Home› General Training Discussions

"gaps" in power zones?

RumpoleRumpole
in General Training Discussions

  Hi-

On the beginner OS.  I have a question about the plans, as I'm trying to figure out the "why" in what I'm doing.  In Allen/Coggan, they talk a lot about the benefits of training in the "sweet spot" (e.g., between 88-92% of FTP.)  I guess my question is why (at least now anyway) those zones seem generally omitted from the plan?  There's a "no mans land" of 85-95 percent in the plan, and I was just wondering what RnP's rationale for that was.  

-Chris

Comments

  • rmillerrmiller
    I believe it's an ROI thing. The sweet spot is great because you can be there for relatively long periods of time, and hit that intensity several days per week for weeks on end. But that requires time - I'd guess on the order of 90-120 minutes, 3-4 times a week. Part of the intent with the OS is to make the workouts short yet effective so that their impact on your life is relatively minimal. This gives you time to spend with family and do other stuff that life requires, so that when the time comes for you to do a 4 hour ride on a weekend, you haven't been taxing your family and other obligations for months already.




  • Coach RichCoach Rich

    Good question. A few notes:

    • Our training zones mirror intensities that you'll race at. Specifically, 70-75% = about Ironman pace and 80-85% = about HIM pace.
    • 95-100% is where we focus on lifting your FTP to make you faster. 
    • 80-85% is a sweet spot that we find works well for triathletes --> hard enough that it significantly boosts the TSS of those workouts while not so hard that impacts downstream workouts.
    • Finally, understand that we are triathlon coaches and triathletes. Coggan, Allen, and their book is not for/about triathlons, it's about cycling. One very critical item that is missing from every cycling training plan and the intensities describe within it are the not-so-small of ~3-5+hrs of running per week. 

    Intuitively, based on experience, whatever you want to call it, prescribing 88-92% time within your typical long course triathlon schedule is too hot. It would be tough to manage that session, and downstream sessions, within the context of a triathlon schedule. 

  • RumpoleRumpole
    Thanks. That makes perfect sense. So if for some reason I was to get hurt and couln't run, or wanted to really gear up for a 1hr time trial or something, I could sub some of the FTP runs with sweet spot workouts from time to time and still (sort of) stay on plan. I have no plans to do that now, but it's been known to happen.
  • cgres123cgres123
    Chris, nothing wrong with
    still (sort of) stay on plan
    as it is your fitness and by all means go have fun with it. You may play that out and be fine where as others may" not so much".

    Coach is looking out for the down stream effect so you can accomplish raising the roof and ceiling of your fitness. Most newbie folks just want to see what a season following RnP plans will do for them on race day. Others may hack things up after they have been around for awhile.
  • rmillerrmiller
    Well I whiffed on that one like Pedro Cerrano swinging after a curveball. Glad to see the reasoning, though!
Sign In or Register to comment.