Zwift Camp: Build is now underway. This is a 5-stage route-based workout series, with each stage lasting one week and focusing on developing power over a specific time interval.
My plan is to do each of the five workouts before their weeks begin, so I can write a post unpacking the workout and delivering some tips along the way. This post covers Stage 3’s workout on Watopia’s new Hot Laps route. Let’s roll!
Stage 3 Walkthrough: Chase Your Rival
The third stage of Zwift Camp: Build is focused on “Three 5-minute efforts” according to the event description. But it’s probably not laid out how you’d expect!
The stage is built around the new Hot Laps route in Watopia, which takes riders on 4 full laps of the Volcano Circuit, followed by a finish up the Jarvis KOM:
Follow the instructions on screen and you’ll use the first lap as a warmup and a bit of recon, learning where that little kicker is at, where you can recover a bit on descents, etc. The instructions have you begin your effort in earnest at the start of the second lap, and there are really two stated goals here:
- Put in a hard, steady effort on laps 2, 3, and 4 while also
- Negative splitting your lap times (that is, going faster each lap)
So you don’t want to start off with a maximal effort on lap 2, because you won’t be able to beat that effort the next lap!
My legs were tired from a metric century the day before, so I just targeted power numbers I knew I could hold:
- Lap 2: 250W
- Lap 3: 260W
- Lap 4: 270W
I also kept an eye on my previous effort HoloReplay, making sure I beat him each lap.
You might think it would be hard to manage your power well enough to precisely hit power targets, but thanks to the average power number on the Splits HUD, I found it pretty easy. I was bang on my target for laps 2 and 3, then pushed extra hard on lap 4 just because I could, coming in a few watts above my 270W target.
What power targets should you shoot for? You won’t be able to hold true VO2 max power for three continuous laps, but if your legs are fresh, you should be able to push at or just above your FTP for all three laps. Something like this should be doable with fresh legs:
- Lap 2: 100% of FTP
- Lap 3: 103% of FTP
- Lap 4: 106% of FTP
Or you could skip trying to hit a power target, and simply try to stay away from your previous effort HoloReplay every lap. Put in a hard but not maximal effort on lap 2, then just make sure you beat your HoloReplay on laps 3 and 4!
After finishing the fourth lap, the route takes you into Jarvis for a finishing effort up the Jarvis KOM. This short climb will take most riders 3.5-5 minutes to complete, so it’s actually a proper traditional VO2 max interval in terms of its length and the 5 minutes of recovery you get just before it begins. My advice? Just empty the tank. It’s the end of the workout, so put in a maximal effort up that KOM segment and see what you can do!
Overall, I found this the most fun Zwift Camp: Build stage yet. The challenge of pacing myself so I was both working hard but also negative splitting the laps kept me engaged, even if my tired legs didn’t let me ride anywhere near VO2 max targets. And while the HoloReplay bug persists (see below), my previous effort ghosts proved very motivating!
Drafting Note
Your previous effort ghost is an exact replay of your avatar from the previous lap, which means if you drafted on the previous lap, that ghost is moving at the speeds you attained while drafting.
This could make things difficult when you try to beat your ghost on the next lap, and you aren’t drafting.
It worked out fine for me in my on-demand workout, even though I was on a road bike, as I never drafted for a meaningful length of time. But basically, you’ll want to be either drafting most of the time, or not drafting most of the time. One simple way to make sure you don’t draft: ride a TT bike! It looks like they’re allowed in the events, and of course you can always use a TT bike in an on-demand ride.
What Is This Workout?
After Stage 1’s short neuromuscular sprint efforts, and Stage 2’s longer anaerobic sprints, you might expect stage 3 to focus on VO2 max power. And it does… sort of. Since the three laps are back-to-back-to-back, you won’t get the rest/recovery needed to execute traditional VO2 max intervals. Instead, you can work at pacing yourself at or just above FTP, finishing with a maximal effort on lap 4, then recovering a bit before doing one more hard VO2 max interval up the Jarvis KOM.
It’s not a traditional VO2 max workout, but it’s engaging and fun work. Plus, pacing the three Volcano Circuit laps for negative splits is good practice for Stage 4’s effort up The Grade. (Turning in your best effort on that climb really comes down to pacing it well, and starting a bit below your power target while finishing a bit above it is the best way to make that happen.)
