Yesterday was the first-ever running of Zwift Insider’s VO2sday Micro Races: 5 back-to-back mini time trials designed to give you a structured VO2 max workout hidden within the motivation and engagement of a race.
I jumped into the B category, so I could experience the races firsthand… and because I know I need to do more VO2 max work! Here’s how it unfolded for me…
Race 1: Overshooting
The first race was on 2.75km of Tempus Fugit, ending just after the rock arch marking the end of the “lead-in” section and the start of the official Tempus Fugit lap. 371 riders started that first race, even though, of course, the game only renders the nearest ~100…
With so much excitement in the air and adrenaline in the veins, I jumped hard out of the pens. Probably a bit too hard. After the first 60 seconds, my average power on screen showed 392W, so I purposely eased up a bit, knowing there was no way I could hold that power across 5 races!
I had decided beforehand to shoot for an average of 350W in each race. This felt like a tough but achievable target, since I’ve done it in past VO2 max sessions.
I could see on the minimap that I was sitting in a sea of green (B) riders, with blue (C) not far behind. I definitely wasn’t going to make it to the front of the group, but that was OK: for me, today was about trying to put in 5 big, steady efforts.
I crossed the line in 41st out of the B’s, at 359W average, HR at 173bpm. Let’s head to the race 2 pens!
Race 2: My Best Result
Everyone’s banter game had been strong from the start, but it would only get better as we all descended deeper into the VO2 max abyss.
I knew recovery would be vital if I wanted to put in good power numbers during these races, so I kept the legs spinning, at very low power, as we all caught our breath and chatted for ~5 minutes.
Race 2 was on the first 2.5km of Quatch Quest, ending somewhere on the rollercoaster climb of Titans Grove. I tempered my start a bit on this one, knowing the last bit would be uphill, and having more power to give on those climbs would improve my overall time.
We hit the uphill rollers with 1.2km to go, and I tried to lift my power when I felt the resistance increase. A bit over VO2 max on the ascents, ease a bit on the descents. Wash, rinse, repeat. But it was working! I was moving up in the field, or at least holding position on a hilly bit. So I kept that pattern going, and crossed the line in 19th. (This would be my best finishing position of the day.)
Average power of 356W, finishing HR of 179bpm. Now to the race 3 pens to spin the legs and recover for just under 6 minutes.
Race 3: the #%&@ Hilly KOM
The third race started in downtown Watopia and headed up the Hilly Route – the oldest route in Zwift! This was the climbiest of today’s 5 races, taking us up the Hilly KOM and ending just afterward on the downhill at 2km.
I didn’t anticipate doing particularly well in this race, given the climbing involved. But again, I had to remind myself that “doing well” today meant hitting my target power, putting in a maximal VO2 effort in each race.
Once again I conserved on the flat lead-in, knowing I’d want more power on the key climb. My average power was at 322W as we started the KOM, then I tried to ramp it up.
But ouch. I could tell the legs were feeling the two previous efforts. This was gonna get ugly.
I wasn’t paying attention to my pack position. I was just trying to keep the effort high. To push through the suffering. As we neared the top of the climb, I shifted up a few gears, getting out of the saddle to hammer a bit.
It didn’t help.
I sat back down and pushed to the line, finishing 57th, at 339W, with a HR of 180bpm.
Race 4: Implosion!
As I sat in the pens spinning my legs and questioning my life choices, it was heartening to see I wasn’t alone. There’s something really encouraging about knowing the people behind the avatars on your screen are also maxing out their legs and lungs.
This race was on 2.7km of Flat Route Reverse, ending on the JWB Bridge. We jumped out of the pens, began the climb up into The Esses, and it quickly became abundantly clear: I didn’t have 350W to give for this race.
But I wasn’t going to stop. I just dropped my power, holding around 300W, hoping this would let my legs recover a bit for the final race.
Unsurprisingly, this was my worst result yet: 76th place in the B’s, 299W average, 178bpm.
Race 5: the Downhill Comeback
We made it! The last race was mostly downhill, a 3km effort on Jungle Circuit. Some riders were going with gravel bikes, but I stayed on my TT rig, betting that the aero and rolling advantage, particularly on the initial 1.3km paved portion, was worth whatever I’d lose to a gravel bike on the dirt portion.
