Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

weight now down to 15st 3 from 16st 8 just 10 weeks ago

Nice one!

Was debating rest day today, but it seems my slightly easier pace yesterday has paid off, as well as it being almost 90 mins of riding, my legs are not as destroyed as you'd expect 🙂 Of course this can all change about 2 mins into a ride and you find you have nothing at all.

I'll take a slightly early lunch-break today though and jump on the 11.05 KISS Americas C race. I wasn't initially going to, but it's now got 25 riders in C so i may find someone to play with near the back of the pack with a bit of luck, It's 2 laps of London Loop, which i'm pretty sure means twice up Box Hill, which i've really struggled with physically and mentally previously. I go off too hard, try to hang with the faster guys as i've held with them on the flat, i then pay the price massively... So today i need to hold 2.5w/kg on Box as i know i can maintain it down the back side and onto lap 2.

Well, i hope so anyway 🙂

weight now down to 15st 3 from 16st 8 just 10 weeks ago

Crazy weight loss, really well done! Are you allowing yourself to eat vaguely normally and burning it though the exercise? Just curious as it's normally how I end up going. The fitter I get, the further/harder I ride, the more calories I can burn. Stuff like My Fitness Pal just falls apart when you've got an extra 1500 or so from exercise.

I did the 50km Specialized challenge last night, on the Richmond map. I'll do the other 2 maps over the next week or so. I obviously need a £6000 road bike to sit in my turbo trainer.

Edit: Oh and the Richmond map seemed super boring, very good for spinning while watching a film though!

Toasty,
I'm using the 5-2 So 600 cal days max on the 2, then whatever on the 5. This morning for example i had pancakes and syrup for brekkie, so i'm not holding back on the 5 days. I rarely drink though if that helps. I don't use MFP or any other calorie app, i just enjoy the 5 days but don't sit there stuffing my face.
I have to admit, i'm less likely to grab a large hazlenut latte though that i would have previously.. But cake/dessert/everything else is fair game.

I've done a nice easy 30 mins warm up now pre-race, just wanted to tick over some calories really as Mrs Weeksy is WFH so i'm pretty much banned to the garage while i'm WFH.

Oof, very well done sticking to that with the hefty exercise! Sounds like you've found a good routine given your progress in races and weight loss.

I know when I first lost a chunk of weight I found it quite empowering, knowing it was something you can do again if you ever need to.

This thread continues to inspire - well done, those who have lost lots of weight! I feel like I've started "getting on with it" without having to make New Years' resolutions.

Did my first FTP test in years last night - Rubber Glove - and I'd forgotten what it took. My FTP was lower than I'd hoped, and puts me at 2.5W/kg, which I can definitely improve by upping the W and lowering the kg! I also somehow managed to hold about 350W for the last 30s, which makes me wonder if I could have given a few % more throughout the rest of the test.

It's definitely given me a benchmark, and something to train from. What's everyone's experience of the Zwift FTP builder courses? I hope with instant power reporting and a bit of pre-empting, I can manage to get the 10s sprints done properly.

I'll take a slightly early lunch-break today though and jump on the 11.05 KISS Americas C race.

Talk about hanging on grimly for near death, the 2nd Box Hill nearly killed me, i stopped once and lots 2 places but dragged myself back to 2.2w/kg somehow and crept over the top with a 25s lead on the guy behind, hung on for the end.
Was arguably the hardest race i've done. Went off at 3.2w/kg and held that but a group of 10 just left me for dead, putting out 3.6 or so which i just can't do for more than 20s... i was tehn 30s ahead of the guys behind in complete no-where land, no wheels were coming by me at something i could get hold of, so i was just trying to grind out 2.8w/kg for as long as i could. Box hill 1 went pretty well, i held my place in the field, but after that it started to go wrong after Tower Bridge as i was hanging on.... Just made the most of it i can really.

Taking tmomrrow as a rest day... really.. really really.

HAhahaa, my first time up Box hill was 1min 40s quicker than the 2nd try !

Lapw 2 was 3 mins slower than lap1.

Talk about getting the tactics all wrong !

@Toasty- Sorry, I don't understand your comment about calorie apps. I use MFP and just add in a conservative version of my exercise calories from Strava. I aim for 1700 net calories which is BMR - 350. Yesterday for example, I walked for three hours during the day and did 1200 calories on the bike which meant I could trough my way through about 3700 no trouble.
I tried a 500 calorie deficit last year but it left me drained and useless for much else and ultimately contributed to my falling out of love with cycling and putting it all back on again. So I have working on a slow and steady basis since August and most of the days I ride, I actually have to eat more.

