Zwift Chat

[Norry1]

Does anyone here have experience trying to follow a coaching / workout plan, and still fit in one or 2 races per week? At the minute I feel like I’m not progressing.,,going backwards if anything. I think I’ve been racing steadily on Zwift for at least 12 months now even through the summer. Most plans that I’ve seen have at least one work out a week with a lot of threshold work, and another pushing the 5 minute over threshold. I, not sure I’d cope witj that plus a race. Also i dont really want to not race either, so maybe I’m caught both ways And need to decide between training and racing.
Any thoughts?

I have a coach and he was okay with me doing one race a week. We are in a base period. Next week looks like ....

 

[bobinski]

Does anyone here have experience trying to follow a coaching / workout plan, and still fit in one or 2 races per week? At the minute I feel like I’m not progressing.,,going backwards if anything. I think I’ve been racing steadily on Zwift for at least 12 months now even through the summer. Most plans that I’ve seen have at least one work out a week with a lot of threshold work, and another pushing the 5 minute over threshold. I, not sure I’d cope witj that plus a race. Also i dont really want to not race either, so maybe I’m caught both ways And need to decide between training and racing.
Any thoughts?

Al, I really benefited from the SF plans but really difficult to mix with more than 1 race a week. I paid for one of their tailored plans that allowed for the race and shuffled recovery weeks in particular to account for it. In fact given me 10% dip in watts recently I am toying with the idea of returning to it. I am confident it worked for me. Then again I suspect if you are not the type of person to ride to numbers then racing may just be the best or more enjoyable way to maintain and hopefully improve fitness.
SF plan tend to have a fair bit of hit work amidst the threshold stuff and so not for everyone. One of the rides has 30 odd sprints. These may benefit older peeps like me. Others can comment on TR.

 

[peterob]

Does anyone here have experience trying to follow a coaching / workout plan, and still fit in one or 2 races per week? At the minute I feel like I’m not progressing.,,going backwards if anything. I think I’ve been racing steadily on Zwift for at least 12 months now even through the summer. Most plans that I’ve seen have at least one work out a week with a lot of threshold work, and another pushing the 5 minute over threshold. I, not sure I’d cope witj that plus a race. Also i dont really want to not race either, so maybe I’m caught both ways And need to decide between training and racing.
Any thoughts?

I also used Sufferfest last winter and it definitely helped improve my top end performance, but probably to the detriment of my overall endurance so ended up having a bit of a backwards season, in that Spring/Summer consisted of longer easier rides as my focus was on the (aborted) 325 in October.

I notice that you seem to do a lot of racing Al, often maybe 4 races a week? That's considerably more than I can manage and maybe is hindering progression (probably 2 races max is what I can manage before my body and I know that it's too much accumulated intensity/fatigue). I guess if you find a sensible training plan on one of the various systems you can swap out high intensity/VO2 sessions for one or two Zwift races.

 

[<Tommy>]

Alan I think Pete might be right. I see you racing two days back to back and I know I can’t do it and still hit the numbers I want. I know we’re all different and I’m crap at recovering but maybe you just need set your week out differently. Mix it up a bit more. Also I’m going to guess going to the neo ruthlessly took a few watts away from your best times on the power pedals!

I think training plans are a scam, unless you get turned on by staring at numbers on a screen. Before anyone mentions Rachel Riley, I said turned on by the numbers, not the woman holding them up!

 

[Alongo]

At the moment I’m doing @ 85% of my cycling indoors and I’m realising that missing out on the regular 3-4 hour weekend steady rides is missing from my “training “. I know from past experience when I have lots of solid base miles in I feel and perform better at shorter , high intensity efforts .
Most of the coaching /training advice recommends only two , maybe three at the most high intensity efforts and the other riding at a lower Intensity than most people would call steady .
I sometimes make up an interval session that is specific to an upcoming race and feel the accurate focus of desired workload is really useful , on the other hand you never know what a race is going to deal you , so I sometimes enter a race and use it to identify weaknesses .
Another thing I think is important is periodised recovery, I am trying to ramp up tss for two or three weeks and then backing off for a week to allow for adaptation.
Everyone on here probably knows all this stuff but if we can manage to do it consistently it will lead to improvement.
Im 56 and feel that if I get the balance/ mix right I can still find improvements , although paying attention to recovery , sleep and nutrition is also important .
I have been a cyclist nearly forty years and am probably more obsessed with it now than at any other time, but I always tell myself that , Number 1 , it should be fun and I think that “saves “ me from becoming over serious about getting faster because I still want to enjoy the rest of my life too .

