The biggest update for in-game communication to date in Zwift has been the recently revamped messaging within the Zwift Companion App (IOS/Android).
In game messages no longer appear and disappear on your Zwift screen, you’ll be able to see who said what and reply either to the group, or via direct message.
The global messaging works the same as in-game, so it’s global when not within an event and becomes group-only messaging if you’re riding as part of a group ride or race.
NOTE: As mentioned in the video. The Zwift Companion app has to be open and in the foreground (on screen) to receive any messages. It doesn’t operate in the background like other messaging apps you may be familiar with.
ZwiftHQ sent an email blast today announcing an immediate increase in the monthly subscription price, from $10US to $15US. Subscribers from other countries may see their price increase by a greater percentage, with some complaining of an increase of 75% or more. Existing subscribers have the current price locked in for one year.
Why the price increase? Here’s how ZwiftHQ explains it:
We raised our monthly membership in order to continue to make Zwift a bigger, better and more beautiful experience to help you improve your cycling performance and achieve your fitness goals. From a scrappy little team that could all fit around a table and share a meal, Zwift’s staff continues to grow with programmers, artists, designers, testers, community managers, coaches, and an around the clock support staff working to help Zwifters when you have questions…
Here is the complete text of ZwiftHQ’s email:
Three years ago, when we founded Zwift, a lot of people told us we were nuts. There are simply not enough cyclists to build a long term business, they said. But being cyclists ourselves, we knew they were wrong. We knew that there is not a more vibrant, dedicated, passionate group of people in the world than the global community of cyclists. Moreover, we knew that this community was being woefully underserved when it came to riding indoors—remember how boring indoor training used to be? Your continuous feedback and awe-inspiring 147 million miles (237 million km) of riding—that’s 650 roundtrips to the moon—have helped us to shape the product as it stands today and what it will become tomorrow. Thank you.
We have come a long way with Zwift since the beta release, and we have some exciting things planned for the upcoming season. We just rolled out our lush new Mayan Ruins expansion of Watopia—currently my favorite stretch of road on Zwift—and we recently began piloting Group Workouts, which marry the social fun and motivation of group rides with the targeted training benefits of workouts—try one and let us know what you think. You’ll see even more events to choose from and new training plans are being added to our library. But we have so much more that we hope to deliver to you: new gameplay features, more maps and expansions to existing maps, improved social riding experiences, better guidance in reaching your training and fitness goals. The list goes on, and on.
The team too has grown. Every day we work at building the team that can bring you an awesome and constantly improving experience to help you improve your cycling performance and achieve your fitness goals. From a scrappy little team that could all fit around a table and share a meal, Zwift’s staff has grown to over a hundred people including programmers, artists, designers, testers, community managers, coaches, marketers, and an awesome support staff working to help Zwifters when they have questions.
In order to continue to make Zwift bigger, better and more beautiful, we are updating our membership price to $14.99 per month, effective today. As a way of saying thank you, however, to the awesome Zwifters who helped us get here, your pricing will not change for one year. If you happen to suspend your membership during this period and come back, you can still enjoy your current pricing level. (Visit our FAQ for all the details.)
At Zwift, we take seriously our mission to help more and more Zwifters achieve their fitness goals by making training fun, rewarding, and effective — and we take great pleasure doing it. We are grateful to all of you, and we look forward to seeing you on Zwift!
Ride On,
Eric Min Co-Founder and CEO
The Zwift Riders Facebook group is all abuzz with the news, with a post from Zwift’s Eric Chon currently showing 311 replies in just a few hours. As with any price change, there is no shortage of strong opinion on both sides. Some Zwifters are saying the price increase seems especially ill-timed, given Zwift’s recent outages. Others are taking it all in stride, saying it’s still well worth the money.
