Why Should I Join a BriTri Online Turbo Session?

There are lots of benefits to this hour of power. First, just working in a group is motivating and a lot more fun than watching Netflix or Zwift roll by. Secondly, the sessions are structured and progressive—and currently focused on sweet spot training—meaning that they will genuinely improve your cycling capacity over time. Finally, it’s a simple session to include in your day. Just throw the bike on the turbo, log into Zoom and do what you’re told. At the end of the hour you will have had a solid aerobic workout with no mental effort at all.

What Does ‘Sweet Spot’ Mean?

When we’re training for sustained effort on the bike—as we do for what is effectively time trial effort in triathlon—we need to improve our Functional Threshold Power (FTP). Your FTP is essentially the maximum power output your body can sustain for around 60 minutes under race conditions. It relates to the level at which you can work without your muscles becoming overloaded with lactate (how long you can stay ‘aerobic’ or roughly an 8 out of 10 effort). Training at this level increases your FTP, making you a better cyclist, but it comes at the price of tiredness and muscle soreness the next day.

Sweet spot is defined as roughly 90% of your FTP (c. 80% of max heart rate). It gives you most of the benefits of quality training with far less tiredness, allowing us to get on with our training every day.

In short, working around your sweet spot power is the fastest way to improve your time-trialling ability.

That’s a lot of numbers. Do I need a fancy power meter?

Many club members are working on ‘power’, using some of the excellent tools that are out there, or that come with more expensive turbo trainers. However, none of that is needed to enjoy and gain value from the session. All you need is the ability to change gear and to follow the coach’s instructions based on intensity (effort out of ten).

Learn more: What Do I Need for Online Turbo Training Sessions?