Zwift Chat

[alex_cycles]

Now that I have been a flu I have noticed how amazingly well Garmin Fenix 7s gives a sign that you are coming ill. HRV-status start to drop, also training status change from productive to strained, today it's been recovery which sounds much better.

I find HRV pretty good but it can be confusing and a bit misleading as it's a sign of total stress. Travel, a late night, early morning, alcohol, racing late in the evening etc. can all mess with your HRV.
But, in times of relative stability, HRV and resting heart rate can be a really good indicator. I've found my RHR goes up a couple of days before I even know I'm ill. But you have to take that with a pinch of salt too as it's also dependent on activity levels, alcohol, stress etc.

 

[steverob]

So what's everyone's opinions for the scheduling of the final round of the CC Splitters series? Should we keep it on Thursday - we did have some new participants able to take part by moving the day, but also lost a few of our Tuesday regulars. Or do we leave it until after the ZRL Finals are over and go back to Tuesday, or even pick a completely different day? I'm happy to listen to opinions.

If you didn't already know, the course is one lap of Watopia Figure 8 Reverse, which we should all be pretty familiar with by now. 18.5 miles / 29.8km from pens to finish; two climbs - Hilly Reverse starts at 3.1mi / 5km, Hilly Forward starts at 12.1mi / 19.5km.

 

[Peter Salt]

I am an A, but not by much. I knew I had to push hard to get away because @bridgy has got great 1- to 5-minute power for climbs like Fox, and @Peter Salt 's sprinting w/kg would leave me standing. I was right on the limit and all three of you were clawing back time on me on the second climb.

Good to know you at least felt threatened, Tim

My Z2 ride today felt much better than the one on Wednesday. Fatigue slowly going away but it will take a while. You have to get weaker in order to be stronger in the long-run.

To be honest we didn't worth particularly well together - I think we were all knackered! My power on the climb was way off my previous best (by around 40 watts) - no excuses but I'm just currently not in my best form - I haven't been this year at all to be honest after setbacks from flu and Covid after Xmas I've just never got back to my best (yet!). I certainly knew quite quickly that I couldn't match your power first time up Fox Hill last night.

I didn't realise until the results came up quite how close I'd got back up to you on the final climb - I think it was only about 15 seconds in the end. The one encouraging thing from the ride was that I was a bit faster on the second ascent, so although I feel my fitness is a bit crap right now it can't be too awful! No way I could have done what you did with that long solo effot though - well done!

I did record the race but forgot to upload it afterwards. Might not bother now, but if anyone's interested I will

Agree we didn't really work too well. Then again, I'm sure if we did and caught up to Tim, he would find some extra power reserves. Would help if you lot got on Discord

I would love to see your perspective, Paul.

So what's everyone's opinions for the scheduling of the final round of the CC Splitters series? Should we keep it on Thursday - we did have some new participants able to take part by moving the day, but also lost a few of our Tuesday regulars. Or do we leave it until after the ZRL Finals are over and go back to Tuesday, or even pick a completely different day? I'm happy to listen to opinions.

If you didn't already know, the course is one lap of Watopia Figure 8 Reverse, which we should all be pretty familiar with by now. 18.5 miles / 29.8km from pens to finish; two climbs - Hilly Reverse starts at 3.1mi / 5km, Hilly Forward starts at 12.1mi / 19.5km.

Easy either way in terms of timing. Shorter climbs which suit me a bit more.

 

[JuhaL]

I find HRV pretty good but it can be confusing and a bit misleading as it's a sign of total stress. Travel, a late night, early morning, alcohol, racing late in the evening etc. can all mess with your HRV.
But, in times of relative stability, HRV and resting heart rate can be a really good indicator. I've found my RHR goes up a couple of days before I even know I'm ill. But you have to take that with a pinch of salt too as it's also dependent on activity levels, alcohol, stress etc.

Especially a shift work what I do can indicate all those things too. I have wearing Fenix 7s about 4-5 weeks now so it start to draw better maybe more accurate picture about condition of my body. As a long term it's better understand abnormalities in a data. Afterwards it is easier fit pieces together and understand reasons.

 

[mjd1988]

So what's everyone's opinions for the scheduling of the final round of the CC Splitters series? Should we keep it on Thursday - we did have some new participants able to take part by moving the day, but also lost a few of our Tuesday regulars. Or do we leave it until after the ZRL Finals are over and go back to Tuesday, or even pick a completely different day? I'm happy to listen to opinions.

If you didn't already know, the course is one lap of Watopia Figure 8 Reverse, which we should all be pretty familiar with by now. 18.5 miles / 29.8km from pens to finish; two climbs - Hilly Reverse starts at 3.1mi / 5km, Hilly Forward starts at 12.1mi / 19.5km.

Happy with either - I would have made Thursday okay except for illness, which i think was true for most of those who missed it

 

[Whorty]

So what's everyone's opinions for the scheduling of the final round of the CC Splitters series? Should we keep it on Thursday - we did have some new participants able to take part by moving the day, but also lost a few of our Tuesday regulars. Or do we leave it until after the ZRL Finals are over and go back to Tuesday, or even pick a completely different day? I'm happy to listen to opinions.

