Apr 16, 2022

SWEET AND SOUR TRAINING

SWEET SPOT TRAINING. It sounds so innocuous, inviting, even delicious. Oh, that it were true. It is kind of, but not when you start...

... it's quite sour.

At least that is how it felt today.

Even though I'd been looking forward to finally doing some solid sweet spot training, as I prep for my crazyquest at Leadville this summer, when I rolled out the door and pegged my heartrate to zone 3...

... it hurt.

Fortunately, the weather was pleasant and I discovered a string of fresh, new single track.

Is there a better way to start a 5-hour training ride?

Sweet spot training leads to sweet spot racing, which is exactly how I'll be approaching my outlandish goal this summer.

Actually, I did the math.

It's not as crazy as it sounds.

I averaged 12.7 mph 3 years ago. I need to average 13.1 this summer. .4 miles further per hour sounds doable as allgetout right now. Especially after today's effort.

63 miles, 9338', 12.2 mph... by myself, today.
105 miles, 10,608', 12.9 mph... with a fair amount of pacelining, 3 years ago.

Those are moving times... the race is elapsed time, which is 12.7, with the stops.

Sweet spot racing will go sour in two scenarios.

One is completely unavoidable, the other must be avoided AT ALL COSTS.

Committing to racing sweet spot means you're going to feel absolutely amazing on the first climb or the first effort of your race...

... fools lose their shift in this moment.

They throw it all out the window, and pin in it with everybody else, first chance they get. They go right to zone 4, and even zone 5. So dumb...

... so, so dumb.

The second scenario where sweet spot racing can go sour is not eating enough. Caught up in the moment of racing, feeling fantastic. It is extremely easy to think we don't need to eat and drink...

... this is suicide.

Racing sweet spot requires a tremendous amount of calories.

2 Rules.