Personally, I’m not surprised by the price increase, given Zwift’s user survey a few months back probing our thoughts on various price points. Nobody likes price increases, but I certainly won’t stop Zwifting because of an extra $5/month. Like all Zwifters, my hope is that higher fees can fund more rapid improvement in game features and stability. If that’s what happens, then this price increase is a successful move in my book.
What about you? Chime in below with your thoughts.
Let’s be very clear here, training for any kind of long distance event is straight up difficult. Period. Now, having said this, as a mental skills trainer I am always working with athletes to stay motivated, focused, consistent, and confident in their abilities. I have trained in a slew of applied techniques to facilitate those critical attributes from my Masters at the University of Utah, however, very few were as effective as the combination of training on the Wahoo Kickr and Zwift.
A bit of a background story
I began my journey in Ironman Training and completion with a call from the Salt Lake Triathlon Club. At this time, my athletic pursuits had slowed to a crawl after a long stint with the game of lacrosse, having played through high school and college, and my body was wrecked. With 2 junk ankles, an ACL repair, and a cracked belief in my body holding up to anything significant I answered a call from Rory Duckwork, the president of the Salt Lake Tri club, who asked if I would come work with some of the elites in a weekend intensive training down in St. George, Utah. That weekend I covered personal distance records in all three disciplines, came home, signed up for the St George 70.3 (just 2 months away) and started training.
As I covered in my Coeur d’Alene Ironman Reflection, as a mental skills trainer I felt that the experience would help me understand what the athletes of long distance events go through. I wanted to understand the mindset so I could get closer to understanding those athletes I worked with. One of the first things I learned is that, when the novelty of training and the excitement of signing up wears off, the mental game comes into play. I am talking about keeping the motivation high to work through 2-a-day training sessions, work, family, and everything else that needs to be done in a day. The long and lonely bike rides on roads notorious for popping tires due to the local bull thorn growth. I am also talking about pushing and trusting the body into places it has never been.
I completed the 70.3 at St. George and with the energy of the finished race, signed up for the 70.3 at Coeur d’Alene just 4 months later.
This is when things got real for me. If you look at my training peaks data (365 Days), you can see a major lapse in motivation and drive about 3 months out from my 2nd 70.3 race. The panic monster had not set in and the monkey mind had taken firm hold over anything having to do with training. If you don’t know what I am talking about, take a look inside the mind of a master procrastinator. I had to do something to get the fire raging once again. So, like so many, I started buying things thinking, “if I just had a new pair of shoes or a new pair of sunglasses I would be motivated enough to go out yet again.” This worked… for a day…
My Training Peaks data
If you have ever been here you might understand how frustrating it is to KNOW what you need to do but have little CARE to actually do it. Even as a sport psych, knowing all of the techniques to get me out of the funk, I didn’t because I simply did not care. This might be a good time to say that throughout my limited experience as an expert in sport psychology, motivation is the MOST IMPORTANT attribute to develop with athletes. If you do not have the motivation, you will fall short of what you are trying to accomplish even while knowing everything about what you need to do to be successful.
After another shopping spree, I had a shiny new Wahoo Kickr and Rory had recommended joining him on this new virtual reality platform called Zwift so we could train together.
Everything changed after this.
3 Reasons I Love Wahoo and Zwift as a Sport Psych
Zwift increases motivation DRAMATICALLY
Ok, so I will put the research behind this here in a second but the fact is I WANTED to get on the bike day after day after day because it was freaking FUN!
If I were to put the science behind the effect that occurred I would bring in a bunch of research from Ryan & Deci’s self-determination theory which states that there are 3 things we can do to help increase motivation:
Increase camaraderie (go do what you want to do with other people who like to do what you want to do).
Increase competency (learn more about how to do what you are trying to do).
Choice (allow the person to choose to do what they are trying to do rather than having someone make them).
The combination of the Kickr and Zwift helped me impact each one of these critical elements. I was riding with virtual Team ODZ, Team SLTC, and about 1000 other riders on the hills of Watopia (Camaraderie). I rode the ‘skillz and drillz’ rides, listened to the experts on a Discord group talk nutrition and strategy (competency). And, I raced at least 2 times a week just because I thought it was fun (choice).
