Zwift, riding and racing.... update thread, info thread, motivational thread.

[Crosshair]

Did a little breakdown of the key moments

[weeksy]

Who's Dr hutch?

[Crosshair]

Cycling Weekly journo now. Wrote a well known book. Famous mostly for super quick TT’s.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael ... _(cyclist)

[Taff]

I fucking hate zwift and it's ability to turn me into sweaty puddle of bone and blubber.


Until tomorrow when I'll be back in the saddle


Probably.

[weeksy]

when you racing ?

i'm doing Stage 3 of the Tour in about 40 mins.

[Taff]

when you racing ?

i'm doing Stage 3 of the Tour in about 40 mins.

I'm following a training plan and every session seems to be along the lines of

Easy....
Moderate....
Moderate....
Moderate...
Moderate......
Argh....
Dead... Whoa, where did that come from.

The trouble is that I don't enjoy it that much and much prefer to ride outside, even getting up at 05:30 for an hour in the forest before work, so I haven't been zwifting enough to get & maintain strong legs

[Crosshair]

W/kg crit again tonight as it’s a great replica of the type of workout Trainerroad was suggesting but far easier to motivate for.

Sadly I ate too much chocolate today so I had to use my own suggestion and tack on 20mins at Z2 at the end to boost the calories. Once I had got the power to stabilise in ERG mode, and my HR settled down- it felt good actually. Higher HR at 200 than yesterday at 220 but that’s to be expected after 900kcals of work.

[Taff]

The training plan (or what I did of it when not riding outside) seems to have paid off.

I struggled to maintain above 200w for more than a few minutes previously so averaging over 220w is a big step forward, now if I was 60kg that would actually be quite good




If I do this several times a week it'll just get better right

[weeksy]

IMO yes... but you'd likely get better results with someone like @Crosshair advising you, but it does depend on what you like and enjoy of course.

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=2761972

That was yesterdays race for me... it's always fun racing Ben Foster, he's the Watford goalie and a big old unit... but always fun to race as he's a strong ox and puts in a good push. I almost timed it right and until the last 100m i was sitting in 2nd place as i went hard in the last KM... but didn't quite have the shove to the line sadly.

[Taff]

IMO yes... but you'd likely get better results with someone like @Crosshair advising you, but it does depend on what you like and enjoy of course.

I've spent a but if time pondering what it is that I like and enjoy, and I think I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm not using zwift because I like racing just like I don't ride my MTB to race.

I ride my MTB because I like to ride and it gives me a mental escape from this house and work, my MH takes a bit of a spiral of I don't get out on the bike.
Using zwift during my lunch break helps to break up my working day and get me away from my desk, with the added bonus that I'm getting fitter for when I get out on the MTB.

So I say I'm not there for the racing, but yet I enjoy the racing events because it means that I have a goal to hold a higher power for longer so it's a win win for me, I'm just not obsessed with competing.

I have no idea if that makes any sense,

[weeksy]

my race today, meh, i properly fucked up lol

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=2771149

I was doing OK, if finding it a little hard, then with 3km to go i was exchanging bit of banter and pressed the keys wrong, zapping my power to 0w and had to get out of the screen i was in... I lost 3s on the bunch, but they were travelling at 43kph so was an epic effort to get back in. As i got back in we had a bit of a surge and split and i found myself completely on the wrong side of the split LOL.

All that effort and messed it up...

I certainly wouldn't have been THAT much higher... but was a good test anyway to play in a longer distance race.

[weeksy]

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=2782698

Short fast and powerful one today... ABCD together so was a case of grabbing the front group and hanging in.

Got blown away in the last 1.3km when it went nuts.... but it did mean a good finish position and great ranking points.

[Crosshair]

Nice

I raced with Rich around Innsbruck today. The hill on the ‘flat’ course is a killer and I held the lead group until the final lap when I let them go. It was 52ish seconds at 500w x 4 laps! My legs felt better for a couple of days off though which was good.

