Sweet spot training
Sweet spot training is cycling at roughly 88–94% of FTP — just below threshold. It produces a large training effect for the time invested while being easier to recover from than full threshold work.
Example workouts
Classic sessions are 2 × 20 minutes, 3 × 15 minutes or 4 × 10 minutes at sweet spot with short recoveries. Start with around 30–40 minutes of total sweet spot time and build towards 60–90 minutes over several weeks.
When to use it
Sweet spot suits time-crunched riders and long-course triathletes who need sustainable power. It's demanding, though: do it twice a week at most and keep the rest of your riding easy, or it tips you into the moderately hard grey zone every day.
In The Next Race
The Next Race's Tempo Bike sessions are sweet spot intervals at around 90% of FTP, run in ERG mode on a smart trainer.