Ex Zone 2 athlete here, new to sweet spot. As a result of my high volume zone 2 background, I can ride near my FTP before HR or lactate kicks up. As a result, I am about 4 weeks into the sweet spot training plan and find the “sweet spot” power levels to feel pretty easy. Says HR should be over 163 but it sits in the 140s and 150s and under 3-4 mmoles at the prescribed power level. Do I need to adjust up? Perhaps find the HR and relate that back to a power?
Yes I did my FTP test correctly.
Right on @ryanolson - based on what you are describing it sounds like your FTP has increased since your last test.
The natural tendency is to test again but if you are doing some good group rides on Saturdays with some hard sections (20-60 minutes) you can use your normalized power to update your FTP to get you thru until your plan(s) specify the next formal field test. Here’s how:
Thanks for the response. That would be a quick gain, hopefully this is the case!
Looking back over the past 2 years, nothing has been much above tempo/sweet spot. I may have to retest or get through the next 6 weeks and use a little RPE to adjust. Race season starts this week and I don’t want to sacrifice a race by riding inefficiently to get numbers but maybe I will try a break get some numbers. I guess I need to start breaking anyway as I ride indie!
The video was very insightful.
So I think I figured this out @FRANK
It seems that my sweet spot is below my lactate threshold which is why it felt easy. My LT is about 340 W and sweet spot is 300-330W. I don’t think this is the case for a lot of people unless you have trained a lot.
I have trained a lot prior to this which I feel might be contributing to the success of this. I am about 8 weeks through the last half the 18 week plan, 2 weeks to go before testing before I leave feedback but here is a sneak peak. The blue curve is lab data last July, about 6-7 weeks prior to peaking and the red curve is data from the last 2 months. Look at the low end numbers, much of where I will be spending during racing. You can see why I decided to become a gravel racer.
Very significant aerobic improvement. I am expecting a 5-7% on the FTP.