Zwift Chat

[bobinski]

I like what Dylan Johnson has to say about raising fitness, the inter relationship between z2 and mix of HIT work and the value of weights or similar for us older peeps in particular. He has a series of YouTube vids worth looking at even if you disagree.
Interestingly, my coach led plan has some z2, as much for recovery as anything, but a real mix of AC, MAP etc with strength/weight work to drag my ftp and other numbers up while building a sustainable base. There seems to be a good balance. Feedback on SF forums suggests it works for most. Let’s see if I screw it up 😁

 

[Whorty]

Ah, didn’t realise the category classifier was taken from 95% of 20 minute power - I had assumed it was race/event average.

To be honest, I do expect to be promoted during or shortly after TdZ.

I did complete stage one - you had a couple of minutes on me in that one so I think you’re still ahead but less than a minute in it. And if Zwiftpower promote me I’m happy to be promoted in our league mid-month.

ZP only classifies based on races, so you're OK on the Tour Best way not to get promoted is not to do official Zwift races

I'm still working on trying to get my weight down .... if I can get focused and do this then I'll be pushing myself into B too. But I'm still some time away

 

[<Tommy>]

I found out what riding at ‘tempo’ actually means about two weeks ago. True story, I was cycling in Essex with a friend and he mentioned it so I thought it was about time a knew what it meant. So I’m quite clearly not qualified to talk in the most technical terms... 😄.

But on a general point I learnt a good lesson in life when I was pretty young. If you want to learn how to do something, anything properly, watch how the successful people are doing it. It’s what I call the Hendry Thorne theorem. Apologies to those (most) of you that have no interest in snooker.

Basically I’m going to wait till the summer and see who’s training regime has worked out best. And then shamelessly copy what they’ve done 👍

 

[bobinski]

I found out what riding at ‘tempo’ actually means about two weeks ago. True story, I was cycling in Essex with a friend and he mentioned it so I thought it was about time a knew what it meant. So I’m quite clearly not qualified to talk in the most technical terms... 😄.

But on a general point I learnt a good lesson in life when I was pretty young. If you want to learn how to do something, anything properly, watch how the successful people are doing it. It’s what I call the Hendry Thorne theorem. Apologies to those (most) of you that have no interest in snooker.

Basically I’m going to wait till the summer and see who’s training regime has worked out best. And then shamelessly copy what they’ve done 👍

The Willie thorne ‘tache 😁

I would never suggest anyone copy me 😁

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I more in depth analysis of what Ive been doing over the last few years. I tried a winter of high intensity which had great results until spring where I felt quite fatigued.

I now only try and do like one race(zwift) a week and the rest low intensity zone 2 work.

This winter has been interrupted with spells of winter coughs and colds, so Ive needed two attempts of a month of endurance base training to regain fitness

He‘s also said that the low intensity generally needs to be over an hour for that to bring about adaptions in the muscles and fat metabolism. It leads to type 1 muscle fatigue , recruitment of additional type II muscle fibres you don’t use in the first hour, and changes in the muscle biochemistry. It also means your lactate levels stay low at very high levels of VO2 max. (Type II create it, type I clear it up) So your FTP moves towards a very high percentage of VO2 max. Like it is in elite athletes. The result is that you can work at very high levels of your max aerobic level for very long periods. Plus your VO2 max work has raised your max aerobic power. QED you can maintain much higher efforts, using more fat as fuel, till exhaustion sets in. QED endurance.

The research / science they present is quite compelling.

 

[<Tommy>]

The Willie thorne ‘tache 😁

I would never suggest anyone copy me 😁

😄

To be honest what you’re planning to do makes a lot of sense to me. But maybe it suits me to say it’s correct because it reaffirms what I think to be right rather than what is actually correct

 

[Milzy]

For a change you lose about 20-30 seconds. You'd have to change going into the Jungle, then again when you come out before heading back downtown. So potentially lose 60 seconds to gain, probably not much more than that? Need to have a nose around ZwiftInsider to see what they say about the MTBs.

I can't be bothered with all that. It's kind of cheating in some people's eyes too.

 

[Whorty]

I can't be bothered with all that. It's kind of cheating in some people's eyes too.

It does happen in pro riding ...... there was at least one rider on the Bologna TT who switched from a TT bike to a climbing bike in the worlds last year ..... although it didn't work so well for him I'm like you, unlikely to be bothered with the effort but is still interesting to see if others do 👍

 

[JuhaL]

If Roglic and other pro riders showed that TT bike is fastest in Bologna then let it be my selection as well when that stage comes, no matter how it goes

 

[IrishAl]

If Roglic and other pro riders showed that TT bike is fastest in Bologna then let it be my selection as well when that stage comes, no matter how it goes

@JuhaL I hope that they put us on TT bikes with no choice to add some variety to the tour

 

[CXRAndy]

Tommy, everyone is different, respond to different stimulus and duration of exercise. Im just trying to follow the 'general' rules of cycle exercise.

Don't whatever you do use my regime as a template

 

[CXRAndy]

Currently developing Bill Werbeniuk style

 

[Norry1]

 

[Whorty]

@JuhaL I hope that they put us on TT bikes with no choice to add some variety to the tour

When they first opened the course I did the ride on both TT and lightweight bike ... I was marginally faster on the TT bike (19:36 @ 268 watts) compared to the lightweight bike (19:50 @ 262 watts). I would have had drafting advantage on the standard bike up to the climb so that would have got me some free speed. I don't think changing bikes, even if an option, would be worth the lost time.

But, saying that, I'm with you and hope they enforce TT bikes 👍

 

[bobinski]

Just came across this site and there are some gems in there;

https://www.bandofclimbers.com/collections/cycling-valentines-cards