Jumping out of the pens and beginning our descent to the Jungle, I could definitely feel that my legs had benefited from dogging it in the previous race. Still, I wasn’t able to hold my initial 350W target. So I just tried to keep it steady, knowing the suffering would be over in just anothe minute or two.
I finished in 43rd, 332W average, 181bpm.
Watch the Video
Takeaways
I was happy with how the first-ever VO2sday Micro Races went. We started with 371 riders in race 1, and finished with 340 in race 5. That’s a lower attrition rate (8.3%) than I would have predicted!
The comments in game were largely positive, if you don’t count the many “This is terrible Eric, you’re the worst” sort of messages. 😂 I loved seeing all the banter, the camaraderie, the messages like this one from Alex affirming that these races did what I’d hoped they would do:
In terms of my personal performance, I finished 41st out of the 89 B racers who completed all 5 events. Not my finest moment, but you know what? It was a great workout!
I recorded my whole session on my head unit, using my Favero Assioma pedals as the power source. Looking at the chart (see it on ZwiftPower), it looks like a solid VO2 max workout, even if the 4th race is a bit low:
One annoying thing is that the JetBlack Victory trainer I’ve been using for a few months likes to read low on occasion, and this was definitely one of those occasions. Every race I did had the trainer 10-15W lower than my pedals. Gah!
But that makes me feel a bit better about my effort on the day. Based on the pedal data, I basically just overshot my VO2 max target in the first two races and nearly hit it in races 3 and 5. I’ll take that.
What Next?
Several riders offered feedback before, during, and after these races on tweaks to dial in the experience. I’m curious what you all think of these ideas, so please comment below! In no particular order:
- Have categories start separately, with slower groups leaving first, so it becomes a bit of a chase race. This would make it easier to see how you’re doing against the riders in your category, and reduce the processing load for people running Zwift on a potato.
- Neutralize the bikes/wheels so nobody has an advantage. Or alternatively, put everyone on the same frame/wheels.
- Disable steering, so those with steering don’t have an advantage.
- Enable drafting, because racers are lazy and want to sit in (this one’s for you, Beccah! 😄)
As I spun around the Jungle Circuit for a cooldown, my glycogen-depleted brain also had the idea to make these time-based races instead of distance-based, so each race ends at (for example) 4 minutes. Then it’s a question of who rides furthest in the allotted time.
I really like this idea, because it would let us have precise “interval” lengths, and because it’s very different from typical Zwift races. There’s just one problem: I don’t think ZwiftPower can support it! But I’m looking into it.
I’m hoping to use Zwift’s Compound Score for categorization beginning next week. Working with the ever-helpful Tim Hanson of zwiftracing.app to make that happen!
Lastly, many of you have requested additional timeslots for this event, which is perfectly understandable. I do plan to add timeslots… I just have to figure out what they’ll be, and when to launch them. Stay tuned for news on that.
More VO2sday Videos
Here are a few more livestreams from the day’s racing. I bet we’ll see some nicely-edited highlight reels from other Zwifty YouTubers in the coming days as well! (Share your link below if that’s you, and I’ll share the video on this page.)
Manuel Essl
Justin van der Nest
Bill Henson
Luke Walton
Questions or Comments
What did you think of your VO2sday experience, and what do you think of the various ideas for tweaking the experience listed above? Share your thoughts below!
Eric last night was wild – I enjoyed each of the 5 races, its rare I put myself into the hurt-box like I did. Its nice to provide variances and variables for each rider to take a punt on, and keep drafting off. this is not a race rather a training race!
Unfortunately ZP is very bad with time based event and doesn’t consider distance as far as I’ve seen it looks quite random
I’m the same as Darian, that’s most probably the most pain I’ve volunteered for. The banter def helped, I did like the mass start as it was nice to be able to try and catch Bs and push/chase the ads.
love Batman
These races were brilliant & I can’t wait for next week 🙂👏👏🔥. Thanks so much for all your work in staging them. Below is my two cents on your queries 🤣
Agreed with all the points above. Getting rid of bike choice and steering would take too much of the “race” element out of it.
