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Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.
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nixieFull Member
Can’t remember for certain but think you just go to the team page on zwift power and join https://www.zwiftpower.com/team.php?id=756
nixieFull MemberYou need to register with ZP as well and also set your zwift account to allow ZP access.
Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition
Latest Singletrack VideosFresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...nixieFull MemberSo the KISS race went mostly well. It was two laps of Fugo flats which I’ve not races before. I was napping at the start (reading stw on my phone) and nearly got dropped from the off as I pulled away at 200W. Fortunately the start was not crazy fast and there were enough riders I could draft back to the front.
There were a fair number of big hitting riders in the field so I was expecting a fast pace. Not knowing the I also didn’t know where attacks would occur. Turns out the short climb from desert to sequoia forest and the drop.dowm.the other side is the place. Lap one it was enough to split most of the B’s off till I’m the under water section. They had just reattached as the pace went up again from the ramp to the surface. This split the pack leaving a lead group of around 30.
The pace stayed steady for the desert and again went high as we went up the hill out of the desert. Another split started here and I was on the wrong side of it. The gap opened up to 7s and I thought that was a done deal but for some reason the lead pace slowed as we entered the underwater section. This meant the chasing group regained half the gap just going down the ramp and we’re back together before sequoia circle. On the ramp to the surface the pace went up but there was no real attack. With about 3-4k to run I think everyone had settled in for the sprint.
With a lot of sprinters in the pack there seemed to be a concensus to go long and the pace ramped up before 1k. This suits me as I’m not a good short sprinter. Full chat sprint seemed to start at around 500m at which point I was just off the leaders. Managed to not loose any more spots but couldn’t move up. Finished 14th which I’m very happy with considering the field strength. I’m now very close to breaking under the 300 point racing license level as well which had been eluding me for a while.
dirtyriderFree Memberraced in real life last night, first ever on the road bike, Cat 3/4 local summer series, rained hard start to finish, cornering in the wet on a road bike isn’t my forté, was around a 2.29km loop round a race track 14/15 riders, commissaire pulled me before the start and said wheels above 60mm meant i couldn’t place in the top 5, decent learning curve, did my bit at the front a few times to pull it along, led out the last lap and let every come past me with about 400m to go to fight for the sprint and rolled in 13/14 i think,
weeksyFull MemberSlightly unrelated question, but still Zwift related.
Lets say you’ve trained harder in 6 months than any other. 30+ hours a month and the legs are tired each and every time.
How much tapering should you/I be doing for something like the SDW and the like ? I want to go into it as strong as i can, but without losing fitness in the next 4 weeks.
So, what sort of tapering ? easy days, short days, long slow days ?Thought appreciated.
ADFull MemberSame race as nixie last night (although a bit further down field… 🙂 29th in B).
Really enjoyed that one though!weeksyFull MemberThought i’d jump on a race today as i had 45 mins spare to play
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=197698
Typical of the race really. Over the line and the lead-in it was a group of about 35 of us, which was shortly hacked a bit where the courses cross and you get a 4% for 150m, then a 2%, i know from experience it surges there as the lightweights sod off at 5+ so i was on the case and ready for it. It then surges again at the roundabout with the statue at the 2%….. We’d dumped about 10 riders in them sections.
Onto lap 2 of 3 and i’m sitting OK, trying to recover as it flattens for the next Km or so, i’ve got 178 on the HR monitor and i know that’s non sustainable for me. So i settle in for the next lap. Up to the crossover again and it kicks, hard…. I hold it… But it’s pushing me right to the limits. On the run down to the hairpin it all gets a bit quick and 4-5 riders are slowly being dumped…. Sadly, i’m one of them as i was sitting a bit too far back. But then 3 riders throw in a 500w boost and drag themselves back in… So it’s just me and 1 other fella.Sadly for me he was a bit crap LOL he didn’t stick in the effort at all and we had 1 guy just ahead who we could have caught if he’d worked a little… but no… nothing… we had 1min 30 on the group behind, but they now had an A rider who was finding 4w/kg, so i had to hold a decent power to make sure the gap never came down. Blokey still wasn’t playing, so it was more of a solo than a duet. To top things off, he then beat me by 0.05s in the sprint LOL.
