Marginal Gains, Hour Records, and More (Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast #29)
This episode is part 2 of our hosts’ conversation with Joshua Poertner. The Silca Velo CEO continues to offer his insight into marginal gains–those little performance improvements that can be made when everything that goes into riding a bike is considered.
We then pivot to pro cyclist Victor Campanaerts’ new UCI Hour Record, 3D-printed helmets, and heat loss through your wrists! We also get into Kev’s favorite gear—the granny gear—and why you might use it.
If you’re looking to purchase a new smart trainer, this weekend is the time to do it! Big sales from REI, Clever Training, and Wahoo mean you can pick up the best trainers on the market for 20% (or more) off!
I’ve ridden both the 2017 and 2018 Kickrs for thousands of miles on Zwift, and can say they’re both solid, quality units. The 2018 Kickr is quieter and has a larger flywheel, but other than those two differences the models are nearly identical.
Clever Training 20% Off Sale
Clever Training has the following top-rated direct drive trainers on sale for 20% off:
Their Wahoo trainers are not included in the 20% off sale online, but I was told by a phone rep you could call (1-800-426-4840) and they would honor the sale for those trainers over the phone.
To get the discount you must purchase an REI co-op membership for $19.99US (this is a lifetime membership). Then use discount code ANNV19.
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The links above are affiliate links to their respective websites. Your purchase through these links helps support this website by paying us a referral fee. Thanks!
This episode is a four-hander, with Greg Leo joining Simon, Shane, and Nathan to discuss all the latest Zwiftiness.
The changed lineup was more by accident than design after Simon managed to incur a self-inflicted travel disaster on his plans to head for ZHQ…
But as ever, there’s plenty to discuss and geographical boundaries have never held back the Zwiftcasters.
The foursome kick it off by discussing what to most, if not all, Zwifters was a bit of a surprise–the new Giro d’Italia Prologue TT course. Pacing strategies can work well on this part flat/part monster climb course and Shane discusses his new toy for helping out with that
The chaps move on to discuss the new Zwift Terms of Service which have put a few noses out of joint. The Zwiftcasters are pretty convinced there’s nothing to worry about for streamers with good intentions.
Have you seen the Road Runner? Zwift has a new entrant into its animal kingdom and the Zwiftcasters confess they’ve yet to manage a sighting.
Finally the podcasters discuss some changes to the Zwift code which will have a fairly significant effect on avatar behavior both downhill and when the Aero Power Up is deployed.
Also: is it lingerie or laundry? You’ll have to listen to figure out that puzzle.
The Gran Fondo is one of three fondo routes Zwift unveiled in January 2019 for its Zwift fondo series. Currently these are event-only routes, meaning they are only available for use in events and cannot be ridden on a freeride or individual workout.
The Gran Fondo is very similar to the Medio Fondo in terms of key climbs and overall elevation, but ~25km (15.5 miles) longer due to some meandering around Watopia proper between the “Road to Ruins” section and the “Mountain Route” ending.
This route is essentially these routes strung together:
We begin by taking Ocean Boulevard around to the reverse Hilly KOM, which is the first half of the Figure 8 route. Then it’s over to the Volcano and up to the top before descending down and heading to the Italian Villas then the Mayan Jungle for a reverse loop of the circuit.
After climbing out of the jungle, we descend back to sea level, hit The Esses and spin a quick lap around the Volcano Circuit. Until this point, the route has been identical to the Medio Fondo. Here’s where things change.
After heading through downtown Watopia we hit the forward Hilly KOM, then hang a left onto Ocean Boulevard, back through downtown, over The Esses in reverse, and around the Volcano, back over The Esses forward, and into downtown.
The rest of the route matches the end of the Medio Fondo, as we head out Ocean Boulevard once more to the forward Epic KOM. Our route finishes at the KOM banner, where the ibex cheers you on as you finish!
The Medio Fondo is one of three fondo routes Zwift unveiled in January 2019 for its Zwift fondo series. Currently these are event-only routes, meaning they are only available for use in events and cannot be ridden on a freeride or individual workout.
We begin by taking Ocean Boulevard around to the reverse Hilly KOM, which is the first half of the Figure 8 route. Then it’s over to the Volcano and up to the top before descending down and heading to the Italian Villas then the Mayan Jungle for a reverse loop of the circuit.
After climbing out of the jungle, we descend back to sea level, hit The Esses and spin a quick lap around the Volcano Circuit. Then it’s through downtown Watopia and out Ocean Boulevard once more to the forward Epic KOM. Our route finishes at the KOM banner–wave hello the ibex, if you’ve got any strength left!
The Bambino Fondo is one of three fondo routes Zwift unveiled in January 2019 for its Zwift fondo series. Currently these are event-only routes, meaning they are only available for use in events and cannot be ridden on a freeride or individual workout.
We begin with a forward lap of the Flat Route, followed by a forward lap of the Hilly Route. Then we take Ocean Boulevard again, hanging a left at the windmills and climbing then descending into the Mayan Jungle.
Once around the jungle loop, then we climb back out, descend to sea level, and hang a left at the Italian Villas fountain to make our way toward the Volcano. Then it’s up to the top of the volcano, with our route ending at the KOM banner.
Mark Allen on Judging Performances Over the Years (Zwift PowerUp Tri Podcast #7)
How do we judge athletes over time? Are “World Records” the best way? Maybe the most wins?
We asked one of the greatest of all time, Mark Allen, to explore the topic. With 6 Kona wins, multiple World Championship titles over various distances, and a record-setting 21-race winning streak—he knows what it takes to be the best.
