I see everyone agrees that 2x20 sweet spot sessions on the trainer have a great benefit. What about doing say 45 minutes, or even an hour plus? Is that too much?
I tend to do mine in a 3x30min format when doing a dedicated SS session.
I see everyone agrees that 2x20 sweet spot sessions on the trainer have a great benefit. What about doing say 45 minutes, or even an hour plus? Is that too much?
I’ve done 1x 120 at 85-90%ftp. I think the upper limit is the most you can do that doesn’t have a negative effect on the rest of your training plan.
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
I have been working my way up coming out of an upper respiratory illness in January. I started with Tempo for straight 90 minutes and I am currently targeting mid sweet spot (90% FTP) for a straight 60 minutes and hope to get to 90 minutes soon. It is actually tougher to me than the 2x20’s at 97% in terms of training and recovery. I feel more fatigue the next day from sweet spot than I do from the FTP session. But I am cool with that since I want to improve TTE this year. I cope much better with short intense intervals than and I see my weakness out on the road in that last hour of a five hour ride where I begin to fade quickly.
But take my contribution to this thread with a grain of salt because I am neither a coach or a competitor. I am just a guy that wants to improve my time over a 100 mile course just for the heck of it. 
Last season I was regularly riding 40 plus minutes over 80% and I had my best season on a bike yet for long course. This year I have extended the duration, often riding an hour or more over 80% up to 90 minutes. I have an early season ultra that has me doing higher volume and lower intensity running which means my harder efforts on the bike 2 or 3 times a week aren’t wiping out my runs.
building time in zone if its specific to your race demands or goals is good.
2x20 is a standard here for sure, but that doesn’t mean its the only way to do it. 1x30, 2x20, 1x40, 2x30, 5x10, etc…
Again, look at what you’re trying to do, and start to build time in that zone for specific results.
How much time do you rest between the intervals? Say 3x20
Standard thought would be 5 min… can be altered for different reasons if need be.
I regularly do 3x20 and I take 5 minutes easy between them.
Edit: at about 90% FTP
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
What is your short duration power, 5s 1 min etc
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
Are you sure your FTP figure is correct?
I would be hard pushed to produce 89% for anywhere near 3hrs. I did 65mins @90% on Tuesday and that was as much as I could have managed. Perhaps I’ve got my FTP figure too high! (based on a recent 20min test)
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
Are you sure your FTP figure is correct?
I would be hard pushed to produce 89% for anywhere near 3hrs. I did 65mins @90% on Tuesday and that was as much as I could have managed. Perhaps I’ve got my FTP figure too high! (based on a recent 20min test)
WHS ^^^
Perhaps someone can confirm if it’s actually possible to do 3hrs at sweetspot, or if you can your assumed FTP is incorrect?
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
What is your short duration power, 5s 1 min etc
Around 18.5 w/kg for 5s, 10 w/kg for a minute.
But I’m a road racer: cat 1.
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
Are you sure your FTP figure is correct?
I would be hard pushed to produce 89% for anywhere near 3hrs. I did 65mins @90% on Tuesday and that was as much as I could have managed. Perhaps I’ve got my FTP figure too high! (based on a recent 20min test)
MFtp based on wko4. TTE went to an hour and 5 mins after that.
Perhaps someone can confirm if it’s actually possible to do 3hrs at sweetspot, or if you can your assumed FTP is incorrect?
If one does 3 hours at and IF of .89 that yields a TSS of ~238 so a bit less than the recommended TSS for an IM bike ride. So it’s doable but a very solid ride. You’d want to be feeding CHO during the ride.
Hugh
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
Are you sure your FTP figure is correct?
I would be hard pushed to produce 89% for anywhere near 3hrs. I did 65mins @90% on Tuesday and that was as much as I could have managed. Perhaps I’ve got my FTP figure too high! (based on a recent 20min test)
WHS ^^^
Perhaps someone can confirm if it’s actually possible to do 3hrs at sweetspot, or if you can your assumed FTP is incorrect?
I don’t test ftp. Just base it off mFTP.
Biggest thing was fueling. First time over 2 hours I bonked crazy badly. Hard to keep the calories up.
Extensive work has been my big focus this winter. Hopefully it’ll pay off.
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
Are you sure your FTP figure is correct?
I would be hard pushed to produce 89% for anywhere near 3hrs. I did 65mins @90% on Tuesday and that was as much as I could have managed. Perhaps I’ve got my FTP figure too high! (based on a recent 20min test)
WHS ^^^
Perhaps someone can confirm if it’s actually possible to do 3hrs at sweetspot, or if you can your assumed FTP is incorrect?
I don’t test ftp. Just base it off mFTP.
Biggest thing was fueling. First time over 2 hours I bonked crazy badly. Hard to keep the calories up.
Extensive work has been my big focus this winter. Hopefully it’ll pay off.
I’ve never tried to do more than 2hours of SS - my longest was 4x30min. I agree, a big challenge would be fueling this properly. You’d be burning pretty much all glycogen. So, you did 3 hours straight? Man, mentally that must have also been a challenge!
I’m a big proponent of getting in lots of ‘sweet spot’ work. All my long rides (focusing on 70.3, so up to 3.5 hr rides) finish with a NP of 80% or more. I do intervals within the ride - a lot around 85%, which is 70.3 effort - with some efforts around Olympic (90-92%) and some easy spins around 70%. I’ve also done some longer rides with something like 2x60’ @ 85% or 90’ at 85% in them.
I’ve always worked on doing sweetspot up to an hour, but this year I took it way further. I stretched mine out to 75 minutes, then a couple of 90 minutes, then 2 hours, then finally 3 hours.
Ended up being 3 hours at 89% or thereabouts. Last 30 minutes were death. Felt like a tremendous workout.
Are you sure your FTP figure is correct?
I would be hard pushed to produce 89% for anywhere near 3hrs. I did 65mins @90% on Tuesday and that was as much as I could have managed. Perhaps I’ve got my FTP figure too high! (based on a recent 20min test)
WHS ^^^
Perhaps someone can confirm if it’s actually possible to do 3hrs at sweetspot, or if you can your assumed FTP is incorrect?
Ive done 88-90% for 3 hours a couple times without real trouble. Over 85% many times for that duration, sort of a mainstay of indoor training for me-might as well just get that work (kjs) done if you are stuck on the turbo!
I am a pro with a TT power curve so I could see where it would be difficult for some people to stretch it that long and probably not great for repeatable training.