If you didn't already know, the course is one lap of Watopia Figure 8 Reverse, which we should all be pretty familiar with by now. 18.5 miles / 29.8km from pens to finish; two climbs - Hilly Reverse starts at 3.1mi / 5km, Hilly Forward starts at 12.1mi / 19.5km.

I can't do next Thursday, so a preference for after ZRL

 

[alex_cycles]

Especially a shift work what I do can indicate all those things too. I have wearing Fenix 7s about 4-5 weeks now so it start to draw better maybe more accurate picture about condition of my body. As a long term it's better understand abnormalities in a data. Afterwards it is easier fit pieces together and understand reasons.

Definitely. I've had overnight HRV stats for about 10 months now. Before that, just RHR for several years. Once you know your "normal" baselines, you can get a picture of what's going on. I switched off 'training status' though as I found it unhelpful. Several times it basically told me "you feel crap today" and I performed well. So I was like "screw you then. OFF you go!"

As you say, it's better to look at the data afterwards for explanations than to treat it as gospel truth and decide whether to ride/train or not on the basis of it. They're a good indicator, but shouldn't be blindly accepted.

 

[mjd1988]

Forgot how many non zwiftpower racers there are in c. I honestly think there were about 20 signed up to the race tonight but only 3 showing on zpower! There were two with the a group who I knew were not on, but there were a few others on zpower live who seemed to quit the race when dropped on last lap. Ah well!

 

[mjd1988]

Just watched @bridgy 's video. @Legs dancing away at 7w/kg and gaining 40 seconds on the group - you know it's coming but it's pretty much impossible to do anything about! Very impressive

 

[bridgy]

Just watched @bridgy 's video. @Legs dancing away at 7w/kg and gaining 40 seconds on the group - you know it's coming but it's pretty much impossible to do anything about! Very impressive

Oh yeah, meant to say- just for you @CXRAndy
View: https://youtu.be/kc52oPlppHk

 

[alex_cycles]

Forgot how many non zwiftpower racers there are in c. I honestly think there were about 20 signed up to the race tonight but only 3 showing on zpower! There were two with the a group who I knew were not on, but there were a few others on zpower live who seemed to quit the race when dropped on last lap. Ah well!

I recently found out you can use ZP live to see who your competitors are in a race. (I think it was the whole SBP thing that made me look at it).
It's very helpful if you have a spare device. Last week's Alpe race I was able to see when a "C" went past me if they were a competitor or not. If they weren't I could just let them go Worked a treat as it was a "same time starts, all cats visible" race (and some of the C pen were B-cats as it was non-CE. They are labelled C in the race, but get reclassified when the results are done. ZP live shows you what you need to know.)

 

[Whorty]

Forgot how many non zwiftpower racers there are in c. I honestly think there were about 20 signed up to the race tonight but only 3 showing on zpower! There were two with the a group who I knew were not on, but there were a few others on zpower live who seemed to quit the race when dropped on last lap. Ah well!

Not sure how you're feeling, but I'm signed up and planning to race the Tinies in the morning ... as you're C now, fancy a bit of a blast?

 

[mjd1988]

Not sure how you're feeling, but I'm signed up and planning to race the Tinies in the morning ... as you're C now, fancy a bit of a blast?

Time at a premium at the weekends I'm afraid at the minute! Will get to some eventually

 

[alex_cycles]

Not sure how you're feeling, but I'm signed up and planning to race the Tinies in the morning ... as you're C now, fancy a bit of a blast?

That was completely mental. Such a high quality field. The top 11 riders all had sub-200 ZP wrankings.
My legs crapped out at the start of race 3, so I DNFed. But race 1 was IF 117% 8:36 TSS 20 and race 2 was IF 109% 6:45 TSS 13 (11th place twice)

Race 1 W'bal says I emptied the tank + a bit more

Carl did well. 5,4,2,2 That should give him some ridiculous wranking points

 

[Whorty]

That was completely mental. Such a high quality field. The top 11 riders all had sub-200 ZP wrankings.
My legs crapped out at the start of race 3, so I DNFed. But race 1 was IF 117% 8:36 TSS 20 and race 2 was IF 109% 6:45 TSS 13 (11th place twice)

Race 1 W'bal says I emptied the tank + a bit more
View attachment 681169


Carl did well. 5,4,2,2 That should give him some ridiculous wranking points

Race 2 confused me ... I went with 500 mtrs showing on my screen and no one else sprinted. So I thought maybe there were 2 laps and my screen was wrong ... I sat up and 3 riders came past me. I should have won

Race 4, I used anvil in wrong place. Attacked early, got a nice gap, but pipped on line by someone who used their anvil at the right place

Enjoyed that. Definitely got my fitness back. About bloody time too .... calf, covid, chest infection, mental issues ... been a long road to recovery this past 12 months