Taking a look at SSBHV1, the average week is 9 hours with 5/6 workouts being sweet spot intervals. on week 2 of the plan that’s about 300 minutes of sweet spot work with less than an hour in Z2 coming from Pettit.
Now compared to a late-stage traditional base week, for example, week 2 of TBHV3 @ 13:45 has a little more than half the sweet spot/threshold work at about 170 minutes but 8:45 of Z2.
Using the distribution classifications from intervals.icu it could be said that the SSBHV distribution is “threshold” and the TBHV distribution is “pyramidal”.
No matter what you call it, the whole idea is to make make the most improvement with the time you have. Five sweet spot workouts a week seems like a lot of intensity in a week, according to some coaches, threshold/SS work should be done 2-3 times a week during the base phase. (link to one example below)
This raises some questions:
- Why does SSBHV have so much sweet spot? (it seems like too much)
- What is the difference in “base fitness” built by zone 2 work vs sweet spot work?
- How to choose a training distribution?
– Is one better than the other?
– Should your TiZ distribution be determined by your available time?