Zwift indoor efforts consistently bring trust to your training
With every virtual race that I participated in, I saw an increase in my FTP. If you do not know what FTP is, just think of it as the max amount of power your body can produce over 1 hour. Before Zwift and the Kickr, my FTP went from 166 to 187 in 6 months. In the 6 months after Zwift and the Kickr, my FTP climbed from 187 to 217. The fact is, I began to trust my training because I knew it was consistent and deliberate. Check out the structured training in the picture. I could also see RESULTS, which (let’s be honest) is what we are really looking for in training. It helps drive us forward no matter how process-oriented our focus is.
Over the winter months, when the snow was thick and the crappy Utah air was heavy I spent hundreds of hours on the bike. This allowed me to continually see progress even when there is a typical lull in training. Without getting into too many details, the first race of the 2017 season was Ironman Oceanside 70.3. At this race, I was able to drop 30 minutes off of my previous best bike split.
Zwift pushes you past limits through racing
The last reason I love Zwift from the perspective of a sport psych is the fact that there is no substitute for race day intensity. I personally was able to get into and train a race day mindset 2 times EVERY WEEK! This is so impactful for long distance athletes because races are so few and far between. These athletes previously didn’t get the advantage of competing every week and now they can! A common mental training assignment that I give the athletes I work with is to have at least 1 day a week of training that they focus primarily on getting in and holding the race day intensity and mindset. This allows the athlete to practice and gain confidence in their ability to control emotion and focus. The difficult part about this is that there is NO substitute for competition energy. It is truly difficult to get into that mindset and energy state without the competition.
Well, as you can guess Zwift solves this problem. I can attest to this because through every race I participated in, I was able to hold an intensity that I never thought to be achievable. I had a whole new ‘gear’ that I was not utilizing and because I was racing, I was not thinking about how my body felt. I simply raced!
In the end…
I completed the Ironman Coeur d’Alene 18 months after starting the journey. I suffered through 5+ hour rides indoors on a weekly basis and maintained the motivation (again, what I believe to be the most important attribute) to achieve this monumental challenge and I owe a lot of it to my Kickr, by allowing me to stay safe and stay out of the weather, as well as the effects of training using Zwift.
Note from Nate
I hope you find it interesting to get a hands on perspective of a trained sport psych as mental skills training can be vague and intangible at times. I personally feel that there is a disconnect between athletes and the experts that they work with in the fact that far to many of ‘experts’ or professionals have little experience in doing the things that they are teaching. Having said this, I personally find that there are new age approaches to helping athletes to train their mental game that can only be seen through participation and engagement.
Call for contributors: join the Zwift Insider team!
In 25 days, Zwift Insider will turn 2 years old. In that time the site has gone from being one of many Zwift-related resources to the top Zwift fansite. It has been referenced in GCN videos, ZwiftHQ materials, and various cycling media websites. This site now contains 500+ informative posts and boasts very significant daily traffic numbers. (In fact, I anticipate peaking at around 30k daily visitors this season!)
I’m proud of what Zwift Insider has become, but I know it can be so much more. In fact, to truly serve the growing global Zwift community, Zwift Insider must transition to something bigger. It has to move from being “Eric-powered” to being community-driven. There is just too much going on in Zwift for me to cover it all. Simply put… I need help!
So I’m reaching out to Zwifters worldwide, looking for contributors. If you want to write a post or two, that’s great. If you want to commit to being an ongoing part of the team, with regular contributions, that’s even better.
Let’s Talk Specifics
So far, Zwift Insider posts have focused on these general topics:
Zwift game news (new routes, features, challenges, upcoming events, etc)
My goal is a team of 5-10 regular contributors, each focused on topic(s) they are passionate about. To be a part of this core team contributors will need to write at least one post per month, although I expect many will contribute much more than that.