Only change I think worth considering is possibly making it time-based.
Huh, I wonder how Sarah suddenly got kicked from COALITION…
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes to time-constant, distance-variable races; definitely no to having slower groups start earlier in the current format. Those are the people who need at least as much recovery time as the stronger riders, if not more, since they would be putting out a longer effort than the faster riders over a given distance. If you want to include riders of all abilities, the rest time has to be factored in as much as the time of effort.
Thanks Eric for putting this together — what a brilliant concept. I’ve never done individual time trials in Zwift before, so this was a real eye-opener for pacing myself properly. Going in, I’d estimated I should be targeting just under my 5-minute power PB of 350W, which gave me something concrete to aim at rather than just going full gas and blowing up.
The variety of courses across the five races was a highlight for me. Each one forced me to adapt — making sure any power increases went in the right places rather than just putting my head down and grinding through it like a workout. The racing element made a huge difference here too: being able to see how I was faring against others around me gave me real-time feedback that my pacing strategy was actually working. And going into each race knowing my positioning was improving kept me pushing when I might otherwise have eased off. I ended up finishing 3rd in the overall GC, with a surprising win on the final downhill course — which I honestly didn’t expect to suit me — overall going better than anticipated.
Never has a VO2max workout been so much fun!
On your questions:
– Mass start for all categories — I was happy with this. It meant I could race from the start alongside my son and also benchmark myself against other categories throughout.
– Bike upgrades / neutralisation — I had a fully upgraded Cadex so was fine with the non-neutralised option, but I wouldn’t be upset if neutralised equipment was enforced. As much as I enjoy tinkering with the equipment choice, it wouldn’t change the overall experience for me.
– Steering — I have it enabled but was honestly working too hard to think about it! Switching it off wouldn’t take anything away from the format for me.
– No drafting — This is what makes it feel genuinely different and keeps the workout integrity intact. I’d keep it as is.
HI, off topic but question: are there more reports from people who suddenly in the middle of a ride and with a runnjng and paid subscription get a ‘trial expired’ screen. Which they can’t escape and because of that ending their ride? Any clue why this happened? Reported it to Zwift as well
Thanks for the response
Zwift is moving to a new subscription management platform this week. I’m sure your issue is related to that! Hopefully support can get it sorted quickly.
Really good series of races (and I say that not just because of my results 😎). The competition made me push harder than just a workout structure but probably didn’t have the control, I had steadily decreasing average power across each race.
I liked the mixed cat format as it meant there were people about to race however you were doing but it did make it hard to keep track of “competitors” with so many riding. If cats had been set off separately I’d have had a lonelier ride or more likely backed off once there was a gap.
Steering didn’t seem to do too much as with the big group it wasn’t really feasible to switch lanes anyway. Over 4 minutes bike & wheel selection isn’t going to have a huge impact when the differences are seconds over an hour.
I disagree with the suggestions mentioned above. I thought the format was perfect, although I do also like your idea of time-based races. That would be neat and would actually help give us a better idea of how hard to go, since it’s hard to tell how long these segments will take.
…like an elimination race that was used in the World Championships? That looked fun.
An elimination race would be super fun! Like a Backyard Ultra but for bikes (but shorter).
Thanks for the great new event format, Eric!
If only Zwift itself (and it’s 300+ employees) would follow your lead and actually put some creativity into the race formats (and in-game controls to support different race formats).
We shouldn’t have to rely on one unpaid member of the community as the only source of intriguing new types of races (and thank you for doing it despite Zwift’s efforts to make it nearly impossible to set up anything other than a basic scratch).
Elimination races? Points races? Team races?
always someone who comes to the party to complain about the cake
Really enjoyed the races yesterday, type 1 and type 2 fun! Would be great to have time-based races, to allow for all people to have the same work-rest balance, which is key to VO2Max training! That would be a lot better than my original idea of bike designation with cat A on the slowest (but nice) bikes and cat D on the fastest possible setup. But when calculating the time difference it would make (5-10 seconds), the impact of that would be too small to even things out. And putting cat A’s on MTB’s would make a lot of them unhappy I think. And please keep the steering.
