I'm not an expert by any means, but I would base my training in that zone on the distance I'm training at. I've only done halves and fulls so my race pace is upper tempo zone. So as I get closer to the race, I will put in more race specific training in that zone. I use a power meter and train based on info from allen/coggan's book and skiba's books and believe the "sweet spot" zone is around 88-91% of your FTP which is upper zone 3 (tempo) so a lot of my training will be that in the last 12 weeks or so on longer rides. Anything else training wise I will do some 95-100% FTP work for the best bang for my buck when I don't have a ton of time to train. So, for me, it depends on the distance, so since I have a half this summer, I'll be focusing on TH intervals now with some vo2 mixed in during the week since I can't be outside, and as I get closer to the event, I'll be putting in longer rides with a focus on upper zone 3 efforts during the ride. Good luck.

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The Rat Snake:
A Tribute Race at Gilbert Lake State Park, Laurens, NY May 16 2015
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There's an article on Training Peaks on Power Zones by Coggan; read that.

It's not limbo. It can be an effective balance between duration and intensity, depending on the amount of time you have to train, your current fitness, and your goals.

Also, as the other poster mentioned, tempo might be your race pace, in which case spending lots of time there is probably a good idea.

(Although I question the bike leg of a full ironman being done at the upper end of tempo.)

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Steen Rose
http://www.athletesontrack.com

I am no expert, not a coach either. I read books from Friel, Allen/Coggan, Dr. Skiba.....
The summary:
Zone 3 or Level 3 has it's place in training
Zone 3/Level 3 is a race zone for HIM distance for "FOP amateurs" according to these books
"sweet spot" already described to you above
When you apply principle of specificity and put it into periodization, based on distance, you will have a various amounts of this kind of training trough the program.
As Friel and followers suggest, also some other authors including Dr. Skiba, for olympic and sprint specialist, it is recommended that Z3/L3 be reduced in Build period and avoided, replaced by Z4/L4/ FTP power level workouts as it is more race specific zone to that distance.
This is my understanding. I could be wrong.

good reply! - and my understanding as well.

Would enjoy seeing Drs. Skiba/Coggan's comments.

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

So my question to you is do you think that by doing tempo training you are not making any gains?

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

not at all. I can see I AM making gains, but If I can be training "smarter" I want to.

(for more info)
For two years my cycling plan was basically "Get on trainer / road, and try to ride faster than I did the last time."
Now, getting back into training (broken clavicle took me out for a while) and training with power (with an actual plan), I want to be getting my money's worth out of my tools... not just using my PM as an expensive HR monitor.
Read "Training and Racing w/ a Power meter" and quite a few articles on here, FTP is 208 (148lbs) but, obviously, I'd like for it to be higher.
Doing some sprints this year, the Knoxville Oly or Half (Rev3) and the Full Distance in Cedar Point (also Rev3)

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

everything has its place, tempo and sub-tempo are staples of the winter training of most cyclists as part of base building. You do the v0 max and anaerobic later in the progression