Is anyone able to get onto zwiftpower? I've been getting a 404 screen since yesterday. Is there anywhere else that list the races/results?

[img] [/img]

Remove the last bit.

http://www.zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=2077

Much like crosshair, MFP here and I have cals from exercise sync'd from Training Peaks (which works out cals based on power and duration) which sync's from Garmin connect or Trainer Road (and probably soon Zwift.) And have all that sync'ing with Withings wifi scales for weight tracking. Though it's more a case of maintaining weight here and making sure my diet is well balanced. Works well for me.

Long time lurker of this thread here and was very curious to try.
With this weeks iOS release and no turbo of any sort I'd thought I'd try the very local gym's wattbikes and see if it would hook up using my free 25km.
Great success I'm pleased to pass on to anyone else about to try this method.
Using an iPhone 5s once I initiated a workout on the wattbike screen the power readings were visible on the pairing screen and obviously then paired no problem. Obviously the iPhone was ludicrously small to use but I got the general idea. I'm going to investigate mirroring the iPhone using airplay to an android or windows tablet for use in the gym.
The only downside is it wouldn't pick up my Optical wrist HR which is a Mio fuse. Not sure why. It broadcasts on both ANT + and Bluetooth. Maybe not BLE though. Also couldn't save the ride but maybe that's because I'm not subscribed.

Obviously the Wattbike isn't smart in terms of resistance but I don't see that as much of a problem. I just stuck to a comfortable cadence and increased resistance manually when I found myself going up Box Hill.
I suppose gears on a turbo just flatten the resistance anyway so it's just approaching the effort as if on a bike with infinite gears.

Not sure I'll get a smart trainer just yet but will no doubt subscribe for a bit.

Sorry, I don't understand your comment about calorie apps. I use MFP and just add in a conservative version of my exercise calories from Strava.

Similar sort of numbers here 🙂 Set to lose 1 pound it gives me 2060 calories, so far today I've walked 15000ish steps and I go play squash at 9. This gives me about 3200 calories for the day. Which is enough to stuff my face more than I normally would every meal, tomorrow I won't get chance to walk as much as I'm not exercising, which means I get to eat just over half.

Don't get me wrong, if I had some vague consistency to my lifestyle I'd probably like it 🙂 I just feel I do better eating comfortably on rest days and not over eating on exercise days.

I don't think there's anything to say the calories have to even out each day. Weeksy's 5-2 is just calorie control by another name- so you could average your numbers out over a week.

I just like MFP for the reality check. It's scarily easy to buy and eat a whole day's allowance!

Oh indeed, same 🙂

I do use it, more so as a reality check as you say, I like the barcode scanner for quickly adding sarnies and things while at work. Today for example certainly wouldn't balance, tomorrow probably won't, Saturday we're going for some sort of family meal, so I'll have a really vague stab at guessing it. It's all a bit fluffy 🙂

I only really asked as I was curious how weeksy did such a good job of finding the balance between starving himself and having no energy and overloading on carbs every day. He seems to have found a good balance given the speed of the loss 🙂

I've lost 8-10kg since June but that's prety much only cutting out cake,chocs etc

I'm fitter, faster 😀 and not so 😳 diabetic any more

cutting out cake

No deal.

oh, don't get me wrong - I've only cut out cake after slices 1 and 2

(haven't eaten a choccy bar for months though)

Three weeks into Zwift and up until now I have been beasting myself to try and keep up with people, stay in groups etc and never letting up on the power.

Up until today when I was so knackered that I almost stopped pedalling and was still travelling along at a fair old rate of knots behind someone. Am I the only one who doesn't really know how drafting works?

I almost stopped pedalling and was still travelling along at a fair old rate of knots behind someone

Anyone doing the BRS Ibex race?

Well I did a real life ride today and within 5 miles I'd come off on muddy roads and broken a finger.
The virtual world is much safer

Oh dear dear me.

Zwift has ruined my perception of hills. I did a very hilly cycle (for a Londoner) yesterday and it felt like my rear brake was on for most of the climbs. 😆

Will have a crack at the 1.15 PM ODZ Magnum race this afternoon if work allows... anyone else? Slightly different race format in that the first ½ lap or so is neutral, be interesting to see how that affects the racing!

[quote=nathb ]Zwift has ruined my perception of hills. I did a very hilly cycle (for a Londoner) yesterday and it felt like my rear brake was on for most of the climbs.

that's why I have the realism turned up to 100%.

So, am looking to do some long audax's next year, so endurance rather than speed demon. Should I just do a couple of group rides and a couple of races a week or follow a training plan? I am leaning towards the first for keeping me interested even if it does yield slightly lower gains

jam bo - Member

that's why I have the realism turned up to 100%.

