It’s that time: the end of the off-season

Editor’s note: Ian Murray is using Zwift to train for the International Triathlon Union Long Course World Championships held in Odense/Fyn, Denmark July 2018. His weekly Zwift Insider series discusses the previous week’s training and the plan for the upcoming week.

So, the last three weeks have been great. I finished up with my season on 12 November, and I set about enjoying myself. But all good things must come to and end, and unfortunately now, my off-season is over. It’s time to get work. No more slacking. No more ice cream dinners. No more lying around being lazy. Nope, those days are gone. We are 31 weeks out.

The glorious days of yore

For the last three weeks, I have done very little other than eat and relax. Seriously, I ate all of the things that I have been missing. Most have been missing due to availability vs limiting myself, but I also ate them in quantities that I would not have allowed during the season. Yeah, we’re talking lots of ice cream, oysters, all manner of fish sandwiches, drinks, desserts, etc. If I felt like eating it, I did. It was awesome. Of course, I am now 64kg, up from 60kg. That’s not that great, but it was needed.

On top of eating and drinking a bunch of wonderful things, I did very little working out. During the first week, I rode around Key West on a conch cruiser and did one easy run with one of the athletes I coach. That was it. Oh, I also slept a good bit. In the second week, I ran about 24 miles, but I did it with my wife at a pretty easy pace. So, it wasn’t taxing on my body. By week three, we were back from vacation, and I added a little bit. Three strength workouts, a couple days of commuting via bike, and a short swim to help loosen up the arms made up the last off-season week.

Well, maybe that’s not the whole truth

I guess I have to be honest. I did add one hard effort. On Saturday, I could not resist, and I did the TeamODZ Goats & Bears ride. I love to race, and I had not done anything hard in three weeks. Oh yeah, recipe for disaster! With my new-found kilos, I found myself relegated down to the B group. Let’s be honest, though, I was in no shape for the Bs, let alone the As.

The day started off pretty rough, as I could feel the squats and power cleans from the day prior’s workout in the legs before the race even started. Yeah, it hurt from the beginning.

Just as we hit the castle on the front side of the Epic KOM, I pulled the plug. I was in full implosion mode, as the first 25 minutes of the race had been at or near 4.0 w/kg, and I was in no way ready for that. I ended up recovering a bit before attacking the radio tower. I was grateful for the chance to recover on the downhills, and I limped home in 35th position or so. It may have been 36th, but who cares at that point. Not my best result, but meh, who cares? I’m still in the off-season!

Training begins! Time to destroy my body

December is not normally a great time for most people to train. This year, it has turned out to be a wonderful time for me to train. I have to stay here and work, but my wife has to travel to visit her mom. She’ll be gone for about a month, including over the holidays, so I have nothing else to do… really. Thus, I will train my face off! Here is what we have this week:

The first block of training will focus heavily on running and strength. Both are areas in which I need to work. Well, I am actually known as a strong runner, but ITU Worlds will have a 30K run vs a 21K run. That extra 5.7 miles is a big deal at the end of the race, so I want to build some of that strength early. Plus, it gives me time to ramp up the running volume before the extra cycling fatigues the legs even more. As you can see, the only riding I am doing is commuting, the TeamODZ SkillZ and DrillZ Ride, and the TeamODZ Saturday morning rides.

Week 1 of training will be about 760 TSS. It’s not as much as you will see later, but it’s going to hurt, especially coming off three easy weeks. I will be live streaming most of the workouts on Mixer, or on Facebook on Zwift Live by ODZ. If anyone wants to join in the fun, I will do the Monday and Friday runs at 5:15 AM EDT. The pace will be at around 7-7:30/mile.  I’ll try to check in mid-week to let you know how it’s going. Until then, Ride On!

Zwift for Weight Loss: Prepare for Liftoff

The Road to Recovery

Many of us who have been cycling for any length of time have received some sort of injury or illness we need to overcome. I believe the important thing to remember is not what frailties are holding you back, but what changes you can make to develop what you can do.

We have seen in the past stories of pros like Matt Hayman using Zwift post injury to go on and win one of the Classics, and I am sure there are many more, but what about us mere mortals that don’t always have such dizzy targets?

It’s been well documented that exercising can help with depression and improve mental well-being. I for one can vouch for the fact that if you have something to focus on you can really push yourself beyond limits you thought possible. So perhaps we should start with a little history.

About Me

I have been cycling for many years but really only got the bug when I moved to the Surrey Hills in the UK, 7.5 miles from Box Hill (the real one!) This area is well-known for its rolling hills and beautiful lanes. I joined a Facebook group of cyclists then joined my local cycle club, so my weekends were pretty full. I managed to complete a few charitable events, pushing myself harder and harder and finding even at the age of 49 I could do more and more.

A Sudden Change

Unfortunately this came to a sudden halt at the end of June 2017. I was involved in a bad road accident, hit by an oncoming car. My list of injuries included nine broken ribs, broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade, punctured lung, and of course head trauma. I can assure you it was not a pretty sight. Let’s just say I am lucky to be alive and currently I am still surprising the doctors.

The main issue holding me back from recovery is the nerve damage inflicted on the shoulder area, meaning that both deltoid and bicep muscles are no longer working, leaving me with limited use of my right arm. I had surgery on 6th October to transplant nerve tissue onto the muscles but this will be a waiting game as nerves are very slow to grow (1mm/day). It may seem strange, but all I kept asking was ‘when can I get back on the bike’ and even to this day I am looking forward to getting out on the road again but this is where Zwift comes in.

I have been Zwifting for two years now and although only at level 22 I really enjoy the group riding experience. We have some very good leaders and sweepers out there who do this because they enjoy it and I personally have made some firm friends despite never meeting them real life. Such is the world we live in today! I managed to get myself up to a pretty high standard prior to the accident, getting an FTP in the upper 200’s.

So what’s next?

As of 23rd November I have been given the all clear to get back onto Zwift and slowly get my fitness back. It’s not going to be easy and I will be starting all over again after almost 5 months off the bike, having lost a lot of fitness and muscle mass.

I plan to start again at the bottom with the focus on getting back to full fitness. Easy short sessions will be the first step but if you’re interested why not follow me on the ‘Road to Recovery’… and who knows, that Tron bike may be just around the corner!