3 days off the pedals now as i’m away on the KTM.
Kryton57Full MemberHow much tapering should you/I be doing for something like the SDW and the like ? I want to go into it as strong as i can, but without losing fitness in the next 4 weeks.
So, what sort of tapering ? easy days, short days, long slow days ?My current taper based on A Marathon Xc on the 30th is for 4 weeks:
Weeks 1 and 2 – For the SDW – as I am for my Pivot 12h – id be doing lots of long 6-8hrs of z2 per week with a race and some short sharp intervals in the weeks before the taper, say 4 workouts a week, 10hrs
Week 3:
1hr race last night (intensity)
1hr Z3 / Marathon race pace tonight
3hr Z2 Sunday
Week 4:
30 mins Monday – Warm up/down with 3 x 2mins all out 1 min off
30mins Wednesday – Warm up/down with 2 x 5 mins threshold 5 mins off
30 mins Saturday ramp through all zones pre race
sunday – race
So basically a lowering of volume yet keeping the legs turning.
ADFull MemberFun little race – towed a group round completely failing to drop ’em on the ‘hills’ only to be outsprinted by a C cat putting out 9.4W/kg 🙂
Good craic!
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=197732nixieFull MemberThread has been quiet recently. Guess everyone apart from me is taking advantage of the nice weather outside. I’ve been stuck in the loft mostly cooking. Definitely time for a second fan. I have however got the go ahead for a SDW attempt at the beginning of August so may be doing less races till then and more climbing.
Last Tuesday I did a big evening while wife was working late. Did the KISS 8pm (https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=198925) quickly followed by a 1 lap 3R sprint race (https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=198929) and finally a 3R training session with interval ramps and sprints.
The KISS race was good for me. I felt strong and for once was leading or towards the front of all the ramps, especially the one on the lead in that I frequently get dropped on. I was still there for the sprint but don’t have the legs to compete when its short and fast. Felt like I should have done better though. Still a good solid race and enough points to move me under 300 on the racing rank for the first time.
I’ve done a couple of 1 lap Watopia flat sprints now and always have fun with that. I really like the bunched start and then attempts to string the field out. Even after the KISS effort I was still feeling good so put the hammer down on a couple of ramps to spice it up a bit. We had dropped all but one of the Bs by the end. No one seemed to want to go for it at the end and the winner slipped away as everyone else prevaricated. Legs didn’t want to go full sprint again so I finished at the back of the lead group.
Sunday I did the BRT Iron Goat race on one of the new routes ‘Out and Back’. First time out on this route and I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I did forget about it going up the KOM climb after the Volcano (Note to self read the map).
The pace started off quite sedate with comments on the chat to it feeling like a rando. Can’t have to much of that talk so I hit the ramp out of Saddle Springs hard (6+ W/kg for as long as I could hold it). This caused a bit of a split :D. Did the same again out of the underwater section and the small ramp in the volcano. I settled down a bit then to get the HR down before the main climb. This was tough, set a PR up the Volcano but at several points I only just stayed in touch. Over the top two riders pulled off the the main bunch by 7s so we had to work hard all the way down to pull them back.
There were a few small attacks as we passed the Italian Villas but nothing too full on. To my surprise the pace up the reverse KOM was not that high, I was expecting it to go flat out. Seemed like the field had settled in for a sprint. I decided to try and go before 1k to stretch out the short sprinters, someone else had the same idea and was off at 1.5k. I was a bit slow respnding as we got towards the end and fell back a little. Managed to catch one rider before the end but gave up early and another came around me on the line, grr. Must not give up next time as I’d done the hard work for that place.
Tiger6791Full MemberRejoined Zwift this week.
1st step on a bid to end my current 8 month self destruct which has resulted in a total loss of any fitness and a 2.5 stone bacon suit in 8 months
Somehow I totally lost track of my way, not sure my head is in the right place. I’ve barely touched my bike and I’ve maybe ridden 3-4 times this year totalling 150km (I rode 5000km last year)
Going to try to motivate myself out (I’ve managed an odd jog so far )to get the turbo out as not ready for roads or trails yet and try to fix this.
