sweet!

In this picture I am at a press conference with Brian Rhodes, towards the end there it's Sarah Groff and Victor Plata..... I think. The important point is I am sitting next to Brian Rhodes. It looks like I am saying something important and fascinating doesn't it?????

This morning is my very first sweet spot ride of the season, and no this is not an X rated post. I am not sure if Coach T coined this title but I will give it to him.

So what's the sweet spot? So easy, for once this is so easy!

If you are a powerhead as I like to call folks like myself who train with power, then by now (unless you are the last.... like me) you've determined your FTP or Functional Threshold Power. The sweet spot is another word for lactate threshold, essentially riding at about 96-105% of your FTP.

Using Coach T's workouts I like to begin low and then increase the intervals over time. For example this morning I will ride 3 X 10 minute sweet spot efforts with 5 min recovery in between. The effort feels hard but not death - hard. The goal is to increase the length of these intervals to push up your FTP.

I will segway into 2 sweet spot rides per week, and then add in an FTP ride. Physiologically it is fine to do these type of interval rides frequently, just make sure you are recovered enough in between the ride. I'd probably not schedule myself for 2 sweet spot rides in a row....... but at this point that is common sense.

The sweet spot rides again are hard but not devastating. They give you much to focus on during a 2 hour ride as I have this morning (no...... not intervalling for 2 hours...... but tucking it in there).

For the record I did begin some tempo effort on the run this week. I am easing into that as well, with just 1 minute at tempo pace at the top of every five minutes. This translates into about 8 efforts throughout the run, and the goal will be to increase the time and decrease the intervals over the next few weeks. I am sooooo easing into things here, but it's a long season and my A races are in July and in November, with that 24 hours of triathlon in the middle.

While the snow is falling outside still....... and I see there are Professor of Nursing positions available at the University of Hawaii...... oh yes there is a grand plan here...... I will keep pedaling in the security of the basement. In my old age I have moved the bike from the garage because I am pretty sure New Orleans is not going to be 10 with a feels like negative 5. I'm just sayin!