Some people ride to relieve stress – and we’ve all had plenty of that this year. Others do it to lose weight. And still others are following specific training plans, even though their racing goals this season are murky at best.
Me? I ride because I love the results. Cycling brings me much-needed fitness, healthy competition, and fun with friends. It also lets me see my surroundings in a fresh light: there’s simply no better way to experience the world.
This Year vs Last
It’s been a strange year, hasn’t it? Here we are in early June, and I’m still spending ~80% of my riding time on Zwift. This isn’t normal. In past years I would be riding ~80% of my miles outside by now. But shelter-in-place (SiP) combined with a shrinking set of local riding buddies and so many fun Zwift events has resulted in this odd situation.
It’s also resulted in me being fitter than ever before.
Tracking Fitness
How do you track fitness? There are, of course, a variety of ways to do so. Tracking methods are largely driven by which sport(s) and goals you’ve chosen. Swimmers and cyclists have different fitness metrics. Racers look at different numbers than the casual athlete seeking to shed 20 pounds.
The important thing is to find metrics that work for you. Here are the numbers I keep a close eye on:
- My fitness score in TrainingPeaks
- My FTP
- My weight
- My body fat percentage
None of these is a perfect measure of cycling fitness. But they are easy to track and combined give me a solid picture of where I’m at. And you know what? I’m in a really good place right now.
My FTP is as high as its ever been – somewhere in the 305-315 watts range, depending on how I test it. My weight has been down around 180 pounds (~82kg) for the last two months, which is the longest I’ve ever stayed so light. And my body fat percentage and watts per kilo numbers are happily reflecting this combination of low weight and high strength!
What I’m really excited about, though, is my fitness score in TrainingPeaks.
How TrainingPeaks “Fitness” Works
TrainingPeaks uses a metric called TSS to assign a Training Stress Score to each workout. TSS is based on the duration and intensity of your workout so for example, a full-gas 1-hour effort may have the same TSS as a 3-hour ride at social pace.
That TSS metric is then used to chart your daily level of fatigue, fitness, and freshness:
- Fatigue: how tired is your body from recent training? This is an exponentially weighted average of your past 7 days worth of TSS.
- Fitness: how strong is your body, thanks to all the recent training? This is an exponentially weighted average of your past 42 days worth of TSS.
- Form: how good will you feel on today’s ride? Subtract yesterday’s fatigue from yesterday’s fitness and you have today’s form.
The TrainingPeaks app combines these metrics into a Performance Management Chart (PMC). The PMC can be used to easily see how your overall fitness is changing, as well as where you stand in terms of form.
My Current Fitness
Here is my PMC from January 2018 to present:
As you can see, I’m currently in the high 90’s, and even hit a high of 104 a couple weeks ago! My previous annual highs were 93 (July 2019) and 81 (May 2018).
(That high of 104, and the big pink fatigue spike you see in the chart from a couple weeks ago, is the result of a 4-day, 426-mile IRL bike trip my brother and I took down California’s Pacific Coast Highway. A rather spur of the moment adventure which I didn’t train for at all! More on those epic rides in another post.)
My Week
So how did I arrive at the best shape of my life? Am I sticking religiously to a perfectly-structured training plan?
Well, that’s the crazy part. I’m not! I’ve certainly done structured training before – for months at a time. And I can vouch for its effectiveness. The problem for me is, I don’t enjoy it. And it’s important for me to look forward to riding my bike.
So instead, what I’ve done since late February 2020 is essentially this:
- Monday: medium length, medium-easy pace. This means mostly Zone 2 HR over 90-120 minutes.
- Tuesday: race day. Races vary from 20-75 minutes in length, and my overall ride time with warmup and the actual race will be 90-120 minutes.
- Wednesday: easy day. 60-90 minutes, Zone 1-2 HR.
- Thursday: race day. Races vary from 20-75 minutes in length, and my overall ride time with warmup and the race will be 90-120 minutes.
- Friday: lead my Sprintapalooza ride, then hang out for another 30 minutes or so, not pushing hard. 75-90 minutes.
- Saturday: long and hard. I’ll cobble together group rides and races into a session 2.5-3 hours long, sometimes more. This usually looks like a long warmup followed by a longish race (75 minutes or more), then additional steady riding to build endurance by putting more fatigue into the already-tired race legs.
