Zwift Chat

[CXRAndy]

Kicking into a super-tuck is a good racing habit anyway. You can sometimes get surprisingly large gaps on people on a descent just by kicking at the start. (Obvs you don't get supertuck on a TT bike, but the habit is still a good one)

I'm aiming to do the 10am Epic Race again tomorrow if anyone's up for it.

Yes, agree, my best place to create a gap or chase down a gap is on the Grade. I can usually get 10 secs with my extra weight and a sprint over the crest

 

[Norry1]

On some of the Surrey Hills I've had the Garmin stop recording because I went below 4 mph (switched that off now). And also on really steep parts you stand up to get more power and then you either pull a mini-wheelie or the back wheel starts to spin. It really does become a game of balance and bike handling skills.

A friend did the Fred Whitton and said that there were loads of people falling off on Hardknott at the 30% bit.

I've been staying in the Forest of Dean this week and some of the hills there are pretty tough. On Thursday in the back lanes I was spinning my rear tyre whilst standing due to the gradient and the damp roads. Managed to keep going though so all good.

 

[Peter Salt]

I think Ed Lavarack could challenge that. He has an FTP 364W, so could run towards 400W for that climb.

Interesting to see. Might message him

Oh, mate. Ed would destroy that. The stickman time is nothing special - top B performance I'd say. Ed is a top A.

 

[Norry1]

I think Ed Lavarack could challenge that. He has an FTP 364W, so could run towards 400W for that climb.

Interesting to see. Might message him

He's done it.

Think I'd beat my 2012 time now. I'm much lighter and somewhat fitter now than then.

 

[Peter Salt]

He's done it.

View attachment 761715


Think I'd beat my 2012 time now. I'm much lighter and somewhat fitter now than then.

That's the outside one though. Bet it's a sub 10-minute for him on a turbo.

 

[Norry1]

That's the outside one though. Bet it's a sub 10-minute for him on a turbo.

True - it is a bitch to ride IRL.

Doesn't look like he was flat out on that one.

 

[CXRAndy]

In the meantime I did Z1 ride for 90 mins.

After several weeks of Garmin connect saying I was over reaching on my 'training'. It recommended I needed more low intensity sessions

Now I've just moved into productive training .

Do you pay much attention to this monitoring, whether Garmin, Trainer Road, training Peaks etc ?

 

[alex_cycles]

In the meantime I did Z1 ride for 90 mins.

After several weeks of Garmin connect saying I was over reaching on my 'training'. It recommended I needed more low intensity sessions

Now I've just moved into productive training .

Do you pay much attention to this monitoring, whether Garmin, Trainer Road, training Peaks etc ?

I look at it, but I find the Garmin Training Status relies too heavily on VO2max data.
Literally I can set a record-equalling VO2max on a Saturday and it loves it. Then if I do 2 or 3 days of Zone 2 it says I'm unproductive because it erroneously seems to think I can't do that VO2max effort again (even though I haven't tried to).

At one point it annoyed me so much I switched off Training Status. Now I tend to look at it with amusement. It has correctly identified two occasions as "Peaking" where I've gone on to have a very good result that day. It isn't nonsense, but its over-reliance on assuming you will go for a high VO2max effort every few days is frustrating.

Taken alongside HRV and RHR it's another data point though - which is why I now leave it on.

RHR I find excellent. If I'm fully rested I'll be 46. Up to about 52 overnight after a really heavy ride day, but anything over 55 and I'm fighting a bug. Usually the RHR would tell me that a day or two before I feel any symptoms.

HRV is a great indication of "systemic stress" but that can be either physical or mental. I was physically great back in October but my HRV (and RHR) were poor because I was stressed out handling my mum's probate application. Alcohol really messes with that too. More than one glass of wine will reduce my HRV significantly (and increase RHR). Spirits seem to affect me very strongly.

Body battery is quite good, but I have had some good results with a very poor starting score. It does give you an indication of how well you may have recovered from previous efforts though.

 

[steverob]

Was on a long group ride about a month ago that had a lot of back and forth chat between riders that was quite amusing, comparing Garmin Connect and Strava’s idea of training analytics and how pessimistic one is and how optimistic the other. Basically we agreed that the following was true:

Rider wins Alpine stage of the Tour de France by minutes over the rest of the field, including record times up 3 x HC climbs. Garmin: “Unproductive” (or worse “Detraining”)

Pootles down the shops for a few miles totally in Z1. Strava AI: “this is the greatest ride you’ve ever done and you’re clearly a world class athlete”.

 

[CXRAndy]

Over night I moved from 'productive' to 'maintaining' with Garmin. It now wants me to vary my workouts from HIT to low aerobic sessions

Garmin likes to keep you on your toes, so to speak

 

[alex_cycles]

Over night I moved from 'productive' to 'maintaining' with Garmin. It now wants me to vary my workouts from HIT to low aerobic sessions

Garmin likes to keep you on your toes, so to speak

I think with the more expensive Garmin watches you also get "Training Readiness". I don't have that on my ForeRunner 255 (but the 265 has it). I think you need a Fenix or something higher to unlock that one. I don't feel the need for it.

 

[Norry1]

I never look at Garmin or Strava for fitness monitoring. I do track my CTL / ATL and Form on Training Peaks quite closely.

 

[alex_cycles]

I never look at Garmin or Strava for fitness monitoring. I do track my CTL / ATL and Form on Training Peaks quite closely.

I use Intervals for that (every day) and find it quite good. The Strava metrics for form/fitness/fatigue never seemed to make sense to me as they've added their own secret sauce (probably to avoid IP issues) but the ones on intervals work exactly according to the Coggan/Allen formulae.

 

[CXRAndy]

I think with the more expensive Garmin watches you also get "Training Readiness". I don't have that on my ForeRunner 255 (but the 265 has it). I think you need a Fenix or something higher to unlock that one. I don't feel the need for it.

I have the Epix Pro 2, Fenix with nice bright display.

 

[Norry1]

I use Intervals for that (every day) and find it quite good. The Strava metrics for form/fitness/fatigue never seemed to make sense to me as they've added their own secret sauce (probably to avoid IP issues) but the ones on intervals work exactly according to the Coggan/Allen formulae.

Yep I agree on both points. Intervals also has a nice graphical display. You can see in the Form line on the graph whether you are over or under training. My line is nice and green at present - with only one tiny bit of red (overtraining).