Team members will also be invited as we collaborate to decide how to strategically position Zwift Insider for future success.
Get Inside ZwiftHQ!
ZwiftBlog has always maintained a positive and mutually-beneficial relationship with ZwiftHQ. I’ve been discussing this transition with them for weeks now, and they have made it very clear that they support Zwift Insider and want to see it thrive even more as it moves into this new phase.
We don’t have all the details in place, but I’ll say regular contributors can expect VIP treatment from ZwiftHQ, including opportunities to receive inside-track info on what’s coming next, and cool Zwift swag.
Interested?
Email me at [email protected] and let me know more about yourself and what kind of role you’d like to play. I’m open to ideas, so if you’re excited about something let me hear it!
Grab a seat, sit back and enjoy the FIRST Episode of The Endurance Lab Coaches Corner! The Coaches corner is an unscripted, informative podcast covering hot topics in cycling and triathlon training, racing, and nutrition. Hosted by our Coaches and Nutritional Therapist specializing in endurance sports.
The third annual VR Worlds event is happening November 25th, and if you are a Zwift Racer you’ll want to participate.
This is one of the most popular team-based races on Zwift, with all of the major teams fielding at least one team (and often several teams).
Multiple Races
There are actually seven different races making up this event. The four team races cover each of the standard Zwift categories (A, B, C, and D) and there are also 3 women’s individual races (A, B, and C/D).
Race Course
VR Worlds 2017 will be raced on the Watopia Figure 8 route, which is 29.8km (18.4 miles) long with 234m (770′) of elevation gain. This race will be longer than most Zwift races, with A teams riding 4 laps, B teams 3, and C teams 2, and D teams 1.
Scoring
This is a point-based team competition. The specifics of how the points work are outlined on the rules page.
Date and Time
The race is on November 25th, and the first race begins at 13:00 GMT (9AM Eastern). See the race rules for precise start times for each of the 7 races.
Registration
Riders must register on the VR Worlds webpage. Riders not affiliated with a “trade team” on Zwift can form their own team if desired.
ZwiftHQ has confirmed the imminent release of Zwift on Apple TV, with game master Jon Mayfield putting the estimated release date as “weeks, not months out.” While they are not accepting additional beta testers at this time, a new batch of invites has just been sent out to increase the number of testers. Assuming that additional testing goes well, the release will happen soon.
What’s the Big Deal?
Zwift releasing on Apple TV is hugely important for the Zwift community because Apple TV will be the lowest-price option available for anyone wanting a quality Zwifting experience. It puts Zwift within reach of many more users.
Explaining Delays
I asked Jon why there has been such a long delay from the beta release (I’ve been a beta tester since early May) to the live launch, and he explained:
We were focusing on features our current users would enjoy, while we waited to see if a new Apple TV would come out. For all we knew Apple was going to abandon the ATV and leave it with 3-4 year old hardware, which is not really sufficient to run Zwift nicely on a big screen.
Apple TV 4k, available now for $179
Makes sense. And it sounds like Zwift was smart to wait… Apple announced the new Apple TV 4k in September, and it can now be purchased for as little as $179. Shop Apple TV on Amazon >
Let’s Talk Picture Quality
This version of Apple TV (the 5th generation) sports an upgraded A10X Fusion chip (the same chip used in the current iPad Pro), allowing it to run in Zwift’s “1080 Basic” profile, as opposed to running in the “720 Basic” profile which the 4th generation Apple TV uses. To be more specific, Jon says:
Apple TV 4k runs the 3D part at 1920×1080 and the 2D user interface runs at your native TV resolution (so, that part would be in 4k if you have a 4k tv).
Jon also had this to say in a Facebook post when comparing the 4th generation Apple TV to the new Apple TV 4k:
I think there’s a huge perceptible difference between the two. ATV4k will run smooth the entire time and runs at full 1080P, with a 4k user interface layered on top. It also supports glowing things (think Tron bike wheels) and has room for us to make the graphics even better.