- Sunday: easy day. Usually 60-90 minutes of easy riding, often outdoors on the MTB up a local climb, just enjoying the scenery.
Every week is a bit different, and every 5 weeks or so I take a rest week where I avoid sustained hard efforts and let my body rest and rebuild. But overall, I’ve basically stayed within this framework for the past few months. And almost all of my riding has been in Zwift events: group rides for easier days, races for race days.
This has led to steady progress in my fitness numbers. Here’s a chart from mid-February 2020 to present:
Indoor vs Outdoor Efficiency
I typically ride 12-14 hours total each week. Could my training be made more efficient? Absolutely. Following a structured training plan would let me reduce the hours put in, for the same training benefit.
But would I enjoy it? Nope.
So regardless of whether I ride outdoors or indoors, I won’t be doing a structured training plan. And here’s what I know is true for me: I consistently pack more solid training into an hour on Zwift than I do outside.
Outside ride time includes getting to the place where I can begin my workout. It also includes stoplights, traffic, weather, and all those fun outdoor niggles. Taking TSS as an objective metric, I would estimate that my TSS per hour is reduced by 10-20% when I ride outside, compared to when I ride on Zwift. That means if I moved all my training time outdoors, my fitness score would eventually drop by 10-20%.
That’s what has happened in past years. But not this year.
A decrease of 10-20% seems crazy. But it makes sense. And it explains the true stories of pros like Mathew Hayman who recuperated on Zwift then returned and won Paris-Roubaix. Or the more recent example of Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, who spent several solid weeks under SiP “house arrest” on Zwift in Spain only to destroy her Rocacorba PR the moment she was allowed to get outside again.
Bottom line: riding on Zwift lets you pack a lot of TSS into your training time. And I’ve been doing a lot of riding on Zwift.
TSS Caveat
I’ll mention this now, before someone does it in the comments: coaches and experienced cyclists will say that there’s more to fitness than TSS. And they’re correct: a high fitness number doesn’t tell me how well-trained I am for a particular race.
As an example: I could rack up a lot of TSS doing long, slow rides, but if my races require high sprint power, I’m not building the fitness needed to meet my goals.
But here’s the thing: I’m not training with my eye on one or two big events. The competition I enjoy happens every week, and it’s a part of my training! I’m riding Zwift races to train for Zwift races. And if our local cycling group ever gets revved up again, I’ll ride our Tuesday night hammerfest to train for next week’s Tuesday night hammerfest.
So the TSS I’m racking up is targeted quite nicely at the sort of intervals I want to train for, because that TSS is earned in those actual events, week after week!
Mileage
Distance really isn’t a great fitness metric, but it’s a fun one. So every year I set a distance goal in Strava. This year I was lazy, and simply set the same goal as last year: 9,500 miles. But thanks to all the indoor riding, I’m on pace to break 11,000 miles for the year – much more than I’ve ever done before.
What About You?
2020 has been a crazy year. But thanks to good health, SiP, and a keen fondness for Zwift cycling, I’ve been able to ride into the best shape of my life.
What about you? I’d love to hear what has this crazy year done to your fitness? Share below!
Same here. Between an increase in daily core workouts and Zwifting I’ve never been stronger. My “training” is totally unstructured. I race on Zwift 2-3 times a week and do an outdoor endurance ride on Sunday. I do a core workout whenever my legs are too sore to ride. It’ll be interesting to see how long this fitness lasts.
Zwift has been a recovery tool for me this year. trying to recoup fitness at 73 yo is not easy. Have increased my FTP from Dec 2019 from about 150 to 178. Doesn’t seem like much I guess but couldn’t have done it without Zwift. Still working on maxing out my old man FTP!
Good work keep it up. I am also 73 and can’t stay off of Zwift, I ride everyday
You say you –
“As an example: I could rack up a lot of TSS doing long, slow rides, but if my races require high sprint power, I’m not building the fitness needed to meet my goals.”
But that is exactly what it does. Throw in 2 zwift races a week and you have a very good “polarised training” plan.
I’ve gone from 280watts ftp to 350 watts ftp from exactly this during the lockdown. Riding long slow distance (got my tron) at about 200 watts at first, to 270 watts now. I actually spent the first 5 weeks without any high intensity at all to build a base.
For reference, my training load went from 70 to 105. Or 15-16 hours a week on the trainer after riding outdoors about 18 hours a week.
