Training Babble: Off-Road Insights for Mountain Bike and Gravel Cycling
Unlock your endurance potential. The Training Babble Podcast takes a deep dive into the strategy and science behind training for off-road cycling and gravel racing. Host Dave Schell brings over 20 years of coaching and racing experience, including as former Director of Education at TrainingPeaks.
Each episode features interviews with experts and insiders to inform your training on topics like physiology, nutrition, mental toughness, equipment selection, and race tactics. Expect an informative yet lighthearted conversation filled with practical tips to up your performance. Special guests from across the cycling world join to share their hard-earned wisdom.
Whether you're an amateur looking to reach new heights or a coach wanting to refine your craft, The Training Babble Podcast offers a master-class in endurance training. Challenging conventional methods, busting myths, and digging into the latest research, this show equips you with the knowledge to train smarter and unlock your full athletic potential.
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Training Babble: Off-Road Insights for Mountain Bike and Gravel Cycling
Sweet Spot Ain't That Sweet with Matti Rowe
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Summary
In 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.
Looking for coaching for the 2026 season? Send me a note at dave@kaizenendurance.coach or find me on instagram @kaizenendurance
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