I got second in B and Rich won A with a 1km flyer.

[weeksy]

Wow that's awesome by both of you ! I didn't know he was such a beast...

But 2nd B is damn impressive mate. The hill is indeed a killer yes.

[Crosshair]

Yeah Rich is strong. He had a year off too when I was off with broken legs so it’s been quite nice coming back on form together. But he’s hitting the highest peak since I’ve known him. And of course, no matter that I have a few w’s extra- he leaves me for dead on the hills, being 25kg lighter


First time up the Zwift Mont Ventoux today for me. That’s a beast of an effort! 100 minutes straight without coasting. 2h to get up and down.

My power for the climb was Z2 average so, with another 19 miles needed to hit 100 for the week, I decided to jump in a race having already done 1400kcals of work.
It’s a bit like the reverse strategy of tacking Z2 onto a race. A real chance to wring out the muscle glycogen.
I got 8th in the bunch sprint- I had zero kick but I was pleased with the session.

In terms of time and Kcals- it was a pretty similar effort to the 50 mile 8am Sunday group ride we do IRL but doing it indoors somehow feels worse

[Crosshair]

Nice surprise B win last night. I was literally drifting off to sleep on the sofa beforehand but made myself get on the bike. It was magnificent 8 which is 2x up the reverse KOM. I somehow held the lead group the first time over and then the pace was boring! I tried a few times to get a breakaway going, as did some other folks but soon it was up the hill again. I didn’t realise the finish was at the summit so I didn’t really sprint but as it was, all the folk in front were A’s.
It was a no HUD race which is definitely interesting but I’m not sure I prefer it.

[tricol]

I've started a 6wk beginner FTP builder. First week completed. I do like now having a structure to my rides on Zwift now.

I'd not done an FTP test, but the app has given me 213 based on what rides I've done so far. I have no idea if that is good or not.

[rusty]

I've started a 6wk beginner FTP builder. First week completed. I do like now having a structure to my rides on Zwift now.

I'd not done an FTP test, but the app has given me 213 based on what rides I've done so far. I have no idea if that is good or not.

The structure of a plan works wonders for me as well. Problem with the Zwift ones is sticking to it as they’re not flexible enough for me sometimes.
The TrainerRoad plans give great bang for buck and are flexible but they’re even fuller than Zwift if you’ve not got something to watch at the same time.

There’s rumours that Zwift and TrainerRoad are going in ti some type of partnership. With TrainerRoad plans on Zwift it could be a winner.

[Crosshair]

Yeah I used to do my TR workouts on zwift by disabling the controllable trainer. Much more enjoyable. Would be awesome if they were integrated.

Even though I have a big goal coming up, I’ve stopped my TR sub though. I’m all intervalled out

Now if I want an intense day (Tues/Thur) I just zwift race instead.
Short hard crits for 30/30 work and longer ones with a hill for some threshold type work.

I think TR is fine if you have the motivation and dedication to do nothing else. Once you have to self coach your week to fit in group rides, longer stuff or whatever else off plan- then you’d just as well plan your sessions too. Plenty of cut and past interval sessions available online.

(The one time I did follow TR religiously I was bloody fast by the end of it- but my all time best ftp but crazy muscular endurance.)

[rusty]

I had similar with TR. A few years back I had a decent base fitness and followed TR through the winter. I raced a bit of XC in spring/summer followed by a week in The Alps, all alongside one of the TR plans.
That year ended up with me and a couple of mates riding the Cingles Challenge up Ventoux, it was a hell of a day out but I've never been as fit. I reckon a load of it was down to following the TR plans.

I actually had a coach for a while, probably about nine months before I sacked him off. I saw bigger improvements and strangely, more enjoyment, following TR plans rather than following a "proper" coaching plan.

Our local CX league are planning a pretty full calendar for this winter so I plan on doing the current Zwift Build Me Up plan followed by possibly a TR plan and a summer of riding to get myself fit enough to not come dead last once CX season starts.