I’m saying if all you did was long, slow rides, you wouldn’t be training sprint power. The point is that high TSS by itself doesn’t mean you’re in a good shape for a particular cycling event. You have to be doing the right efforts to train for that event.
Yes, of course, throw in the Zwift races and you’ve got a nice polarized training plan. That’s what I’m doing!
280 to 350 is a massive FTP improvement! Chapeau.
Hi everyone
I started on zwift after suffering a stroke, which affects my balance no more outside riding for me, I’ve got stronger since I’ve been using zwift,92.6 kg, ftp is 271
And I’m 1.83m
I’m enjoying crit racing as a cat c
Also enjoying zwift racing workouts., (brutal) and fun
I’m a lot fitter now
Keep up the good work, Darren!
Hi Darren.
I might see you in some C grade crits (although i’m in Australia so the time difference might be difficult) and i’m also doing the racing workouts and YES, they are totally brutal.
@eric: a little but off topic but I just have to ask. You mention SiP in this post, you mentioned it in another post a few days ago as well, together with WFH (which is easy enough to figure out). But, for us non-US residents/non-native english speakers: what does SiP stand for??? I’ve tried searching the web and now all I get are adds to buy water coolers 😉
Great question, SiP = Shelter in Place, it’s the lock down procedures many US cities and states have implemented to minimise the spread of COVID-19
I use Strava’s Fitness and Freshness tool to monitor my progress. I also hit new highs after riding on Zwift 5-6 days a week. You make an interesting point about training intensity being reduced by the travel required to get to where we want to ride, the stoplights, etc. Now that I have just switched over to outdoor rides, it will be interesting to see if my Fitness & Freshness score stays up or begins to drift down …
It will be interesting, for sure! Come back and let us know what happens.
Luckily, my first “training camp”/bicycle vacation had been in February before the lockdown. I’ve been to Tenerife and rode 1165km, climbing 27400m in two and a half weeks. This brought me a good boost after I had been more or less sick most of the winter – and in terms of vacation/recovery from work I’m still building on it.
Since then, I’ve mainly used Zwift and managed to about keep my usual weekly training volume (which would include 70km/week commuting, one or two short Zwift rides during the week and one or two longer outside rides on the weekend).
I realise that I’m riding very differently with Zwift: more short (<2h) and “sharp” efforts) than IRL.
I think my overall fitness (at least in my personal perception of it) would profit from more outside riding to conserve my fatigue resistance during 100km+ rides which feels like is dropping quite a bit while my 20min-based FTP is consistent at around 300W.
But as it is unlikely that any of my few IRL races will take place, I don’t feel pressure to improve in respect of a certain competitive goal.
As you do, I’m riding to enjoy it. And I skip a day if I realize I have to think twice about getting on the bike…
By the way (asking as a German speaker). What does SiP stand for? I get the meaning but what are the exact words behind it? Thanks 🙂
SiP=shelter in place. In the US, many states ordered people to stay home unless they absolutely had to go out for essentials.
Over the weekend, a Facebook friend posted about the fact that, since SiP went into effect in mid-March, he’s put a little over 700 miles on his car (far less than under normal circumstances). That got me wondering about my vehicle mileage vs. my cycling mileage in that same period. My car had racked up fewer than 700 miles while on that same period I put approximately 2350 miles on my bike. And, like you, I’ve seen some good fitness gains which have become very evident when I ride outside!
Ha! I’m right there with ya, for sure. I drive my truck maybe 50 miles/week, but I’ve been riding my bike closer to 250 miles every week!
I completely agree and I’ve been telling my friends (and former coaches) that my work indoors is much more productive than anything I do outdoors. Plus, when you take into account that you can largely be temperature controlled, guaranteed not to have a collision with a car, and have bathrooms and food available to you at all times, how can you not consider doing most if not all of your training indoors! My fitness has been greatly increased by the lockdown and while I had started the year on Peloton, I’ve been 100% on my road bike on Zwift since March! FTP has increased, Alpe du Zwift time has decreased and I’ve even gotten a jersey or two! Ride On! Great article!
Howdy Scott! Rode with you for bit this morning on the NY KOM climb. I’m pretty sure I gave you a Ride On then but if not, Ride On!
Another Great Article on ZI!