Older Apple TV is an old iPhone 6 blown up to full screen. Gonna look pretty rough.
I’ve tested Zwift on my 4th generation Apple TV, and the quality level is pretty good–like Jon says, it’s the iPhone 6 blown up to full screen. Fairly smooth, but lacking some detail in the graphics.
If there’s a “huge perceptible difference between the two” then I’m sure Zwifters will be very happy with their experience on Apple TV 4k.
Episode 37 of Zwiftcast has been released. This is an extra-special one! Here’s the full episode description:
This episode is devoted to a conversation with Zwift chief executive Eric Min.
It’s a wide-ranging look at where the platform is in terms of fulfilled potential and how Zwift is preparing for growth this winter.
Eric updates Zwiftcast listeners and viewers about the number of customers and how the business is coping with churn. There’s also an illuminating discussion on what’s planned for course updates. Simon and Eric go on to chat about the Draft (nailing a few myths along the way) Racing, the Academies and Voice. In the Quickfire Questions section Eric answers many of the most often-asked questions from the community.
It’s a fascinating insight into what’s planned for the platform and the business – right from the very top.
If you’d like to watch the interview video you may do so below:
Ride on Zwiftathon for World Bicycle Relief December 2nd
Zwift’s biggest annual event is happening this December 2nd, and trust us: you don’t want to miss it! The third annual 24-hour “Ride On for World Bicycle Relief” Zwiftathon will be the world’s largest virtual cycling event to date.
The last two years’ events have been the most beautiful Zwift days of the year, filled with goodwill and group rides as massive numbers of riders pushed themselves to complete long efforts on Watopia, our favorite virtual cycling paradise.
Event Details
Time Window: 24 hours long, beginning 12AM Pacific (8AM UTC) on December 2nd
Distance Goals: last year the goal was for Zwifters to log 250,000 miles during the event. This year the goal is 1,000,000 miles! Everyone who rides on Zwift during the 24-hour window will be included in this mileage total, even if they have not registered with WBR. (Registration is strongly encouraged, however, so you can easily raise funds and be in the running for prizes.)
Fundraising: The goal is to raise US$250,000 with this event, and the majority of this will be from people who fundraise through WBR’s site. Just go here and click “Fundraise” to get started.
If the community distance goal of 1,000,000 miles is reached, Trek will donate $40k to WBR.
Donations will be matched through Dec 31, meaning our US$250,000 will be doubled to $500,000.
Prizes: according to WBR’s Katie Bolling, “There are some really great prize bundles at a variety of levels and we have some amazing grand prizes for the fundraising champion, runner up, etc. We’ll be announcing more prize details soon but a few of the top prizes will be a custom Stinner/Zwift bike with SRAM and an InGamba trip to Tuscany.”
Pro riders will be joining and leading group rides throughout the day. Current pros signed on include the Canyon women’s team, Laurens ten Dam, Jens Voigt, Lawson Craddock, Greg Henderson and many others. More big names to be announced soon!
The WBR Buffalo Bike
About World Bicycle Relief
World Bicycle Relief mobilizes people through The Power of Bicycles. They envision a world where distance is no longer a barrier to independence and livelihood.
TeamODZ SkillZ and DrillZ Ride – 1 NOV: It’s that time of year again folks. The Zwift Team World Championship is around the corner. That’s right, we are in the championship part of the season. All of the racing and riding that you have done the rest of the year culminate in this. If you don’t perform here, the last year can be counted as a waste! Just pack it up and go home! Watch this week’s class below:
Working the draft
Ok, the intro may be a little harsh and definitely not accurate. Really the Zwift Team Worlds is just a chance for for the northern hemisphere folks to give it one more go before we officially transition to the off-season… or cyclocross season… or marathon season. For the southern hemisphere folks, this is a great way to knock off the rust before the outdoor season gets into full swing. Unfortunately, I will not be partaking this year, as I haven’t figured out how to fly with my setup, and that might be a bridge too far for the family.
