Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

I did a morning outdoor ride then early evening I decided to jump in the fairly flat race as a massive field

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1289922

First 14km was spot on, the next 8 was ok, but in the last 7-8 I lost my legs, which wasn’t a massive shock.

Up to 24km I was in the bunch with Patch Harvey who I’ve raced plenty and he finished 2nd, but I lost a wheel a couple of times. Was nice to do a longish flat one though.

#savoyad, I’m not all that familiar with zwiftpower and reading the data therein, so can you let me know what you mean by cluster of red numbers as I can’t see anything in red other than the figure for my best 20mins.

Cheers.

So @kirky72 on your profile page with the long list of race results the highest value in each column goes red. i.e. your power PB for each of those durations gets highlighted. I noticed that the red values for 4 of the 5 columns (20mins, 5mins, 30secs, 15secs) are right near the top in your most recent 5 events. i.e. your power PBs across those durations are all really recent.
(Which I mentioned because it tallies with my experience riding with you recently – you are in excellent form). No idea what’s going on with your best 1 minute power.

Thank you for the explanation Savoyad, makes more sense now, I’m aware of those figures but to be honest don’t really check or monitor to those, normally just the average watts, average hr as an idea of how much effort I had put in. However looking at them yes it really paints a picture of some decent improvements in the last few months.

To be honest I had done far more random races in previous years but as I had edged from d, quickly to C and stayed there, I’ve managed to place well without perhaps hammering myself as much. Since the start of robbos series and riding with faster lad and mixed cats, I’ve had no choice but to push myself a lot harder if I want to try and hang with the big boys and it’s kind of proved to myself that I can push a bit more and not die.

Through summer I have been riding mtb or road outside and Zwift only when I’ve been housebound so only 2 or 3 a month. During robbos series I didn’t race randomly on Zwift very often and if I did I could coast it in cs. So only recently have I put the effort into races linked to zwiftpower hence that’s why I’m suddenly reaching PBS. Almost every ride I’m also improving pbs on sprints, key sections or climbs that I used to try to avoid altogether.

It all certainly ties in with the increase I’ve seen in ftp from 241 (from memory) at the start of the last series to 284w now. I’ve definitely improved but upon reflection I don’t think I had ever totally maxed myself out to reach the earlier ftp like I’m now doing. I was literally struggling to prevent pukage at the end of today’s race.

Regarding the best 1minute, it’s odd that if all the other timing improvements have come recently that hasn’t also uplifted, ie if had my best 5 minutes recently I must have had a good minute amongst those 5. However the 1min PB was in may 2018, I expect it may have been down to a mega crazy start or a trying to keep with a breakaway finish and a sprint finish. Now I know it I will try to bash out an improved minute effort (don’t tell the wife she may get the wrong meaning and be jealous).

I’m starting to get into the detail of all this stuff, never really studied my numbers in the real world before despite riding with a power metre for a while. Normally just check out segment pbs and average speeds for regular loops on strata as a performance guide. Might stick the stages back on the bike.

@weeksy – do you know who owns/admin is for the STW team on Zwiftpower? Want to try and encourage people to sign up for the team but their are no contact details.

After my poor show on Saturday morning I signed up to a TT yesterday afternoon.

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1266775

Was pretty happy with the outcome. I average 282w for the whole thing (30 mins). Had a cock up towards the end as I thought the finish line would be the sprint line but was 400m further on. Was aiming for sub 30 mins and thought I had it but didn’t base my effort on the extra 400m ooops and eased up before realising it hadn’t finished. Should bode well for tomorrow night if I can average that up the climb (at least for my handicap/limit)!

Sorry mate, dunno.

It all certainly ties in with the increase I’ve seen in ftp from 241 (from memory) at the start of the last series to 284w now.

on the 1st race, we were neck-and-neck the whole way right up until the end where my legs went and you beat me by about 30s. Subsequently, I didn’t see or ride with you at all because you were always right up at the front 🤣 If you have any EPO left over, please send some my way as a similar boost would be awesome 😉

@weeksy – do you know who owns/admin is for the STW team on Zwiftpower? Want to try and encourage people to sign up for the team but their are no contact details.

I don’t know but you might try David Churchill, he seems to have done the most rides. Not sure if that means he was a STW original or. not though

Not sure what his forum name is though?!

IIRC they left the team to join another.

No owner or modertor shown on the list. I think if they rejoin they are still classed as owner (I’ve done the same with the club one)

Best bet will be to post on the ZP forum and see if Sticky can help create a new owner or set some admins.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=12220&p=54984&hilit=team+owner#p54984

Look back through this thread it’ll be there somewhere

Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

:0)

Thanks Tom – have put a post up on the Zwiftpower forum.

yeh trying to find it in that thread wont be an easy task!

