Sweet Spot Training and VLaMax with Tom Bell

Part 2 of our conversation about cycling training!  00:00 00:26 I don’t hate sweet spot, I hate the overprescription of it  1:33 When would Tom Bell Prescribe Sweet Spot? what is Sweet Spot training good for?  Over unders  Overly structured BLOCKS (?)  Working the systems versus just arbitrary blocks  4:00 Crit training; don’t get too specific  4:35 Athletes enjoy sweet spot  4:51 LISTEN TO THIS  5:40 Muscle Fiber types  6:35 can you polarize too much? Crossing over and using all muscle fiber types (this is why is prescribe TEMPO riding!)  Training the in between fibers.  8:20 Tempo vs Sweet Spot  8:50 Sweet Spot for consistent pressure on the pedals  9:53 Looking at Lactate Threshold  12:40 VO2Max work; don’t slide down to Sweet Spot  14:30 Sweet Spot final notes. Not for FTP increases  Well rested for VO2Max  15:43 Sweet Spot is overly fatiguing but hard to see when you’re always riding at Sweet Spot  17:30 Sweet Spot for Long Climbs on big gran fondos  21:05 When the RPE goes up, that doesn’t mean GO HARDER!  22:32 The Marketing of VLaMax  23:00 Hyperfocused on one metric  the availability of the metric for us not in a lab  25:00 How does Tom Bell utilize VLaMax, if at all?  27:00 Practical value from VLaMax  Measuring lactate ACCUMULATION vs PRODUCTION  The method to testing: Vo2max test  33:53 The method Lactate threshold testing and variables that affect the results  Very protocol specific. Diet affects lactate.   34:48 MOXY Device  SmO2  I love how brits pronounce Capillaries   35:50 Wrapping it up, VLaMax and how to utilize metrics in the real world! Step away from the algorithm!  37:35 Putting metrics before the performance…Tom drops some knowledge here!!!!  42:00 Final Thoughts!