As we get ready for the race, everyone needs to take a good look at their goals and their role in the team. Not everyone is going to be going for the victory, but every point does matter. Teams cannot afford to have domestiques destroy themselves only to limp home at the back of the field. Sure, you might get the individual win, but the team will not score well. No, this is about getting as many of your teammates as high up the finishing order as possible. Think cross country. If you don’t know how that goes, watch McFarland, USA, with Kevin Costner. It’s a great flick and will give you a good example of how Worlds will be scored.
Well, back on topic. Zwift’s draft is similar to IRL racing, but it is not the same. The programmers will never be able to make it exactly like the open road, but it is pretty darn close. Sitting in the middle of the pack or the back of the field means that you will benefit from the work others do at the front. This is just like IRL racing. However, there are two major differences. First, you can’t feather your brakes on Zwift to stay in that sweet spot of the draft of the rider in front of you. No, you have to manage that with pedal power (we’ll cover that more in a bit). Second, you can ride through other riders. Yes, you can go pretty much right through them. (Please do NOT try that out on the road. It will have really bad results.) If you hit the gas in the back of the field you can overshoot the riders up front and simply pass through them. That is bad.
Now that we have established some significant differences, let’s talk about how we stay in the draft. This can be particularly tricky, and I have only seen a few people who have mastered this skill. I am good at it, but I definitely have not mastered it. The most important aspect of staying in the draft is situational awareness. You really need to pay attention to what is going on around you. Here are some of the things you need pay attention to while racing:
The terrain gradient you are on
The terrain gradient immediately up the road (we’ll cover this later, too)
The power output of the riders around you
Your power; and
The distance between you and the rider(s) in front of you.
Yeah, that is quite a list of things to watch for while pushing near your limits. You get better at it over time, but you really need to be cognizant of all of those things. Losing awareness of one of them can completely hose you.
Using your view stay in the draft
First and foremost, you have to focus on staying on the wheels in front of you. Surprisingly, it is way more challenging than you can imagine. While riding, you have the luxury of different views, and each has a benefit. For racing purposes, there are really three primary views: 1, 2, and 3. Views 1 and 2 give you a good view of your rider and the riders around you, including those behind you. That is great to see if someone is getting ready to jump you. Until you become an expert at staying in the draft, though, it is very difficult to do so using those views. Plus, if your avatar happens to look like a lot of the others in the race, it is remarkably easy to get confused about which rider you are. (Yes, it happens. I did it the other day during a workout with some TeamODZ teammates.)
In a large race or event, it can be even more confusing. Thus, I prefer to use view 3 when racing. That is the view from your avatar’s eyes. You lose a little bit of visual awareness of the goings on behind you, but the rider list will mitigate that to some extent. This view gives you a much better perception of the distance between you and the rider in front of you. It is super helpful, and it is the view I use for the vast majority of the race. If I am involved in the sprint finish, I sometimes switch back to view 1 in the last 500 meters or so, but that is only on that rare occasion.
Embrace your sensitive side
Step two is to manage your power output down to a micro level. Once you get settled in to the pack at pace, the pressure you put on the pedals is hugely important. I know that sounds simple, but it’s really more complicated than it sounds. It’s not as easy as simply dropping your wattage output as you close in on the rider in front of you. As the group settles into the pace that it will maintain for a good portion of the race, holding your position can become more challenging. Nobody will want to be at the front or the back, but not everybody can be in the same spot. Thus, you have to fine-tune the art of small pressure changes on the pedals. It can be something as simple as dropping from 93 RPMs to 87 RPMs over a short period of time or picking up the cadence. Those small changes are enough to keep you from accidentally overtaking or dropping off the rider in front of you.