 

[<Tommy>]

At the moment I’m doing @ 85% of my cycling indoors and I’m realising that missing out on the regular 3-4 hour weekend steady rides is missing from my “training “. I know from past experience when I have lots of solid base miles in I feel and perform better at shorter , high intensity efforts .
Most of the coaching /training advice recommends only two , maybe three at the most high intensity efforts and the other riding at a lower Intensity than most people would call steady .
I sometimes make up an interval session that is specific to an upcoming race and feel the accurate focus of desired workload is really useful , on the other hand you never know what a race is going to deal you , so I sometimes enter a race and use it to identify weaknesses .
Another thing I think is important is periodised recovery, I am trying to ramp up tss for two or three weeks and then backing off for a week to allow for adaptation.
Everyone on here probably knows all this stuff but if we can manage to do it consistently it will lead to improvement.
Im 56 and feel that if I get the balance/ mix right I can still find improvements , although paying attention to recovery , sleep and nutrition is also important .
I have been a cyclist nearly forty years and am probably more obsessed with it now than at any other time, but I always tell myself that , Number 1 , it should be fun and I think that “saves “ me from becoming over serious about getting faster because I still want to enjoy the rest of my life too .

This is how I think as well Andy. Create something for yourself that is sustainable long term.

Sometimes when people go on training plans it reminds me of fat people going on fad diets. It’s like a vicious cycle. Go on the diet, lose a few pounds, give yourself a high five! Diet ends, the weight goes back on straight away... Then, a few months later they say: “you know, I really should go on another diet, it worked so well last time”... No it didn’t I’m afraid, because you’re back where you started. Otherwise you wouldn’t be looking at the latest fad diet!

I feel like these training sites are really feeding off this mentality. Just like the people who invent these quick fix diets. Unless you can sustain something long term then maybe look for something you can sustain?

 

[mjd1988]

I'm still resisting any structured training. My pattern recently has been two races a week and hopefully one other session. That session tended to be whatever was an event on zwift in the next 15 mins, so could be another race, group ride, anything.

The addition of the pacer bots has been so handy, knowing I can just join and do a steady zone 2 effort. Most of the time I don't even stay with the group that long if I'm not concentrating but mentally it's easier to start with a group than "just ride."

I 💯 know I could get better if I did a plan very strictly (if that were possible), but I'm enjoying the races and generally seeing a gradual improvement, so happy with that for now

 

[BurningLegs]

I will never do zone two base training on a turbo. Life is just too short

I do a sweet spot training session once a week, and race once a week at the moment. That’s about half what I was doing in the summer but I’m coming back to fitness now and hoping to add another session to my week soon. Three turbo rides a week is my max though.

 

[JuhaL]

I will never do zone two base training on a turbo. Life is just too short

I do a sweet spot training session once a week, and race once a week at the moment. That’s about half what I was doing in the summer but I’m coming back to fitness now and hoping to add another session to my week soon. Three turbo rides a week is my max though.

I did 1-hr group ride on Zwift today where i ride 45min on Z1 and rest of a time Z2. I have to say that build me mentally, a whole session i do my best to hold advertised speed and not to crack and yell I CAN'T HELP MYSELF,SORRY and then flat out...and au revoir.

 

[IrishAl]

Thanks for all the feedback. At the moment I’ve no plan so I’m finding it hard to get motivated to get on and just ride.

I think I’ll sit down and make myself some sort of structured plan that fits in around the Tuesday race like @Norry1 suggestion. 👍

 

[CXRAndy]

Those insanity workouts look bonkers- you enjoy them?

Before I did my foot in, I quite enjoyed the gasping. Quite a few friends got the box set, but only managed one or two workouts before pulling muscles

I chose to do the introduction workout repeatedly in segments until I could complete it without feeling like being sick. Then I moved onto the plan

 

[<Tommy>]

I’m going to buy a new MacBook. Is there a minimum of anything I should be looking at getting to get the most out of zwift?

Paging all those more computer literate than me. Which in case you’re wondering is everyone here apart from @berty bassett ! 😄

 

[berty bassett]

I’m going to buy a new MacBook. Is there a minimum of anything I should be looking at getting to get the most out of zwift?

Paging all those more computer literate than me. Which in case you’re wondering is everyone here apart from @berty bassett ! 😄

I hear this is a cracking piece of kit mate

 

[berty bassett]

Anything else I can help you with ?

 

[CXRAndy]

I’m going to buy a new MacBook. Is there a minimum of anything I should be looking at getting to get the most out of zwift?

Paging all those more computer literate than me. Which in case you’re wondering is everyone here apart from @berty bassett ! 😄