Zwift Advice - which session next?

Zwift Advice - which session next?

Author
Discussion

Hudson1984

Original Poster:

312 posts

68 months

Monday 10th February 2020
quotequote all
reading other posts, it seems there are a few zwifters here.

I'm training for my first 100 at the moment, which as it stands means a 40 mile road ride once a week, this will increase each month until May (which is when the 100 is)

at the moment my average speed is holding me back from getting further (can't spend all day riding really) So i'm keen to up my mph levels a touch to make longer distances possible. Nothing crazy here, currently average 12.5mph on a 40, would like to up this to 15mph which is where I used to be a few years ago.

anyway, in order to do this I of course need to ride more.

it's easier to do intervals etc off the road (no traffic or lights or pesky hills!) so wondered if anyone could recommend a 30-60 workout I could use? I've done the gran fondo plan before which was great over winter but now i'm back on the road it doesn't allow for days off (which aren't really days off, they're on road)

just need a ride I could do perhaps twice a week which up my stamina and hill power but allow rest for the sunday big ride.

Plan will be to Zwift tuesdays and thursdays and road on Sundays. If anything my speed will increase due to weight loss!!

Paul Drawmer

4,864 posts

266 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
I know little about training so this might just be bollx.

I reckon you might need to concentrate on building base level fitness. Which just means spending more time doing the type of effort that means you can ride for an hour at the state where you can talk, but not sing. It's the base level endurance that needs building initially. Yes, it's boring.

You should notice after a few weeks, that for the same effort over the hour, that you're doing more miles. Then you can start adding in specifics for speed and strength.

jesusbuiltmycar

4,535 posts

253 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
Have you done a Zwift FTP test? If not do one then maybe follow one of teh Zwift FTP booster training programs.

miniwill58

121 posts

79 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
jesusbuiltmycar said:
Have you done a Zwift FTP test? If not do one then maybe follow one of teh Zwift FTP booster training programs.
I think an FTP test is a good start if you haven't done one. I'm not sure about an FTP booster plan though - it will help generally but it's not likely to add a great deal to the plan of riding 100 miles.

I haven't used Zwift for a while but I recall there were numerous other training plans on there, is there one that's tailored to century rides or other long distances?

FWIW, I use TrainerRoad now and they have a century specific training plan that works on building up those base miles on the turbo (as previous poster said, it's boring)

ukbabz

1,538 posts

125 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
miniwill58 said:
I think an FTP test is a good start if you haven't done one. I'm not sure about an FTP booster plan though - it will help generally but it's not likely to add a great deal to the plan of riding 100 miles.

I haven't used Zwift for a while but I recall there were numerous other training plans on there, is there one that's tailored to century rides or other long distances?

FWIW, I use TrainerRoad now and they have a century specific training plan that works on building up those base miles on the turbo (as previous poster said, it's boring)
There is a gran fondo plan on there, which may be more your thing.

Hudson1984

Original Poster:

312 posts

68 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
miniwill58 said:
I think an FTP test is a good start if you haven't done one. I'm not sure about an FTP booster plan though - it will help generally but it's not likely to add a great deal to the plan of riding 100 miles.

I haven't used Zwift for a while but I recall there were numerous other training plans on there, is there one that's tailored to century rides or other long distances?

FWIW, I use TrainerRoad now and they have a century specific training plan that works on building up those base miles on the turbo (as previous poster said, it's boring)
I don't mind boring, it's more a case of having the ability to do some more specific training which you just can't do on the road - I mean it's hard to stick at 90% when a hill pops up or a descent, at least on the turbo i'm in control of where and how I can train.

I've not used trainer road before might have to give it alook.

I mean Sundays rides are all about the base fitness - and mental stamina. I don't rush, I aim to get it done however having more strength would enable me to tackle hills easier. Yes there's always a school of thought that suggests to get better at going up hills you should go up more hills - which of course is true. But I am not a pro cyclist, time constraints need to be taking into account so having the turbo trainer is a great tool to use I think.

I'll look at the FTP test - think it nearly killed me last time!

but also look into trainer road.

