Training Benefits of Different Types of Workouts

Training
1

I figured I’d make a separate thread here with a series of my silly questions, rather than hijacking the other VO2 thread.

I tend to have a really hard time deciphering the specific benefits of particular types of workouts. I find most descriptions tend to not actually describe the specific, hard benefits associated with a particular type of training.

So…to that end, my questions.

  1. What type of athlete would you become if you focused exclusively on VO2 work? Would you only be good at 120% ftp efforts?

  2. What type of athlete would you become if you focused exclusively on sweet spot/threshold efforts? Would you only be fast when riding at 90-100% ftp?

  3. Same questions for zone 2. Would it just make efforts at like 50-70% ftp easier?

Last follow up question…can or would each of the 3 training types increase ftp?

2

Not a direct answer, but some commonly referenced resources with good info to review:

3

Answers a bit on the literal side but they’re events that emphasize the zones you’re talking about. In reality it’s all aerobic work and doing vo2 work would have benefits for Z2 rides and visa versa (though, you’d likely still be better at whatever the dedicated focus was).

A 4k pursuit specialist. (or, potentially, injured)

A TT specialist or short course triathlete.

Long course triathlete?