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    Training & Nutrition

    Training Log: Build Me Up, Week 8

    Eric Schlange
    By Eric Schlange
    May 12, 2023
    LAST UPDATED May 12, 2023
    3

    Welcome to my week 8 “Build Me Up” (BMU) training log.

    About this Series:
    I’m journaling my way weekly through Zwift’s “Build Me Up” training plan and calling out tough workouts, minor bugs, and Zwift feature suggestions along the way. For your reference, my FTP is set to 321W, as detected by Zwift’s ramp test at the start of the plan.
    Past weeks: Week 1 // Week 2 // Week 3 // Week 4 // Week 5 // Week 6 // Week 7

    After a tough week 7, week 8 was a breath of a fresh air… a regeneration week! I only did two workouts, throwing away the rather pointless “pedaling drills” workout and riding outdoors to enjoy myself a bit.

    Workout Journal – Week 8

    Tuesday, May 9: Hang Ten

    See activity on Strava

    Today was my 44th birthday, so I decided I needed to knock out at least 44 miles. While I would have loved to ride those miles outdoors, my day’s schedule didn’t really allow for it – plus I had two workouts to knock out for the week, and was running out of days to do them.

    So I did a long warmup with Coco, then a Crit City race (read about it here), then this workout. Total distance: 56 miles!

    The Hang Ten workout isn’t particularly tough, but racing beforehand put some sting in it for sure. The workout is made up of 5 sets of this 7-minute block:

    • 1 minute at 95% of FTP (305W)
    • 2 minutes at 80% of FTP (255W)
    • 1 minute at 110% FTP (350W)
    • 2 minutes at 80% of FTP (255W)
    • 1 minute at 95% of FTP (305W)

    Of course, there were some cadence changes thrown in, but nothing too crazy.

    Thursday, May 11: Bricolage

    See activity on Strava: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

    This was the big workout for the week – and at 2 hours long, this was also the longest workout yet in BMU! Bricolage, as the name suggests, has a little bit of everything: threshold work, Z2, Z3 with bursts, and some short VO2 intervals. All with cadence changes mixed in.

    This workout was sort of crazy, but not because of the workout itself. I was juggling various things in my day (phone calls, Zwift tests, etc)… then Zwift decided to crash on my PC. Twice! So I had to restart the game, then hit tab to skip through the intervals I’d already done. That sort of sucked.

    This workout didn’t look terribly hard on paper, but I was definitely dreading that final 10-minute block at FTP. I knew once I got there my legs would be rather tired. And I was right! But I was able to push through, doing some out-of-the-saddle riding to mix things up in those final hard 10 minutes.

    Whine of the Week: Zwift Crashes

    As mentioned above, Zwift crashed twice on me during my Bricolage workout this week. This is the first time Zwift has crashed during a BMU workout – but I’ve had various Zwift crashes over the years for sure.

    Here’s my specific complaint: it’s not so much that Zwift crashes… it’s that Zwift crashes and I have no idea why. I can’t find any error logs that are helpful. I just wish, if Zwift was going to explode, it would log the reason why first. That’s all.

    Summing Up Week 8

    This week was an easy week. I got some outdoor rides in, did the two key workouts, and feel rested heading into the next block.

    • Week 1: 274 TSS
    • Week 2: 343 TSS
    • Week 3: 363 TSS
    • Week 4: 212 TSS
    • Week 5: 312 TSS
    • Week 6: 358 TSS
    • Week 7: 430 TSS
    • Week 8: 217 TSS (not counting my outdoor rides)

    One to Keep, One to Throw Away

    I think each week of BMU features a key “cornerstone workout” and another which doesn’t really need to be done, so I thought it might be useful to call those out each week, in case your schedule is tight. For week 8, here are my picks:

    • Key Workout – Bricolage: While this wasn’t a super-efficient targeted workout, I think putting in the time and doing the work on various energy systems was a great way to maintain fitness during the regeneration week without stressing the body too much.
    • Throw Away – Pedaling Drills: We’ve already thrown away this 30-minute workout on previous weeks… it’s just nothing special. I skipped it this week.

    Coming Up Next Week

    Week 9 is next, and it looks like we’re heading into “pointy” short, hard efforts while trying to maintain the fitness base already built. “Mosaic” is going to be a doozy!

    Questions or Comments?

    Share below!

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      Eric Schlange
      Eric Schlangehttp://www.zwiftinsider.com
      Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Follow on Strava

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      Alison MacCulloch
      Alison MacCulloch
      18 days ago

      Thanks Eric ! I have been doing BMU at same time as your weekly reports , getting a bit behind due to work travel. Some of these workouts get so tough that I have to lower the wattage in the later intervals. You mentioned you can restart a workout and “tab through” the intervals done. This is new to me ? I run apple TV and companion app – can you can do it with that set up as well ?
      Thanks – really enjoy your commentary on BMU !
      Alison

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      Eric Schlange
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      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      18 days ago
      Reply to  Alison MacCulloch

      Not sure if you can do it on AppleTV (never tried) but you can skip blocks in Companion. Just swipe the block (left? Right? I don’t recall).

      Keep up the good BMU work!

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      Nathan
      Nathan
      18 days ago

      I wouldn’t discard the peddling drills personally. They offer some neuromuscular training benefits and can improve cadence, sprint power and efficiency (ftp among other metrics). Your cadence is good in your videos and doesn’t tend to drift lower when your are fatigued (a good sign) but everyone can benefit from the seemingly silly drills!

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