Sweet Spot Ain't That Sweet with Matti Rowe

Interested in working with a coach? Send us a text!  SummaryIn this episode of Training Babble Dave is joined by Matti from Gravel God Cycling to take a hard look at sweet spot training, where it came from, why it became so popular, and whether it actually delivers on its promises.They cover the origin story behind the zone, why it appeals to the lizard brain in all of us, how inflated FTP numbers make the problem worse, and what sweet spot training is actually doing to most athletes physiologically. They also get into the TSS obsession it tends to create, the gray zone it traps athletes in, and where it does legitimately belong in a training plan. Plus Mattie debuts a new zone! Key takeaways:Sweet spot wasn't born from research. It was a napkin sketch that became a marketing phenomenon.Most athletes are training at threshold when they think they're doing sweet spot, because their FTP is inflated and their legs aren't fresh.The TSS model rewards sweet spot, which is exactly the problem. Accumulating training stress is not the same as getting faster.The gray zone is real. Too hard to recover from, not hard enough to drive adaptation. Power quietly drops while RPE stays the same.If you've been sweet spotting for months and you're stuck, the answer is probably less, not more.It does have a place, specifically as race-specific work when the event demands that intensity. The problem is making it your default.Gravel God CyclingSlow Mid 38s - Substack