Yes, I’ve noticed a large uptick in fitness on Zwift. I probably won’t be “Getting into the best shape of my life” since I’m 63 and there were some periods in the last 20 years when I was racing that I won’t be exceeding now but I’ve found the structure and freedom to ride as planned to give me pretty big fitness gains. In the past, I was completely unable to ride a trainer for more than about 20 minutes without wanting to stick a fork in my eye. I literally could not do anything more than short warm up event on rollers or stationary bike. The Zwift game changes all that.
The primary thing I’ve found on Zwift (or any indoor training tool like this) is the ability to drive yourself beyond what you would do IRL. You don’t have to worry about managing the bike ride experience; Cars, not crashing, etc. As a result, I go out and after a suitable warm up, hit it as hard as I can with no regard for anything but how hard I can go. Your intervals don’t get interrupted with stop lights or flats. Descending IRL is very difficult to maintain the training event structure that you can easily manage on Zwift.
And it’s easy to keep track of the training metrics within each ride. Easy ride today and you want to keep it under 2.5w/kg? Not a problem, other than “The Rider Down the Road” which is a problem IRL, too. Gonna do a Zone 6 ladder workout? Piece of cake, other than the fact that any ladder workout sucks big time.
The peer group pressure helps too! Maintaining motivation has always been a problem for me. Now, I have other riders after me for group rides and meet ups every frickin’ day. A great non-problem…
Yep same here, using Strava fitness and freshness I’ve gone from 13 on the 22nd of March (the day before my power meter was delivered) to 56 as of Sunday. In that time I’ve ridden outdoors 3 times. I’m taking my first real recovery week this week after some fairly nasty chafing I’m this weekend, but was back on the bike for an easy 45min ride this morning. I’ll be back to racing next week.
My ftp has gone from 230 to 270 in the same period and I’ve lost about 5kg.
Hurray for zwift (and RGT, sorry)
I first learned of Zwift a few months ago when the local cycling club started posting about group indoor rides. I bought a trainer, subscribed to Zwift in late March and have been riding indoors for the last two months. I really haven’t changed my diet but I’ve lost 12 pounds since the beginning of April. I’ve felt stronger now compared to late March, meaning I feel comfortable racing in the D bracket on Zwift Crit races. I’m somewhat competitive in that bracket. I’ve noticed that climbing the Koms in Zwift I’ve gotten faster. I’m glad I’ve been introduced to Zwift.
This could have been my story. Started Zwifting as soon as lockdown began, nothing special just average workouts. Then started riding outdoors again two weeks ago, after which my Garmin showed me this screen.
It seems images are not attached, that kinda renders my post useless 😁
I see the image!
Thijs, I can see the image. Great job! I am curious how Garmin calculates VO2 max, do you know? Also, image says your fitness is that of a 20 year old – do you care to give us a range of what your actual age is?
Hi, I found a couple of pages on the subject:
use this one with Google Translate: https://support.garmin.com/nl-NL/?faq=MyIZ05OMpu6wSl95UVUjp7
and
https://sites.udel.edu/coe-engex/2019/03/16/how-accurate-is-your-garmins-vo2max-estimate/
The age thing is the best thing my Garmin ever told me, I’m 47 😀
I normally leave the trainer in a dusty corner for the winter (maybe use it once a week) and jump back on the bike once the weather improves in April. This year, I started in mid Jan with the Zwift 12 week “build me up” plan. FTP went from 220 ish to 275w with that consistent training (although I missed a few of the workouts). The SiP order from mid March really focused things, I was riding indoor every day and tacked on the 4 week FTP builder workouts, bringing my FTP to around 285W (and weight down from 186 lbs to 158 lbs since Jan 2020 (approx 12 kgs) Now mixing up some outside rides again with a few indoor zwift workouts / races here and there but definitely much fitter, stronger and lighter than any previous years on my outside rides.
Those are some impressive gains (and losses), Johnny!
Very similar to you Eric. I’m not one for programmes, it’s the wiff of competition that gets me going! Zwift has me cycling more often, and often harder than I would do IRL – it’s certainly making me fitter!
I would add that Zwifting allows you the safety to go hard. I would never push myself IRL the way I do on Zwift because I would always be worried about blowing up miles from home. That’s always a fun phone call. I spend very little time in Threshold and VO2 because of that. But on Zwift, if I blow up, I get off the bike, drag myself up the stairs out of the basement and get in the shower. No harm, no foul, and I’m better off in the long run because of it!