Watch this space (I hope)
nixieFull MemberWelcome back. Do you have room to leave the turbo setup with bike in place? ONe less hurdle to using it if your suffering with motivation. Hopefully you find it and the fun again 👍.
weeksyFull MemberFirst time in ages i jumped on Zwift yesterday.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=204018
Made a deliberate choice not to head out with group1 and just sat in group 2 for the first lap, before being binned out by them on the Innsbruck hill as always. 🙂
All in all it was mostly just a tester for me really, just wanted to see if my legs worked after the last weekend. They were fine and happy enough.
piemonsterFull MemberMorning,
Am I right in thinking that there is no Pay As You Go (literally by session) option for interactive training software at the minute?
Aside from buying Sufferfest videos (if that’s still a thing).
I think RGT might be an option if it’s still free?
Anything worthwhile? Has to run through an IPad. I’ll only use it for very short pedals once a week or so. I suspect I’ll end up just manually controlling the trainer and YouTubing but thought id ask for suggestions.
akiraFull MemberI guess the question is how much would you be willing to pay per session and compare that to zwift monthly cost. RGT is pretty good for free, far less people on it but still pretty good.
weeksyFull MemberTBH Zwift is what £13 a month now ? Even going to th local gym is going to cost a Fiver a time, so you wouldn’t even get 3 sessions for your £13.
The interactive aspect of zwift and the immersive racing/events/socials of it make it worth each and every penny.
BadlyWiredDogFull MemberAside from buying Sufferfest videos (if that’s still a thing).
No, it’s not, though presumably the old ones will still work, but without the smart trainer controllability. All current SF stuff is app based and very good ime.
Folk seem to like the GCN turbo vids on YouTube fwiw.
piemonsterFull MemberThe racing, structured, and social elements aren’t really factors tbh. Especially as you often have to be on the trainer at specific times. If I’m on the trainer, it’s either a recovery ride or 30 to 60 minutes at 6am. Basically just some time spent pedalling. You could call them junk (trainer) miles but I seem to benefit s great deal from training almost every day, so long as some are easy efforts.
Yesterday being a good example, if the trainer was set up. I’d have done some active recovery, but as it was I did naff all.
I think I’ll try RGT. But I’m coming round to the idea what I really need is Netflix or Eurosport.
mashrFull MemberIs there any way of getting a sneaky extra free Zwift trial when you’ve already used yours up? Used it on a standard turbo, but now have a Kickr Core on the way so would like to give that a spin too. Assuming an alternative email address would do it?
dirtyriderFree MemberThe racing, structured, and social elements aren’t really factors tbh. Especially as you often have to be on the trainer at specific times.
there’s about 100 races a day
dirtyriderFree MemberIs there any way of getting a sneaky extra free Zwift trial when you’ve already used yours up?
piemonsterFull Memberthere’s about 100 races a day
How many are recovery paced? So it’s group rides. That happen to start the minute I get to hop on the bike. Although I do recall you can join group rides after they started, maybe?
Even with the races included, I almost always used to find myself having to hang around or just missed something. Waiting 15 minutes with the time I tend to have available didn’t prove workable last time I used Zwift.
If I’ve time to be flexible, I’ve time to go outside!
piemonsterFull MemberIs the companion app the best place to look for group rides?
nixieFull MemberI find zwiftpower the best place to look for events. More info in the table and you can filter by event type. Almost all group rides allow late joining (you join near the ride leader I think).
Welcome back Weeksy.
I’ve been doing a fair few races but haven’t posted write ups as the tumbleweed was getting a bit thick.
If anyone fancies something different the Zwift Community Live event last week was really good (Tuesday 19:25 GMT). They are playing with the settings to try and improve the racing. e.g. last week was double draft but modified drag to try and allow you to attack. Also the power ups were modified so only offensive ones were available (including the rather cool ghost mode). So no van or XP powerups.
weeksyFull Memberhttps://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=205476
Interesting race yesterday, despite the fact the results don’t really show it as only 50% of the riders are on the list. Went off with the fast boys and then set a PR up the climb by a fair bit (30s quicker on a 6 min climb) which continues to confuse me as to why i failed on the SDW as clearly i’ve not lost form IMO.
