Originally Posted by
jmikami
90% FTP is something you can do for much longer than an hour, so if you are doing 20 min efforts, it should be an effort, at or over 100% in my book. If you are working on SST/sub FTP it should be near or greater than an hour or just used for recovery/pacing in my book. Just because the guy finished the tour doesn't mean he knows how to train, just because me or someone else says it doesn't make it so either. Any amount of work will help you be a better cyclist, I use to train at SST for 20-40 hours a week. It made me very strong but was a horrible waste of time and very inefficient.
I mostly train by going over/at power under duration, rest and repeat, the other option is under power over duration, rest and repeat. To me that is interval training, the only time I would go under power and under duration would be high intensity (sub 2 minutes) with very short recovery (under one minute) to work on recovery. Anything where you go less power and less duration is not making very good use of your time if it is a day to get work done. It will do something and can eventually work, but I will tell anyone that is not an efficient way to train.
Regarding his training/coaching chops, you're incorrect. It's his job, and he and his athletes are successful.
I understand where you're coming from, but this 2x20 @ 90% workout is in the quiver, not a cornerstone. It would be like a transition workout near the end of base, like do 2 hours at tempo, then 2x20 @ 90%. Also useful if there's no real TSS headroom for a more intense workout, but still looking to hit some of the same stress/recovery/adaptations.