In the last article we saw that your ADHD or gifted brain crashes in Zone 2 because of SSD, that dopamine shortage. Today we talk about the antidote. And the antidote, funny enough, is pain.
Welcome to the science of SSA, the abrasive stimulation threshold.
Zone 2 is your hell
For an endurance purist, or a Norwegian, Zone 2 is the holy grail. That is where you build mitochondria. For you, it is mental abrasion.
Too hard to fall asleep on, too easy to hold your attention. A sensory no man’s land. Starved of stimulus, your brain starts eating itself. That is SSA: the point where the lack of intensity hurts more, psychologically, than the physical pain of a sprint.
This is where the sweet spot comes in.
The sweet spot keeps your brain busy
The sweet spot (88-94 % of your FTP) gets torn apart by the polarized training (80/20) dogmatists as a useless “grey zone”. Physiologically, they are sometimes right. Neurologically, in your case, they are always wrong. For a fast brain, the sweet spot is focus heaven.
At 90 % of FTP you cannot daydream. Ease off the pedals and the power drops. Instantly. That demand for constant tension forces your brain to stay locked on the effort. The mental noise goes quiet. It is probably the only form of meditation you are capable of.
The pain does its share too. Sweet spot pain is bearable but present, and it works as a sensory anchor telling your brain: “we are doing something serious here, stay put”. In Zone 2 your mind wanders. Here it does not get the chance.
And the sweet spot has numbers. Holding 280 watts for 20 minutes is binary: you hold or you crack. A video game. Zone 2 is vague: “ride easy”. Vague is your enemy. Precision is your friend.
The junk miles hero trap
Careful. This is where I have to hit you with some reality.
Because the sweet spot feels good, you will want to do it all the time. Every Z2 ride will quietly slide towards “tempo/sweet spot”. That is the “mediocrity plateau”: junk miles.
The problem: you are never fresh enough for the real VO2max or strength work (Zone 5/6), you never build base endurance (fat oxidation), and you pile up chronic autonomic fatigue. Latent burnout, cyclist edition.
The sweet spot is a drug. Take the whole box and you end up in the emergency room.
The Cornerman fix: Dirty Z2 and sweet spot blocks
How do you reconcile your need for stimulation (SSA) with your physiological needs? Two options.
Option A: Dirty Z2
Instead of grinding 180 W flat (hell), ride Dirty Z2 (stochastic).
- Take the climbs at 85-90 % FTP (sweet spot).
- Descend and ride the flats in Z1/Z2.
- Final average: Zone 2.
- How it feels: a varied game.
Option B: the sweet spot sandwich
Use the sweet spot to settle your brain early in the ride, so Zone 2 becomes bearable afterwards.
- 20 min warm-up
- 1 x 20 min sweet spot: you burn off your nervous energy, you land.
- 1h30 Zone 2: your brain is calmer, less agitated, you can finally ride easy.
Conclusion
Stop listening to the coaches telling you the sweet spot is “forbidden”. For you it is a mental survival tool. But use it like an architect, not like a brute.
Zone 2 is basic hygiene: mandatory, boring, necessary. The sweet spot is the anxiolytic: useful, dangerous if you abuse it. Zone 5+ is war: where you actually progress.
Do only what you enjoy (sweet spot) and you stagnate. Do only what is “optimal” (strict Zone 2) and you quit. Find the balance. And push the pedals.
Cornerman, out.