Look for danger up the road
Step three is knowing the terrain in front of you. Zwift has given us the luxury of showing us the grade of the road we are are about to encounter. As the road kicks slightly up, many riders skyrocket their w/kg, as the change in resistance on the smart trainer surprises them. That is a rookie mistake. No, really, stop doing that. Every time you do this, you are lighting a match. You may not completely burn it, but you did some level of damage.
When the riders at the front accidentally accelerate, it becomes carnage at the back. Those at the back often burn one or two matches trying to get back on to the group, and then we are back at the whole overshooting problem again. Now that you have read my instruction to not do that, I will assume that everyone here is an excellent student who listens and implements. However, there are still one or two Zwifters who do not pay attention to the SDR lessons. They cause chaos in the bunch and normally get blown out the back later in the race. If you keep a pretty vigilant watch on the terrain that you will encounter a hundred meters up the road, you can have a much better sense of when stupidity might strike. You will be able to monitor your own output to ensure that you are not needlessly expending energy, but you will also be ready in case a number of people do make that mistake or attempt to launch an attack. This requires some mental training, as you need to constantly scan ahead of you to be aware of danger areas. Really, this is no different than what you do when riding on the road. On Zwift, though, we’re not looking for potholes, loose dogs, or random people walking out in front of us.
Why we care
Mastering your ability to maintain a position in the peloton really matters in racing, as it directly affects energy expenditure and tactics. My TeamODZ teammate, JWagz, is a master at this. He routinely finishes with .3 w/kg less than the other riders in the front of the race. Oh, I forgot to mention that he wins most of those races, too. Yeah, that’s right. He averages nearly a half watt per kilo less than other riders and still beats them! He’s strong, but he’s not “Hulk Smash” strong. He uses his brain to save energy to use it when it counts the most.
As for tactics, we did a little drill at the end of this week’s ride to show how positioning matters when attacking. The group rode at a constant 2.0-2.5 w/kg, and riders attempted to attack the group from different places in the peloton. Despite some of the riders going all-out, they could barely get off the front after ten seconds of dead sprinting when launching from the back. An attack is not going to be successful if you are completely spent before you even get a gap off the front of the group. Holding a front-third position allows the rider to benefit from the draft before attacking and use it to slingshot off of the front during the attack. Trust me, it matters.
The road to Worlds
While we won’t have anymore SkillZ and DrillZ Rides prior to Team Worlds (sorry), you can still practice these critical tasks. During your next ride, put some effort into paying attention to the road ahead and see if you manage your gearing to the point that you do not increase more than .5 w/kg when you hit the small rises. It’s tough, but it is definitely doable with a bit of practice. Likewise, try to make some small pressure changes on the pedals that result in only a small change in your power output. Those micro adjustments will serve you well when trying to hold the wheel of a steady rider.
Well, that is going to wrap us up for this time. Good luck to everyone racing in the Zwift Team World Championship. We’ll be back on 29 November for another class. Until then, Ride On!
I completed the 70.3 at St. George and with the energy of the finished race, signed up for the 70.3 at Coeur d’Alene just 4 months later.
If you look at my training peaks data (365 Days), you can see a major lapse in motivation and drive about 3 months out from my 2nd 70.3 race. The panic monster had not set in and the monkey mind had taken firm hold over anything having to do with training. If you don’t know what I am talking about, take 
With every virtual race that I participated in, I saw an increase in my FTP. If you do not know what FTP is, just think of it as the max amount of power your body can produce over 1 hour. Before Zwift and the Kickr, my FTP went from 166 to 187 in 6 months. In the 6 months after Zwift and the Kickr, my FTP climbed from 187 to 217. The fact is, I began to trust my training because I knew it was consistent and deliberate. Check out the structured training in the picture. I could also see RESULTS, which (let’s be honest) is what we are really looking for in training. It helps drive us forward no matter how process-oriented our focus is.
