Base training is a traditional part of the periodization of cycling training that coaches. Use to prepare their bodies for the greater physiological demands of the building and peaking phases, improve aerobic capacity and, ideally, maintain anaerobic capacity, increase sport-specific strength, and improve pedaling efficiency when needed; basically, you train to improve yourself, not for a specific race or goal. There is a lot of debate about which training style athletes should choose - traditional or sweet spot training.
Why "base" training?
The goals of base training are to improve your aerobic capacity, improve your body's ability to use fat rather than carbohydrates to meet muscle energy needs and increase the percentage of your VO 2 Max that burns primarily fat (which can be less than 50% for untrained athletes and as high as 90% for trained athletes).
The key is to stimulate and gradually increase the load on your aerobic system without producing large amounts of lactate (i.e., without exceeding your 'lactate threshold'). Suppose you stay above your lactate threshold for a sustained period. In that case, your body will prefer to use carbohydrates over fat to meet the energy needs of your muscles, since carbohydrates are more efficient at supplying energy (with some caveats, of course).
Zone 2 Training for 1 Hour
A 1-hour training session at steady state in Zone 2 (.65 IF) will provide approximately 42 TSS/hour.
Sweet Spot Training 2 x 20-minute intervals
A 1-hour session focused on sweet spot training will produce 69 TSS, which is approximately 30 TSS more per hour than Zone 2. In other words, sweet spot training can provide approximately 40% more training stress per hour than Zone 2, while providing similar physiological changes and benefits!
This is why coaches frequently use it when training athletes with limited time.
Planning your training based on TSS is an excellent strategy for effectively assessing whether your training intensity is high enough to produce positive results for your training time, and I highly recommend you adopt this approach. Furthermore, it removes the uncertainty from training and makes training much more straightforward once you get the hang of it.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the two base training methods that are relevant to this article.
What is ‘traditional’ base training?
Traditional base training typically involves a lot of long, low to moderate-intensity riding (i.e. Zone 2) and is designed to improve capillary density, mitochondrial density, muscle endurance, and mental toughness. In theory, this method seems to be great, but is it right for you (based on your goals)? The answer is not absolute - yes and no. For athletes who cannot devote more than 20 hours of training per week and need to get more bang for their buck in limited training time, the efficiency of the traditional method is indeed questionable; however, for athletes who have ample time to train and can ensure sufficient training density, traditional base training still has its irreplaceable value.
We should not dismiss a training method simply because it does not work for everyone. Most athletes use Zone 2 training to provide them with a psychological buffer as they enter the off-season from the end of the season, while also allowing them to relive the pure joy of riding.
It’s important to note that in actual competition, athletes spend the majority of their time in Zone 2. Therefore, it’s critical to acclimate to spending extended periods in this zone before the season begins. This training zone is ideal for athletes who can invest enough time in Zone 2 to achieve the required training load (TSS) and make progress.
In reality, however, this isn’t often the case. Most athletes have full-time jobs, families, and other responsibilities and obligations in addition to cycling – being a professional athlete is like leaving home. So how do athletes with limited time improve their aerobic capacity? This is where “sweet spot training” comes into play.
What is the sweet spot?
The sweet spot is between 84-95% of your FTP (90% for simplicity) and can be thought of as high Zone 3 and low Zone 4.
This is called the sweet spot because it’s right in the middle of where you get the most bang for your buck in terms of return on your training time investment. You can spend a lot of quality time here without accumulating too much fatigue, which allows for greater repetition and increased training density within a training session.
Again, this is a critical point: In Sweet Spot, you can put in a lot of quality time without becoming overly fatigued, which allows for higher repetitions and training density in a training cycle. Remember, training density is the key factor in driving fitness progress.
Crucially, you can spend significantly less time in the sweet spot than you would in Zone 2 training to achieve a similar physiological boost. In other words, espresso and regular coffee contain the same amount of caffeine, but you need far less espresso than regular coffee to achieve the same boost.
Another consideration：
For highly trained athletes, it is possible to achieve a longer FTP endurance time (TTE), and the sweet spot is actually closer to and more accurately reflects the athlete's true FTP and also closer to the lactate threshold, which is essentially what FTP testing attempts to estimate.
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