What I don't want to do is spend 4 hours on the turbo. If I was going to cycle for 4 hours I'd just do it outside really. I want the turbo to be another piece of gym equipment rather than a ride replacement

Harpoon

1,860 posts

213 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
Sufferfest have this blog post:

https://thesufferfest.com/blogs/training-resources...

Obviously they have a vested interest in selling subscriptions to their app / training plans but I think it's worth considering if you're not a pro with hours to spend on the bike every week. For instance, I did the "It Seems Like Thin Air" workout on Sunday. That's two & half hours, with an average power of 223 watts and I was goosed at the end. I felt far more tired than when I did the local club reliability ride the weekend before - that was 100km in just under four hours.

lufbramatt

5,318 posts

133 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
Drop me a PM with your name and email address if you want a free month of Trainerroad thumbup

It's not that exciting though, no fancy graphics just a blue graph and some numbers. But the sessions and plans are great. Make sure you have a TV/Netflix etc. to watch.

miniwill58

121 posts

79 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
lufbramatt said:
Drop me a PM with your name and email address if you want a free month of Trainerroad thumbup

It's not that exciting though, no fancy graphics just a blue graph and some numbers. But the sessions and plans are great. Make sure you have a TV/Netflix etc. to watch.
Good point, I'd forgotten about the referral! Also feel free to PM me if anyone wants to try it.

Agree it's not as fancy as Zwift but it really depends what you're looking for.
I used Zwift to train over a winter period and I found when I was doing the workouts I wasn't looking at the fancy graphics, I was just watching the numbers. I found TrainerRoad had a better variety of plans and suited me a bit better vs Zwift.

TV/Netflix/Music is a must though.

One more thing to add - TrainerRoad has a Ramp Test to estimate FTP, it's only 25 minutes all in and it's hard work but less of an effort than an all out 20 minute or 1 hour FTP test. Understand Zwift might have something similar now.

lufbramatt

5,318 posts

133 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
Yes I've seen strava friends do the Zwift ramp test.

I like the idea of the ramp test but I find it massively inflates my FTP, I used to be a pretty handy 800m-1500m track runner so seem to excel at 2-4 minute efforts which is basically what the ramp test is, it's only the last couple of minutes that hurt and it's just down to how much you can tolerate it. My last ramp test (with a quark Dzero, all the steps were within 5w of target) gave me a figure of 335w which although sounds great on paper is complete fiction! It's good for getting a ballpark figure though.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
If you are just doing 2 days per week on zwift then I’d say try to ride at 70% (of ftp / max hr, it matters not really much which) for as long as you can. Literally as long as you can or have available. Allow 5 mins each end to warm up / warm down

If you want to up your speed with intervals (which I think is a mistake), look for some sort of 30/15 or 30/30 or 40/20

On zwift try this for instance

https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/one-of-a-kind/th...

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 11th February 18:01

Usget

5,426 posts

210 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
JFRM.

Not Jacob F'ing Rees Mogg. Just F'ing Ride More.

Doesn't matter what you do on Zwift really, just make sure you get on there regularly and push yourself a bit. If you're doing 40 mile outdoor rides at the weekend, jump on and do an hour twice a week. Do whatever you enjoy the most - whether that's one of the 1.5w/kg group rides, or a free ride, or a structured training session - but make sure you're getting your rides in. Then gradually increase your 40 mile rides to 50, 60, etc. Treat a 60 mile ride as a 15 mile ride to the coffee shop, then a 15 mile ride to lunch, then a 15 mile ride to an ice cream/bag of Skittles/whatever, and then it's only 15 miles to home.

Take this approach rather than beating yourself up doing FTP tests or whatever, and you'll be able to ride 100 miles and have a lovely time.

Hudson1984

Original Poster:

312 posts

68 months

Wednesday 12th February 2020
quotequote all
cheers all.

I think i'll stick with Zwift but Terrain road does look interesting definitely. In all honesty Zwift graphics are fine but I agree - you tend to look at the numbers more than the avatar so changing down the line isn't out of the question.