Plus: Jordan and Matt talk shop with Mark about triathlon and see what makes him tick.
About the Podcast:
The Zwift PowerUp Tri Podcast is hosted by former pro triathletes Matt Lieto and Jordan Rapp, lending their in-depth knowledge of the multisport to the Zwift Tri audience.
Travel: Good for the Soul, Bad for the Training Plan
March was a tough month for my structured training, as I had two weeks of traveling with workouts in between.
The first was Zwift Week in Long Beach, and while I got in a decent amount of outdoor riding with other Zwifters, it was on a rental bike with no power or heart rate metrics.
The second week was the beginning of my family’s two week trip to Europe, where I would do very little riding. (If it was possible to build fitness by eating French pastries, I could have joined a World Tour team by the end of that trip.)
Because of this, my gains this month were minimal, and April would involve a lot of “rebuilding” to get me back up to previous training levels (more on that next post).
It can be discouraging seeing your metrics fall off due to travel, injury, etc. But the worst thing you can do is let that keep you off your bike once you’re in a position to start riding again! So I was eager to jump back into it quickly, and my coach laid out a solid plan to get me back up to speed without overdoing it.
So here’s my report for March, my second month of training with Shayne Gaffney of GC Coaching. Note: if you’re interested in reading more of my structured training story you may want to start at my introductory post, then proceed to my summary of February 2019.
The Workouts
A lot of my workouts in this block resembled what you see below, where I would start with a short, hard effort then follow it with a sustained effort at around 90% FTP.
This is solid training for Zwift races, where you have to hit it hard for short intervals then keep the watts coming. And this is a weakness of mine–I’m not good at responding to repeated attacks while maintaining race pace.
Here’s the last workout I did before heading to Europe–it was a solid one! Over/unders got me fatigued, then I had 7 1-minute VO2 intervals. Did it fasted, just to see if I could!
The Results
Here’s my Performance Management Chart (PMC) from day 1 of structured training to the end of March.
You can see my CTL (the blue line) continued to trend upwards until my week down south at Zwift HQ. Part of this dip is artificial–I did some decent rides, but didn’t have power or heart rate data. But the training also wasn’t on the same level as I’d been doing.
The bigger dip, though, begins on March 23rd when I flew to Europe for the start of our vacation, where I did very little riding. That dip would continue for another week in April, after which point the training would begin again in earnest.
Despite two weeks of poor training, we still saw a 5-watt bump in my modeled FTP, up to 295 for March.
And we saw FRC (the dotted red line) rise:
FRC (functional reserve capacity) is an interesting metric. This is defined as “the total amount of work you can do during continuous exercise above your FTP before fatigue occurs.”
FRC is my anaerobic capacity. The bigger it is, the less effect burning matches and attacking has on my overall gas tank, and the more likely I am to recharge it in between. Riders with high FRC are the ones who can pull off long finishing sprints, drive strong break efforts, be a good lead-out man, hit shorter climbs with high power, etc. With a high FRC, you are a more versatile racer with more options in your toolbelt.
My FRC was ~15 kJ in February, but it increased to ~18 kJ in March. That’s a ~17% improvement, which is good! But I’m just “average” now based on this chart from TrainingPeaks…
Credit: Dr. Andrew Coggan
If you aren’t familiar with kilojoules as a metric, here’s how they work: 1 kilojoule is 1000 joules. 1 watt is 1 joule per second, so if I ride at 300 watts I’ll be using 300 joules per second. If I do that for a minute, I would produce 300*60=18000 joules (or 18 kJ).
Does an FRC of 18 mean I can do 300 watts over my FTP for a minute? Not exactly… there are other factors at play. But it does give me an indicator that I’m improving in an area of definite weakness, which is the ability to do repeated efforts over threshold.
Read coach Shayne’s post Ramp Testing: Yea or Nay? for more insight into FRC and how it can contribute to inaccurate FTP ramp test results.
Here are a few more metrics, comparing February to March. You can see my VO2 Max and power at VO2 Max also improved, while I maintained FTP as a % VO2.
Coach Shayne says,
…all in all, a very good month with improvements noted across all aspects of performance.
And I’ll take that, given all the traveling I did.
Marginal Gains, Wind Direction, and More (Zwift PowerUp Cycling Podcast #28)
What are marginal gains?
These are those slight adjustments you make to your training that add up, giving you that extra boost. The precise diet. The course recon.
The constant hand-washing.
Joshua Poertner, CEO of Silca Velo and previous technical director of Zipp, visits the crew in Episode 28 to discuss where the concept of marginal gains came from as well as how wind direction can impact optimum tire pressure. Plus the usual Q&A where Matt explains the terms “Allez” and “Ho.”
Zwift has announced a new monthly series of foot races. Each month’s events will feature a different racecourse and include in-game unlocks specific for that month’s race.
May’s Race: Hilltop Hustle
May’s races happen on the 18th-19th. Held on the new Bologna TT course, these races have two different groups based on your incline setting. Keeping your treadmill steady? Choose group A. Going to increase your incline to match the course’s tough final pitch? Choose group B.
…unlike in normal Group Workouts and some previous races, the group splits are NOT related to your pace.
You can join either group regardless of your usual pace. The split is to do with incline. If you join Group A you can run the Bologna course flat the whole way. However, if you join Group B you MUST use incline for the hill at the end at the race.
So Group A is FLAT running, Group B use incline. This leaves the question of what percentage to set incline. At certain points, the climb gets to 16% and more. My treadmill only goes to 12%! So just match it as best you can.
