot their current fitness/capabilities/ fatigue by going too hard on the first couple of intervals and allow them to work into the higher ranges. Depending on how the athlete is feeling, the 4th and final interval could be accomplished using the full range of sweet spot (if feeling taxed- aim low, if feeling GREAT- get after it!).
** this session should be done with fueling onboard. At the tempo into threshold zones, you will be burning ample glycogen and to get the most out of this workout, you will want to include some carbohydrate. How much? Well, that depends on what you ate before the ride and how fat adapted or metabolically efficient you are. A story for another time!
As always, if you'd like the session file, drop me an email with your preferred file type and I will send it your way! (mikki@cordilleracoaching.com)
Next week - VO2 max! The benefits, when to do it, and why we love it!
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