Also, i'll probably up my time on rollers too, always good for long steady state slogs. and you don't get as bored as you constantly have to try not to fall off haha.

weather this weekend is looking too bad to head out so will need to do my 40 on either the turbo or rollers. Probably opt for the rollers to ensure i'm sitting at 70% and working on core too.

IrateNinja

767 posts

177 months

Thursday 13th February 2020
quotequote all
Usget said:
JFRM.

Not Jacob F'ing Rees Mogg. Just F'ing Ride More.

Doesn't matter what you do on Zwift really, just make sure you get on there regularly and push yourself a bit. If you're doing 40 mile outdoor rides at the weekend, jump on and do an hour twice a week. Do whatever you enjoy the most - whether that's one of the 1.5w/kg group rides, or a free ride, or a structured training session - but make sure you're getting your rides in. Then gradually increase your 40 mile rides to 50, 60, etc. Treat a 60 mile ride as a 15 mile ride to the coffee shop, then a 15 mile ride to lunch, then a 15 mile ride to an ice cream/bag of Skittles/whatever, and then it's only 15 miles to home.

Take this approach rather than beating yourself up doing FTP tests or whatever, and you'll be able to ride 100 miles and have a lovely time.
+1. At the early stages I don't think it's worth thinking too hard about training in the right zones or anything like that. Focus on enjoying it and the miles will come naturally. Eventually your fitness will plateau, and then you can think about adopting a bit more structure.

What miles are you doing weekly total?

Hudson1984

Original Poster:

312 posts

68 months

Thursday 13th February 2020
quotequote all
i'm now doing 50 miles on the road as a long ride, then 2 upto 60 minute zwift sessions on the turbo. I've been doing SST (short) at the moment, which is boring but working on just churning out the effort.

In March I intend to step to 60 miles on the long ride. April 70 then probably do one 80 before the big 100 as I'm hoping longer stops and adrenaline will give me the energy for the last 20 miles untested.

Usget

5,426 posts

210 months

Thursday 13th February 2020
quotequote all
I always find longer turbo sessions to be a bit of a slog, but if I break them up into 30-60-30, it makes it much more manageable.

So how about doing a 30 minute free ride warm up on Fuego Flats, then a fast group ride or D category race, then another 30 minute potter to warm down? All saddle time is good.

okgo

37,859 posts

197 months

Thursday 13th February 2020
quotequote all
Usget said:
JFRM.

Not Jacob F'ing Rees Mogg. Just F'ing Ride More.

Doesn't matter what you do on Zwift really, just make sure you get on there regularly and push yourself a bit. If you're doing 40 mile outdoor rides at the weekend, jump on and do an hour twice a week. Do whatever you enjoy the most - whether that's one of the 1.5w/kg group rides, or a free ride, or a structured training session - but make sure you're getting your rides in. Then gradually increase your 40 mile rides to 50, 60, etc. Treat a 60 mile ride as a 15 mile ride to the coffee shop, then a 15 mile ride to lunch, then a 15 mile ride to an ice cream/bag of Skittles/whatever, and then it's only 15 miles to home.

Take this approach rather than beating yourself up doing FTP tests or whatever, and you'll be able to ride 100 miles and have a lovely time.
It's this.

All cycling really is to get better is more (of a mixture of intensities and durations) cycling. There's no secrets to it.

jesusbuiltmycar

4,535 posts

253 months

Friday 14th February 2020
quotequote all
You could always try a British Cycling Group work out:


https://zwift.com/events/view/331069?utm_campaign=...



Edited by jesusbuiltmycar on Friday 14th February 08:18

ExV8

3,642 posts

214 months

Sunday 16th February 2020
quotequote all
I try and do a race each week, helps with recorded power gain. After doing one yesterday I did the pretzel for my long ride today, bit harder than what I was after.

Hills, speed and distance all helps.

Harpoon

1,860 posts

213 months

Thursday 20th February 2020
quotequote all
This article on "Junk Miles" was in the British Cycling newsletter tonight and made me think of this thread:

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/traini...