I was amazed how many racers dropped valuable seconds on race 3 by using a TT setup, Zwifterbikes reckons even at 3W/Kg that my stage 5 S-Works SL8 with Wake wheels was ~7secs quicker than my stage 4 Cadex TT with the same Wake wheels!
Unless things have improved in the last few years, fixed time based races are a disaster on zwiftpower, results are completely random.
Which is a shame, because a 5min course for the weakest pen will take far less than 5mins for the strongest pen.
And because each pen’s racers aren’t racing for 5mins+, power data isn’t processed at Zwiftpower and very few racers will get pen promotions because there won’t be enough data to change Compound Score; VO2; zMAP.
Especially for TTs but really for all racing, Zwift needs rider declared height to be a factor in determining pen allocation, little people get such a speed boost in Zwift!
Unaltered Compound Score doesn’t work great for the wide range of weights declared by different Zwift riders, hence ZwiftRacing’s Tim Hanson added a weight factor, but to use that we would all ned to sign up via Tim’s site instead of Zwift/Zwiftpower.
Going forward, I fear it’s going to be tricky stopping the same faces winning the same pen races, regardless of the course profile, week in week out.
Doesn’t make a lot of sense to compare your stage 5 Tarmac and stage 4 Cadex and assume everyone else made a bad decision, though…
At stage 0, the two bikes are essentially tied at the end of the course at 3 W/kg. I just ran a test myself to confirm. Attaching images…
If you have both bikes fully upgraded, the TT bike will actually be a bit faster than the Tarmac.
And that’s at 3 W/kg. At higher speeds, the TT bike will be even further ahead.
Eric, seems like you have many fans of the no draft concept! Great job trying something different and appealing to the different sorts of riders on Zwift.
I agree that this was most fun doing intervals I’ve had in a long time! Knowing I would be pack fodder, just worked on finishing a consistent midpack and feeling spent at end. I just stayed on TT as I wasn’t thinking about bike changes.
I would love to see an AM slot (UK, or at least, sometime before 16h00). Looks like a brilliant challenge.
Thanks Eric !! 👍🙏
Please keep draft off to differentiate this from tiny races!
And to keep it an hour effort, maybe even do 6 races to really push the horror! 😉
And would be nice if at least one of them ended up as 5min+ for all categories, maybe first or last race?
I loved that I was able to race with my friends who are usually in a category higher up so please don’t change that part🙏🏻 Loved your choices of different routes to fit different riders😊 thank you!
As an old, fat, cycling novice; I really enjoyed it and was ecstatic that I didn’t finish last!
My aim when joining Zwift back in January was to lose weight after getting bored doing spin workouts on iFit – I’m quite a competitive person so the racing aspect was appealing.
I’ve really enjoyed reading all the articles on here about what frames & wheels to buy and have bored my Wife endlessly over the last week or so about reaching level 24, getting a 2nd level upgrade on my Canyon Aeroad 24 and my beautiful Lava wheels earnt on the Breakthrough challenge 😆.
After last nights exertions, this morning was my weekly weigh-in and I lost 1.3kg – most of which was probably from last nights sweat-fest. Just another 20kg to go & I might be able to get up hills at a pace quicker than a snail.
So thank you Eric 👍
Are not the Duathlons time based so how fr you can go in both events – so they shoudl be able to do this or is that done by WTRL?
That’s handled by WTRL. But I’m going to see if I can use his stuff! 😜
I agree about the issue with these races generally being less than five minutes for most riders and thus having no effect on zMAP (which can determine pace category). Using myself as an example, I have been training consistently and focusing on MAP workouts, and I am actively trying to increase my 5-min number.
I set a new 5-min PR about a month ago in a race, and based on current fitness, I feel that I am due another one if I have the right race opportunity; I thought that VO2sday would be my chance. After a good warm-up, I went as hard as I reasonably could in race 1 when I was freshest, but my race was finished in less than five minutes, and that was my highest power of all five races.