Sadly we had the usual power>weight issue on the climb and i lost the guys i was racing with mostly… The rest of the race was a bit of cat and mouse. Some guy caught me and i was tempted to jump on the wheel, but it would have ended up putting me deep in the red to stay with them, i had over 1min to the guy behind, so i just took it nice and steady for the 2nd lap, making sure i held the power on the climbs.
Had some slippage on the turbo on the 15% bits, i think it was down to tyre pressure so will have a peek today.
weeksyFull MemberI jumped on for the first half of the 50km London Flat yesterday. Only got on it because Murdo had signed up from here. In the end he never joined which was a shame.
Went out in group 2 off the lead in, i could have held the As at this stage but wasn’t part of my plan. But we settled in with a fast A leading us round and keeping us all very honest throughout. Esepcially on the little 3% kicks where i was getting high HRs in this heat, only 174bpm, but that’s high enough to get me near the edge ! But on the flatter parts it settled down nicely so i was cruising in the low-mid 160s.
I did 45 mins and decided that was plenty, as i’m still trying to get back into things i don’t want to kill myself. But the pace was good, the legs were good and form seem OK 🙂All of which, makes my SDW failure even more confusing !
robbo1234bikingFull MemberWeeksy – although Zwift gives you good base I don’t think you can compare efforts to riding a MTB outside. It might be more closely matched to road riding but I dont think it is that comparable to riding a MTB on off road terrain.
Part of it is that producing power on Zwift is fairly simple but when you are having to shift your weight around on a MTB it is a lot more fatiguing than just sitting and spinning.
weeksyFull MemberWell yes, but it’s not like i only train on Zwift, i ride plenty outdoors too. My point was more than on the SDW ride i seemed completely off form, struggling to ride with a mate who rarely makes me work hard, but out there i was losing time on hills to him, which is mostly unthinkable. (sorry mate if you read that 🙂 )
I thought i’d lost form somewhere in a generic context, but it really does seem to be that i fell apart that day only. The rest of the riding i’m doing my form seems great 🙂 Not quite at my peak or highest power and lowest weight, but decent enough.
robbo1234bikingFull MemberFair enough – the distance is hard to train for as well. My zwift rides and normal rides are very rarely more than 2-3 hours so riding all day on the Jennride was tough for me.
weeksyFull MemberAbsolutely Robbo, but again, i’d done the SDW previously with the same mate, i’ve ridden with him for over a decade now, we’ve done it 3 times previously, yes it was hard but we both made it each time, just about 🙂
He completed it this time too, i failed… But i knew very early on in the ride i was struggling and in trouble, i just have no idea as to why really.It doesn’t matter now, i can’t go back in time and change things.
weeksyFull MemberStill in the quest for form and fitness, got a race in 25 mins on the London Flat layout, which i usually enjoy. Debate internally is whether i try and go with the A/B or sit and hang in for the fast Cs…. Not sure i’m up to the A/B stuff just yet, so likely to play it by ear and potentially jump in group 2 and see where i end up.
trail_ratFree MemberWhat sessions are folk hitting up regular ?
My little one just arrived so I’m confined to zwift so that I’m on hand during my hour of freedom and I’m sticking to socials rather than racing ATM due to lack of sleep.
There’s a fair few social rides , some better than others ime.
Some beacons are weak as d the ride descends into chaos quick and others are ruled with an iron fist and are much better for it.
weeksyFull MemberThey now have a barrier ahead of leader, if you pass it you get 60s to get back or you’re kicked from ride.
This now means social rides are more together than everweeksyFull Memberhttps://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=207220
I don’t know how many times I died a death in this one, but the main time was 3ish km from the line. Little 3% gradient, only about 500m in length but we’d had 3 break attempts leading to it so I was already at 175bpm when the surge came and that was it, spat out.
Tried hard 171 average HR
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