Watch My Video
More On VO2 Max Power
VO2 max measures the maximal amount of oxygen your body can consume. It is a key measure of aerobic capacity and thus a key determinant of performance potential (read much more in this TrainerRoad post). A few interesting things about VO2 max:
- Genetics play a significant role in VO2 capacity, but untrained athletes can often improve by as much as 25%.
- You might think that lung volume is what drives VO2 max, but in fact it’s largely determined by four factors: cardiac output (how much blood the heart can move), the oxygen-carrying capacity of that blood, the circulatory system itself, and muscular efficiency.
- Strong anaerobic performance is particularly useful in “spiky” cycling disciplines like cyclocross, crits, and MTB racing
- While world-class male cyclists have a VO2 max in the 75-90ml/kg/min range (recent studies are saying Tadej Pogačar may have the highest VO2 max of any winner in TdF history at 96ml/kg/min), mere mortals (good amateurs) are closer to 65-80ml/kg/min.
VO2 Max Training Tips
Traditional VO2 max training has you executing repeating intervals that are 2-6 minutes long, each 106-120% of your FTP, with very easy rest intervals in between roughly the same length as the VO2 max interval.
But there are other ways to do VO2 max work. Zwift has a “VO2 Max” folder in its workout directory, with 37 workouts to choose from at the time of this post:
Some of these workouts feature the more traditional, longer VO2 max intervals, while others have you doing high numbers of much shorter intervals (20-30 seconds). The important thing is accumulating time working at VO2 max levels.
You might also try Zwift Insider’s popular Saturday Tiny Races. This is a set of 4 short races completed in under an hour, making it basically a VO2 max workout disguised as a race.
Lastly, hill repeats are a classic outdoor VO2 max workout. Find a climb you can finish in 3-6 minutes, then hit it hard. Turn around at the top, taking your time coming down so you can recover nicely, then do it again. Aim for at least 4 repeats.
Suggestion Box
The third workout of Zwift Camp: Build was my favorite yet, even if my legs weren’t very fresh. Still, there were some things Zwift could change to improve the experience. Here are my suggestions:
- Clean Up Lap Splits: Unlike stages 1 and 2, the Splits HUD was really useful for this workout. But there are two tweaks that would make it better: making sure splits finish right at the lap arch (the first few fire early, the last fires late), and keeping the Splits HUD up even after you finish the final volcano lap.
- Fix HoloReplays: I set up my HoloReplay settings as suggested, to only show a single ghost from my previous effort. But it still showed two ghosts every time, from two different efforts, even though both were labeled “Previous.” Fix it, Zwift!
- Improve the event description: I already mentioned this for earlier stages, but once again, a simple line or two in the event description would clarify what people are signing up for. The current description for this workout (“Target Effort: Three 5-minute efforts”) really isn’t accurate at all. It’s misleading at best.
Sign Up For Stage 3
Sign up for stage 3 events in-game, in the Companion app, or go to zwift.com/events/tag/zwiftcampbuild2025wo3.
Questions or Comments?
Have you done this workout yet? Share your thoughts below, or any questions you may have heading into the workout.
I enjoyed it, but the splits and ghost were as you say, wonky.
I didn’t have any ghost at all for the first hot lap (it didn’t show the “warm up lap” for some reason). After that I did get one for the last two laps (which was always the previous lap as I did each one quicker, and hadn’t done the volcano recently so they were each new 90 day PBs).
As you say, the splits weren’t set off at the lap banner – the first one was noticeably about 200m early (so what was a 7.55 lap was showing as an 8.09 split), the second one had a split roughly the length of the lap, but the last one again was running long (it was still counting after the line).
This might be kind of a fun workout, but I really don’t understand what Zwift is trying to do from an actual training stand point.
I thought the same thing, so I modified it a bit to where I took the first lap easy as instructed, went full gas the second, recovered the third, and another full gas effort for lap 4. Short recovery again, full gas up the KOM. Where my 5 minute power is generally lacking compared to others in my racing category, I figured this approach would possibly be a bit more beneficial.
I agree, did the same as you. Ended up with a good workout, but not what Zwift had intended.
Same here. I went in too hard in my first lap so didn’t get better in laps 2 and 3 (my bad) but still this ended up as a 15 minute best effort and not a 3×5 minute (which is also what I think I need the most).
I really enjoyed the sprints in the first 2 stages (well, I enjoyed the Glasgow sprints…those 10 efforts in the France lap were good but not too enjoyable) but for the 5 minute efforts I think I much prefer an erg mode workout over the hot laps route.