Anyway was doing the Deeside Wednesday night series and managed to get downgraded to C after 2 and picked up a 6th and a 2nd (points based for sprints and finish) but the 2nd pinged me to B properly. Badly placed at the start of every sprint but a decent finish at the end distancing the man who won the 3 intermediate sprints.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1259073

Needed a rest and just holding onto the back of B to be blown out in the hills wasn’t appealing so switched over to their Saturday Snowman sprint series.

Now that’s ace and I can be competitive in B. Kinda.

First race included the KOM but picked reasonable points up on the sprint for 16th
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1271900

2nd race was 4 sprints on London Classique. Ride around as slow as you like the rest of the time. Rode with 2 club members and finished a more than respectable 11th.
We should have sat up more though as the fastest group were 90 seconds behind us which would have increased sprint start speed and drafting opportunities. Plus it looks like I need to find another 100w or so.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1301258

Wow that was quick – I am now an Admin/Mod for the STW team on ZP. Does anyone else want Admin rights? Cheers

ugh, its not often i quit zwift races but tonight it was just too damn hard, 1815 DBR, 3 laps of Watopia flat, and it just wouldn’t settle down, and from the results, top 30 within 3 seconds it doesn’t look like it ever did, lasted 8 minutes, 8 minutes at 187bpm average, last minute was at 190bpm as i bridged, but couldn’t settle back in and pop! 316w av ridiculous, couldn’t sustain it, plugged pulled

sometimes your the hammer, sometimes your the nail

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1309682

Wow, that’s a tough one!

looking at the final w/kg though, its well within reach, just didn’t have the legs today

https://zwiftinsider.com/zwift-workout-editor/

This is handy for those of us who like more structured workouts and don’t like the kitchen sink approach of Zwift workouts. Can also share them if people want to do group workouts together for the same workout.

If you are planning a morning workout session at any point @robbo1234biking, let me know and I’ll join. I’ve still got to get through those you sent me previously.

Need a structured approach now, the “killing myself with long weekend rides and then not doing much the rest of the week” is not working for me right now, performance and motivation is down. Need to find the Zwift mojo again, it’s a shame there are no other decent challenges like the Tron one, that kept me motivated for a good 5 months.

I’m thinking of doing the festive 500 just as extra motivation during Xmas and at the same time keeping the timber off.

If we could get a group doing regular rides to jump on each day it would certainly make it easier. Seriously doubt I could get there by doing races every day.

@oopnorth will start some morning workouts next week on Monday morning. Starting with some sweetspot work and perhaps some vo2 max as well on a different day. I will build the workouts and email them over to you to import into Zwift

@kirky72 I had considered doing that as well is it 500km not miles? And does it all have to be done between Xmas and new year?

@robbo1234biking that’s great, look forward to it.

@kirky72 I might join you for some of the rides but not all, I don’t think I have the time to do on average 60km / day for 8 days. It will all depend on what times they are at, but it would be a good way of keeping the mince pies at bay!

its 500km circa 311 miles between 24 to 31st inclusive.

I’m thinking of a biggie on Xmas eve as the Mrs is working, Xmas day is still a very early get up for pressies so ll miss it.

then try for 45/50 miles a day until I need one rest day so probably 3 x 40/45 miles each days then a rest day and then 3 x 40/45.

the more I can do on the 24th will make it easier for the other days. any dry and not to windy days when the Mrs is home ill gonout and do 50 or 60 miles. chances are slim on that front.

hmmm not sure if I can commit to that much time in one block. If I do it will have to be 1hr to 1hr30 blocks and makybe another shorter one later in the day. We will see. Will be a good start to base training for the 2021 season though!

I might be able to do it. Our family is in Yorkshire and Kent so this xmas will be the first time that we don’t have to travel approx. 500 miles in order to see everyone so there will be a lot more time than I am used to!

Admittedly I don’t focus on weekly mileage, but I’ve only ever done one week of 300+ miles (instead of typically 90-175) back in July 2018, where I also passed the 20000 feet climbing weekly threshold for the first time in just over 20 hours.

Given Xmas is likely to be very low key and by luck my last pre-Xmas shift is the 22nd with a break until the 29th, I’ve signed up for the Rapha 500Km, helped by having the option of virtual miles. However, I’ve only ever done one turbo session over 90mins due to saddle pain and right now I feel far less fit (perhaps due to the extra ~5Kg+ since Feb) than my Strava stats suggest.

I might try for the festive 500 on zwift this year. If I get above 250km I’ll be happy.

Due to being at the MiLs for 3 maybe 4 days all in, sadly there’s no way i could do this. My bike doesn’t go with me when we go, so would only give me 4 days to complete, so 125km per day… that’s just not happening lol

@kirky72 I think it’ll be tough for me to commit to the Festive 500 but I’m definitely up for some longish rides over the festive season. Like Robbo, we won’t be driving the length and breadth of the England this year so should hopefully have a bit time on my hands.

