Sweet Spot Sevens (DEUX)

This week we revisit our Feb 4/5 profile. We will start a new set of rides in April!

1) Our profile consists of four, 7-minute efforts. Your ability to maintain effort over longer durations, aka endurance, is what separates cyclists from bike riders. Cyclists can throttle effort up or down based on need. A one minute, or 30 second, effort is different from a three-minute push (or longer). As we wind down the base-building segment of the year, let’s teach our bodies how to maintain effort over a longer duration.

2) As we continue to base build, we introduce a new(-ish) term: Sweet spot training (SST). Your sweet spot is achieved when working between 84 and 97% of your functional threshold (or 75 - 85% of your max heart rate). Steady, consistent efforts in this zone balances the training impact and recovery time . . . hence the “sweet spot.” Every endurance athlete has a notion of how hard is too hard. Indoor cycling often turns a blind eye to this concept as everything is supposed to be hard. A recent Wall St. Journal article suggests this trend may be ending.

Source: Source: http://www.intraawareness.com/body/cardio/

Unlike high-intensity intervals which (should) require large amounts of recovery. Conversely, sweet spot intervals achieve the desired physiological improvements with a decreased need for recovery. Learn more about sweet spot training here or here or here

Illustration: Frank Overton / FasCat Coaching Blog

3) The underlying goal of sweet spot training is honing your ability to identify and maintain intensity. Using either heart rate or power (which is better . . .there is a debate), you must be able to maintain a pace. It’s not a sprint, it’s more of a marathon.

article from Outside Magazine.

My Norwegian fellow instructor Brian Overkaer (check out his platform Intelligent Cycling) mentioned: “Endurance is not just about intensity, it’s how long you can maintain it.”   As we arrive at the halfway point of our base-building phase, the goal is to improve our ability to endure on the bike.

4)  This week’s artwork is from Joni MItchell’s eighth album Hejira. Released in 1976, it marks the point she stopped playing with rock musicians and began working with jazz players. Mitchell wanted the instrumentation to complement her voice and felt the rock drums were overpowering her vocals. Sonically, it sets Mitchell in a new direction.

PBS recently aired the ceremony. Brief clip here. Love me some Joni.

5) The word ‘hejira’ means exodus; a journey undertaken to escape an adverse circumstance or situation. I see cycling as a journey . . .an ever-changing one. Not a ride around the block or up and down the trail over and over, but seeking new challenges. When quantitative and achievable goals are involved when you visit the gym, you go from exercising to training! Like the old Nike campaign (see below).

I just loved Nike’s campaign around this notion from a few years back.  Using heart rate as a feedback loop to track progress is one way to move beyond just exercising.

Yes, fitness can be fun, but achievement is so much better.