[Deleted previous response to paste it properly in the reply chain]
All fair points.
However, in that FasCat link, I don’t see anywhere where they mention that the TiZ in their plans is in a continuous interval. Do you? That 240-min TiZ could be in 15-min intervals, no?
Which I guess bears the question (as always) of what the ROI is of fewer but longer intervals vs. more but shorter intervals. There has to be some kind of diminishing return where there’s little/no training benefit to be gained from increasing interval length. Especially when you consider in terms of race scenarios in which 60+ minutes of absolutely uninterrupted, no break, SS-level riding is generally very rare (no turns, no coasting, no drafting, no downhill tucks, no food/water sit up, etc.). A road TT is the only one that comes to mind, but that’s pretty specific (and would be at/near threshold), and that type of training would come into play with specificity, not just general base/build. Right?
Their example seems to follow exactly what TR is doing, with the obvious caveat that none of the TR plans have SS TiZ 90+ minutes:
For example, a 3 x 10 min (30 minutes total workload) would progress to 4 x 9 min (36 minutes total) and then onto 3 x 15 min (45 minutes total).
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I don’t think the doughnut man is 100% representing FasCat, unless you have a loose definition of “coaching platforms” and “per day” means a particular day and not 7 days a week.
Without getting into specifics, there is value in extending sweet spot intervals out to longer lengths. In case it wasn’t brought up earlier in this thread, there is a good WKO video for coaches and self-coached athletes that discusses the topic. Practically speaking it is pretty straightforward to see new season power PRs during sweet spot base, as you either extend interval duration, extend time-in-zone, or decrease rest interval duration with same time-in-zone.
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From FasCat himself (emphasis his):
In the chart below you’ll find example durations in minutes FasCat has their athletes train daily in the sweet spot:
As is demonstrated throughout this forum, there are 1,001 ways to train, so basically do whatever you want.
Example week from FasCat website, for an 11.5 hour week:
“Daily training” for that particular week only applies to the two days of sweet spot (Tue and Sat). The other days for that week are 2 days aerobic endurance, 1 day tempo, and 2 days off the bike. FasCat stock plans are designed for cyclists that work Monday-Friday and have the weekend off to do longer rides. The plans feature 3 shorter 60-120 minute mid-week sessions usually hard/med/easy days, and 2 longer (outdoor) sessions on the weekend. If you kill it on the weekend, you may ride twice mid-week if extra recovery day is needed. There is a coaching option if you want help modifying the plan.
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I have purchased the Sweet Spot plan and I was coached by FasCat 10+ years ago. the example above is pretty typical of what they advocate. T - Hardest interval day ( longest intervals), W - Easier than Tuesday( shorter intervals, or Tempo instead of sweet spot, etc), Thursday is endurance early and later in the plan becomes a Tempo day. Saturday or Sunday are typically Endurance or Longish sweet spot intervals - 40’ +.
Personally I feel like there is great value in extending the length of the intervals - 40’ - 1’ is great and seems to lead to better adaptations ( in my case), but you need to work up to them. We tend to forget that 3x8’ Sweet spot has value and is something you can adapt to, but the next week 3 x 8 isn’t enough, you have to increase the Tiz either through interval length or # of intervals.
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