Nice article, it resonates a lot for me. Kudos on your progress!
I must say I am pretty proud of how I have improved my fitness on Zwift.
My graph speaks by itself…
Woah! Looking good, Renato!
Nice – that is an impressive Strava fitness score!
Zwift races push me harder than I would ever do on my own. I fully intended to continue zwift races on Saturday mornings once I was able to ride outside but I couldn’t fit my new bike onto the trainer’s floating fork so now I’m just riding outside.
Zwift races are the bomb.
Zwift has been a revelation for me this year. Previous tries had not impressed me. But having been forced onto the Watt Bike since March it has provided consistent training, racing and riding everyday at any convenient time. I would never of ridden for 5hrs indoors without Zwift and the Uber Pretzel. Only problem is I’m addicted now 😉
I have cycled next to nothing the last years, only running about 45mins a week. Got tired of weighing too much in January. Bought a new race bike right before the lockdown in Belgium and started riding 250-350km a week (with doing regular long distance rides of 150-180km’s) and also never been in such good shape. We could still ride outside in Belgium.
Went from 89kg to 77kg in 4 months (very happy about that) Ftp is now 263 and I presume building.
Lockdown has it’s ‘advantages’ 😉
Same here! I started riding daily on my trainer+zwift when lockdown started. Since then I’ve dropped 20+lbs, my clothes fit better, my mental state is better, and I feel the healthiest I have in years! I just bought a new bike and have been loving riding outdoors lately, but the trainer is ready for inclimate weather!
All your comments I can relate to. Subscribed to zwift in Jan/Feb doing a bit here and there. Lockdown came into effect and started to use zwift 4-5 times a week doing hills, races, zwift tours. The gains in fitness (220ftp to 276ftp) and the weight loss (9kg) has been really pleasing. Like you all, I feel alot better, mentally and physically. I for one will continue using zwift. I find it refreshing and a pleasure to interact with different people from all over the world. Ride On!
Never done any training or any Zwifting before – although ridden my bike to what my wife would describe as an obsessive degree. On my second Zwift training programme and – like you – I can’t say that I enjoy it although completing the sessions does give a sense of achievement. However, I have a higher FTP than I’ve ever had before so either it is working or the Zwift Ramp Test is unduly generous. I’m also on target to smash my highest ever annual mileage – but I can’t bring myself to equate Zwift miles with “real” miles.
Eric, curious to know what you are using to check your body fat percentage.
My Withings scale.
My riding has definitely improved with lockdown – my Strava also shows big ks leading to improved fitness. A quick question though – my trainer measures power, but not my road bike. I noticed that on a bunch ride IRL, I scored a big TSS for hammering along in the bunch at about 45 km/h for the best part of 2 hours. What I couldn’t add to this calculation was that I’d been sitting on a wheel for a good part of these kms. Any thoughts on how to overcome this abnormality (without forking out big $ for a power meter!)
Strava’s “Relative Effort” numbers are based on heart rate data or perceived exertion, according to them. So it’s quite different from TSS, although the graph shapes look pretty similar in many people’s case.
For TrainingPeaks, the best you can do is just guesstimate your TSS and enter it as a manual entry, if you don’t have a power meter.
I started this whole crazy pandemic thing thinking it would be short lived and figured I’d live it up for a few weeks. Beer every night plus my already crappy diet and I went from being overweight to “I really need to address this now” in a matter of weeks. Figured given I’m working from home plus we’re not eating out at all that this would be the perfect time to get aggressive and for once I could have total control over my eating and training.
I know how to train, been doing it for 20+ years and love to work hard, but it’s not enough anymore. Cleaned up my diet (no fad diet, just cut out the junk and focused on high quality nutritious foods) and kept up the consistent training. I’m riding more for sure, but it’s the same amount of intensity that I’ve always done. Just adding in more 60-90 minutes easy rides in-between the hard days.
So far I’ve lost 33lbs since May. My FTP went from 233 to 285 which is the highest I’ve been since having kids. I’d guess I was well over 300 back in the day, but that’s when power meters were $3,000 and not in the budget.
Clearly Covid is a terrible thing and I feel for anyone impacted personally by it, but in some ways this strange time has been just what I needed to get my ass back in gear.
Way to get at it, Russell!