I suppose this touches on the topic of whether VO2sday can and should be, at least in part, a 5-minute power test, and I say why not. As others have said, we are far more motivated to dig deep in a race, and I won’t specifically try to set a 5-minute PR in a race unless it makes sense tactically at the time (which actually isn’t often enough for me).
I am totally willing to get upgraded into the next category too (and place lower initially in these races) if it means I can keep progressing. I am at risk of hitting plateaus with my FTP around this time of year when I start riding outside more and I’m not interval training as formally. I know MAP/VO2 helps to raise the ceiling for FTP, which is why VO2sday and VO2 workouts in general are valuable to me.
I suppose it is already the same with Tiny Races, but having watched a couple of streams I think this would be incredibly hard for lower cat riders who effectively have to perform at the same level of effort for longer and with reduced recovery time.
So the timed race idea would be great to neutralise that… or potentially slightly reduced distances by category.
5 x 3.5 effort / 6.5 recovery is very different to 5 x 4.5 effort / 5.5 recovery.
Great points. I think that uniformly timed races (all 4 or 5 minutes) is the way to go as it applies equally to all individuals. Reduced distance by category could work too but isn’t ideal. The natural performance overlap means that riders at the upper end of their category get extra recovery compared to their category peers while the riders in the bottom half of the next category that could use that shorter distance / increased recovery wouldn’t get it.
For example, look at any of the top times in any lower category in any of the five races then see how many riders in the next category up had slower times.
To be clear, I do like the reduced / equitable distance idea, and some natural imbalance comes with the territory sometimes. If we are able to go with a solution that affects every individual equally, though, fixed time races is the solution.
This looks ideal and another innovation to increase the variations in training and workouts available.
I say “looks” as I couldn’t make the start being that the time slot for us southerners (down under) is 0300 ie 3am! and difficult to schedule.
I know Eric has seen this and mentioned adding additional time slots, thanks.
Thought Bubble: Make races for riders in specific time zone areas (if possible), then have a time zone overall challenge. Something like Country vs Country 😇
Thanks Eric. We reaaaaally need this in the Aussie evening time zone. I think the 4 min idea is great. I do not usually like mass starts for Zwift races but for the this type of race, I think it’s the way to go.
Re time slots – have you considered shifting by 10 minutes? So Race one starts at 10mins past, race 2 at 20mins past etc. Then time for a 10min warm-up to start on the hour, and a the time helps you remember how many races you have done when the brain is slightly addled.
These looked like an absolute blast! I hope the support for the series continues and more time slots become available. Time based events would be optimal as too much rest supposedly negates the benefits of the pain. 😀
Hopefully more time slots. Sounds like a great workout/race. Instead of distance would it be possible to work with the power segments Zwift created?
Thanks for adding the 3rd time slot Eric, I am keen to participate. Unfortunately I am doing SISU Pinki on the same day during May, and the thought of doing a SISU race a couple of hours after a VO2 workout is more SISU than I am capable of. I’ll be there June. First one looked great, congrats for the big turnout.
Loved the concept and looking forward to next week. For me, drafting has to be off. It’s all about how hard you can go. We need to keep away from sitting in and sprinting at the end. Neutralised bikes and wheels would also be good, as would disabled steering. It’s all about the rider then. As for time-based races. I like that idea, but also like the distance as that can make you go deeper if you’ve miscalculated the finishing time, like I did, 5 times 😂
Observations from the broom wagon from week 2
Very fun way to to get some hard intervals in. Thanks for organizing.
By race three you get to know who you are “competing against”. Adds a extra element to push
Don’t make it a chase race (and keep it as a mass start) I get passed enough already and a full pen is more fun to shoot the breeze with
For those of us with the broom wagon, recovery time is minimal. I think i had 1:30 to recover between r4 and r5, Distance would be a great solve. Alternatively give the faster racers the safety bike (or a drag factor penalty) and the D group an e-bike and shorten the distance a fraction. They will still kick my butt I’ll get a little more recovery time. w/kg is the goal here.
No drafting – not that that makes difference to me when the nearest person is round the next bend.
See y’all for week 3. I’m coming for you Aussie Dinosaur.