Full 500 is unlikely for me, but defo post your zwift rides up Kirky as I can join for a few at least.
Has anyone got the PRL full under their belt? I’d fancy ticking that off but not sure I can take the turbo for the required time, I was really suffering with the turbo discomfort on the last big one I did.

I need to do PRL full and Uber still. Got an idea of ticking them off in 2020.

Was thinking of doing the Uber on the 19th or 20th and then the PRL at some point between Xmas and New Year. PRL Full might require a decent break.

@robbo1234biking The Uber is an itch I need to scratch. PRL….less so. I am free over that weekend so if you decide to do it, drop me an invite.

That’s about 6 hours in the saddle for the PRL Full isn’t it? Not sure I can commit to that but I’m up for joining with any rides that people suggest over the holidays, whether I do the full ride will be decided on the day and other commitments. Definitely post them chaps so we can join if needed.

I also see Zwift are doing the “Tour of New York” on the 18th-20th December, yeah I can’t see me getting excited about that one, I hate new York, especially that silly glass hill.

couldn’t quite decide if to ride or not today and if so which ride, fancied something steady as still recovering from Tuesday.

So either curiosity or stupidity got the better of me and I entered the 1pm future works crit but this was boost version which I had no idea existed.

At the race entry it exains what the boost is and effects upon your race. basically its edging a bit more Mario carts with an option of three levels of boost from 30 to 5 seconds. 5 seconds at an extra 500w 19 seconds at 200 w or 30 seconds or 50 watts. I went in the middle. each one also adds a weighted handicap so makes the whole race a bit harder the more boost you go for.

you have to charge the boost and when doing so you lose or have to put in 50/100/200 more watts for the same speed. Once charged you can use it when you want. plus you still get the normal pus.

I entered the B class so it was a bloody hard start to I didn’t attempt charging the boost until the second lap, I then used it up the cobbled climb and went depm second pack to shooting in front.

I only used it 3 or 4 times in the race, managed to save one for the last climb last lap and caught a small group that had got away

finished 6th on the road but those ahead all had 4.4 to 4.9w/kg so we’re rightly disqualified. which pushed me into gold position, my first in a B cat race. whoop whoop. 310w average for 20 minutes bloody hurt so I earned it.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1323600

hmm pulled the plug again tonight, 6pm hares and hounds B on Richmond flat roads, 313w av for 13 minutes, couldn’t face another 30km, not got long race legs at the moment, motivation well off,

then did the 1830 TT, heart wasn’t in it, bailed after 3 minutes lolz, let myself drift out to 100th, then tried to reel as many in as i could, think i got back to 68th or so, last 14 and a half mins i did 296w, so not too shabby, finished 28th on ZP 1:38 back,

just those starts, too hard at the moment

During my time on Zwift I’ve been slowly ticking off the route and achievement badges. When I saw that Evo where doing a 100k group ride round the volcano circuit I thought I’d give it a bash and get the 25 lap badge. Completed it but chuff me it was hard. 2 and a half hours at nearly 280w. Also doing it fasted probably wasn’t my best idea either 😩

that’s proper numbers ! Wow… impressed.

weeksy
Full Member

that’s proper numbers ! Wow… impressed.

Cheers. Tbh it was more effort than I wanted to do. Looking at the events last night this ride said it was going to be 3.5-4W/kg av. Great I thought, should be a decent high tempo ride that I can do on an empty stomach (which I’ve done numerous times when I need to loose a bit of podge) I’ll sign up. They lied lol. We were often pushing 4.2 per lap (we did quite a few at 4.4 then going down to 3.8 for a lap to recover) not to mention 5.8 on a couple of rises. The last 8 miles I was really starting struggle staying with the front group. In fact for the last lap I backed off and just rolled through to the finish.

So its xmas jumper time in Zwift. Choose the basic grey Jersey with the orange Z on the back and it magically transforms to a xmas jumper for this month.

Ho ho ho!

Is it possible to run Zwift and TrainerRoad at the same time?

I much prefer the training plans in TR but if I’m not listening to something then Zwift gives me something to look at while I’m riding!

Can I do both things at once?

@notmyrealname yes you can depending on your set up.

I have a laptop that accepts both Bluetooth and I have an ant+ dongle. My turbo (elite Direto) outs puts both Bluetooth and ant+.

I normally use the ant+ for Zwift but don’t have anything selected under the controllable trainer on the output screen.

I then use Bluetooth to connect TrainerRoad on either the pc (I have two screens) or I can use my phone or iPad to run TrainerRoad. You can swap this around however you want but make sure you don’t have anything selected under the controllable trainer on Zwift otherwise the two will fight against each other.