Yeah, I have to do that was well, otherwise my mental correlation between the gear I'm in and the speed Zwift says I'm doing is all wrong. It also seems to work better for sprints along with using instant power rather than 3 second. What I still can't seem to get to work, is a reflection on what happens IRL if I just get out of the saddle, without changing gear ramping up the cadence in a sprint. I know I can go from 15 to 25mph easily like this in a matter of meters, but in Zwift pretty much nothing happens. It means for sprints I need to pre-plan them and be carrying the majority of the speed before the white line.

Well I enjoyed the ODZ race with 3 "neutral" miles first before racing proper began (especially as I can never seem to leave enough time for a proper pre-race warmup!" Definitely getting fitter too as my average w/kg was up from normal despite it being a slightly longer race than normal for me... of course it could be a zPower/calibration issue but I'm putting it down to a couple of hard rides and a gym mesh last week and then a proper 2 days recovery over the weekend 🙂 Very tempted to get a decent smart trainer or power meter sorted out soon though to take out the uncertainty!

Well I enjoyed the ODZ race with 3 "neutral" miles first before racing proper began

how did that work out? I find the 150% from the off and hang on for as long as you can not much fun, get dropped and seem to end up pretty riding a solo TT for most of the races.

I only gave it full beans for a couple of minutes then settled into a group of other C cats riding at a sensible pace! Finished at the back end of C but was expecting that (only averaged 2.67 w/kg for the race). Managed to draft for most of the race, mainly other racers (but occasionally random riders) - found it's definitely worth a bit of extra effort not to get dropped (unless there's another group a bit behind that you can drop back to).

I suppose if I'd ridden harder for longer when the race began I'd have been at a group nearer the front but I don't think I'd have been able to sustain the pace. It wasn't massively different to a normal race to be honest but the neutral bit was a nice warmup.

nathb
Zwift has ruined my perception of hills. I did a very hilly cycle (for a Londoner) yesterday and it felt like my rear brake was on for most of the climbs.

On further inspection it turns out my rear wheel bearings weren't tight, so I was braking when out of the saddle, coupled with a slow puncture. 😆 😳

Had a nightmare in my first group event SZR sub 2. Event started and realised my trainer wasn't paired, any reason connecting a HR monitor would disconnect the turbo? Faffed and raced to catch up and then near the end I managed to jam my chain and waste five minutes putting it right. Also caught the SZR big group and then seen a bunch of SZR people go off and went with them, turns out they were the SZR joy ride group from looking at zwiftpower and seeing I'm dq'd for going to fast, wondered why everyone was going so fast for sub 2!

Will try another sub 2 tomorrow and set things up a bit better before the start.

Had a session today, can't remember the name of the event I did but it was a 3 lap affair.

2 laps of ramped efforts, then one banzai lap race at the end.

I was hanging on to the back of the lead group with about 3km to go & f*cking Zwift crashed! Thankfully it didn't lose all the data but it did lose the event.

Will have another go tomorrow in the ZTR Europe race & try again.

No races when I got on today so went for a potter up the mountain.

Zwift was in full effect yesterday, both me and a riding mate over at Surrey Hills, showing that while it may be a video game, the simple fact is, it's a game changer. ! Climbing from both of us was a lot better than you'd previously expect to see 🙂

I did wonder the other day, whilst riding up Box Hill in zwift how good a representation of it is. Can any compare their zwift time to real world time?

I was much slower on Zwift than my fastest time in the real world last time I rode it but that was before I got a smart trainer so who knows how the virtual power was making things go

simple fact is, it's a game changer.

Rider gets stronger, fitter and lighter with regular exercise... who'd have thought 😉

Rider gets stronger, fitter and lighter with regular exercise... who'd have thought

I guess it's to an extent where misconceptions come into it.

Before Zwift came along i thought i was doing regular exercise... but it seems regular is maybe a word that can confuse matters. I always thought i was putting the time in, the effort in and doing my bit. But now it seems that to actually get better.... my 'bit' needs to be more like what i'm doing now, rather than what i was doing back then.

It's very nice though to go out into the real world and notice the effects. More so for my mate this week (lurker rather than poster on here) who has been on zwift 6 weeks now, but his improvements are great !

Why are speeds so high in zwift?everything appears calibrated but I'm doing 20mph+ for an hour which I would never do in the real world.

i think it's aero/wind resistance maybe... or the fact it's in a 'perfect' world. I don't worry about speed really. more HR/power/distance as my metrics. Once you've ridden the loops enough times then speed comes into play as you're riding against your previous best speeds, but as to the actual speed, it's not important IMO.