I’d also say that this stage/workout mode may be confusing to training newbies (and I think they are part of the target audience).
they said vo2max … I did 3×3 minutes vo2max, plus kom
TT bike is definitely allowed in the event. I rode it since I still need some time on it for the full bike upgrade.
I also did not have a holo replay on the first “hot” lap – which I should have since the “familiarization” lap was a complete lap.
I agree, this was the best one so far.
I’m 50yo and 18kg over my race weight, and I didn’t like the first 2. Especially the 2nd.
This was very nice. Even though it was a 3x7min effort.
But I did 155,175,195 avg for the 3 laps. And got a new FTP at 168 (previous was at 150).
However, I don’t think this “route based” workout makes sense. Fitter athletes will do a shorter workout (and easier) while less fit riders do a longer and harder (relatively to their FTP) one.
I’ve ridden this twice, both b4 reading this. I’d expected a recovery lap, so in my first attempt went a bit too hard on the first recce lap, then. Les my legs on lap 2, took it easy on lap 3, and went hard on lap 4. I was gassed for the climb. I repeated it today, going hard on laps 2 and 4 again, and harder on the climb. Being a sucker for punishment I’ll give it another go, following Erik’s strategy and see what happens.
I’m sorry, but this was dumb and I have no idea what Zwift was thinking.
I read the description of Build…
Week 1, 5 second repeats… OK
Week 2, three 1 minute efforts (not really, it was 3 sets of 1 minute, 25 second, 20 second efforts, but close enough I suppose). This was OK, but almost no warmup before the first sprint and then huge downtime between the last set of 3 and the final finish line sprint.
Then, Week 3. Three 5 minutes efforts! Yes! Work on my Vo2max. Relative to my overall power, ~5 minute efforts are my weakness. I have decent 1 minute power, and I do well on 15+ minute efforts, but 5 minutes is my weakness. And most Zwift races are decided on 3-5 minute hill efforts. This will be a chance to work on that.
I looked at the course and figured that lap 1, 3 and the final kom would be the efforts with rests in between… but no.
They wanted us to do back-to-back “5” minute efforts (took me closer to 6). At my pace, which I couldn’t maintain for the whole time, it would have been an 18 minute effort, more realistically, 19 minutes.
This is basically close to a 20 minute FTP test.
Week 4 is supposed to be “one 20 minute attempt”.
I suppose I could have quit and just done a Vo2max workout, but felt like I had started this and should finish, but I really hated it. I guess I should have read the description here and never started the build series.
My story is exactly same. Really bad description which say 3x 5 min efforts. So I aimed for my best 5 min effort thought that will be 1 hot lap 5min effort then one lap rest. At the end first lap I realize that it will be not 5 min effort. But full lap no rest and than another 2 which should be faster. I burned my most matches on 1 lap which was above 6 min. Guess what….if I did first lap with 6 min with my best 5 min effort, what’s odds I will be able to do another 12 min faster than that.
Next time I will read workout description here to knew what to expect.
Good idea but not clear enough in its description.i was expecting 5min effort and a short breather finishing the lap. Turned out to be more like a 20 min effort!
apologies in advance, I’ve been outta the loop for a while but, must one complete the Zwift Camp to unlock the Eddy Merckx frame?
If only it were that easy! This was an unlock from (as far as I know) a single event that happened years ago. They need to do it again! No idea how to unlock it at this point unless Zwift sets something up…
May I ask about that awesome bike? 🙂
I was enjoying Zwift Camp until this workout, after which I realized the whole experience was riddled with problems.
Stage 1 – no issues
Stage 2 – supposedly 1 minute power, but really was sets of 3 efforts (1 minute + 2x 30 seconds), but okay
Stage 3 – supposedly 5 minute power, but instead of 3x 5 minutes it’s actually a continuous 18 minute effort
Stage 4 – supposedly 20 minute power but for me it was a 13 minute effort
Stage 5 – supposedly 60 minute effort but for me it was a bit less than 50 minutes
I understand there will be some variance with route based training, but the results dashboard for Zwift Camp: Build shows you power results for the “expected”durations. Meaning if you do better than “expected” you get an invalid result in the dashboard as your effort ended earlier (e.g. stages 4 and 5). In the case of stage 3, the dashboard result is invalid because the effort is almost 4 times longer than the expected duration.
It just seemed like this event was thrown together quickly without forethought or care for the riders.