I did not expect the conclusion that Dylan came to in this video. After all, we all know that the “sweet” in “Sweet Spot Training” (SST) means that it’s placed in the perfect location to push up the FTP over time. Right? Well, apparently that’s not the case because “science”. Sigh, going to have to get that name changed…
One thing that Dylan states clearly, but is easy to miss on the first run through (or at least it was for me), is that in this discussion around SST vs. Polarized training there are only three zones, based on your FTP. So it’s important not to overlay pacing/training done on a more traditional five zone HR/FTP directly. So where I was really confused initially with his conclusions based on my personal experience, that all cleared up after doing some math.
What does this mean in practice? Personally, I’m not too worried because I usually keep the zone 2 (his model) work down to once a week, but I might try swapping that out for something more intensive for a few weeks and see how it goes.
