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The Echelon Podcast #18: CVR World Cup – Ecrit Finals

Adam Zimmerman
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The Echelon Podcast #18: CVR World Cup – Ecrit Finals

The Echelon Podcast #18: CVR World Cup – Ecrit Finals

I recently participated in the two biggest “live” US Zwift races of the year: CVR’s Los Angeles final and the Zwift North America Ecrit finals. While both races were live Zwift events, they were different in many ways: location, race format, participants, trainer setups, prizes, etc.

Learn the details of my experience at these races as co-host Chris Smith interviews me in this latest Echelon Podcast episode.

Editor’s note: Zwift Insider’s Eric Schlange was at the CVR event when Adam won it all with a massive finishing sprint. Here’s the video he shot–you can hear Eric yelling himself hoarse as Adam gives it all for the win!

About The Echelon Podcast:

We are amateur cyclists who cover everything in the world of cycling. Co-hosted by Adam Zimmerman and Chris Smith, you can find us on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Week 21 – Bring Out Your Dead!

Ian Murray
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Week 21 – Bring Out Your Dead!

Week 21 – Bring Out Your Dead!

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.

At the end of Week 20, I felt like the body had come out its funk.  My mood had brightened, and I no longer feared that the Monty Python dead ringer was going to come looking for me.  Despite the positive feelings, I wasn’t sure how things were going to go when I woke up on Monday morning.

The Uncertain Beginning

To open up the week, I planned on getting at the Endurance Lab’s Race Accelerations workout.  It’s a tough one that simulates breaking off the front of the bunch.  Sure, why not.  That’s a great way to see if the legs have been reattached to the body or not.  Well, it went great.  I crushed the workout, even overshooting my top-end targets.  Ok.  Test 1 complete.  That afternoon, I went to the pool and met up with my swimming partner for the pace-to-fatigue workout.  Basically, I swim at 5-10 seconds per 100m faster than race pace for 200 meters on 25 seconds of race until I cannot hit the mark.  Then, I drop to 100 meters until I hit 2500 meters and end on a 200 cool-down.  It was awesome.  I hit under 3:10 for all of the 200s and under 1:30 for the couple 100s that I did (my partner gassed out on the 200s).  Tuesday followed with another great swim.  At this point, I was pretty sure that the rest of the week would be disastrous.  Two great swims, back-to-back, has historically been a sign of the apocalypse, so I was a little apprehensive about what the week would hold in store for me.

On Wednesday, I woke up and prepared to hammer out some 800 meter repeats.  Eight of them, in fact, on 2:30 rest.  Unfortunately, I would be doing them on the treadmill because of the weather.  Since I had to get used to the treadmill for this effort, I decided to start out at 11 MPH for the intervals at 1% incline.  That came out to be at about 2:45 per 800.  I did the first two like that and decided that it was way too easy.  For the next two, I bumped it to 12 MPH for the last 200 meters, resulting in a 2:37.  From there, I started kicking up the speed, knocking out the last two in 2:27 each.  It’s not the fastest I have done, but it was definitely a little different doing it on the treadmill.  After that, I commuted to and from work and had some fun at the ODZ SkillZ and DrillZ Ride, where we went over counterattacking.

Thursday did not go as well as planned, but that had more to do with getting to the pool late rather than being tired.  The TRX workout later in the day, though, crushed me.  My workout partner and I both finished the workout completely thrashed.  The next morning, I was still feeling the strength workout and was moving a bit slow in the morning, so I only had enough time to knock out an 8-mile run before heading to work.  Saturday was also an odd day, as the swim course for next week’s tri was going to be open.  So, I packed up my swim partner, who is doing his first tri next weekend, and we headed off to the open water swim course.  We got a little practice in before heading back to the house to start our brick workout in the park near my house.  By this time, it was getting really hot.  We knocked out the first hour bike and then hit a 5K run at a nice steady pace.  My partner had to bail at that point, and I had some things I needed to get done.  So, I had to cut the workout in half.  Booo!  I felt really good during the workout, though, and I had a lot of gas left in the tank.  Because of that, I decided to do Sunday’s workout in the park and throw on an additional run (the one I missed on Saturday) for fun.

Shortly after arriving at the park, I saw that a bike race would soon be starting.  Fortunately, that didn’t mean that the park would be closed to non-racers.  No, we just had to keep out of the way.  This proved to be interesting, as the workout I was doing, the Endurance Lab Threshold Mix, had me pushing fairly hard at times.  I ended up catching and dropping one group and catching another category just as I was finishing my workout.  I still cannot understand how I was able to gain time on all but the fastest group.  It made me wish that I was racing.  After I got home, I grabbed the wife, and she hopped on her bicycle.  She rode alongside me as I ran along the trail through the park (as opposed to the road where I was riding).  A quick 34 minutes later, and we were back at the house.  It had been a hot one, but it left me with a lot of confidence for next week, as I finished off the run with a pretty solid last kilometer.  Upon returning home, I got cleaned up, ate a quick meal, and jumped in my AirRelax recovery boots for about 45 minutes.  It was awesome!  My legs feel like new again.  That’s good, as the first part of next week isn’t going to be easy.

Planned TSS – 945; Completed TSS – 889

It’s Pop Quiz Time

I haven’t raced a tri since November.  I need a little practice to knock the rust off.  I also was, more or less, forced into doing this sprint tri.  It should be a fun race, so I’m not upset.  I had not been able to do it the previous two years because it always conflicted with the 70.3 in St. Croix.  That is not the case this year, so I am going to hammer away at this sprint tri to see what I can do.  The goal is to push a little on the swim, hold just below FTP on the bike, and then hammer the 5K.  We’ll see how it goes.  Before I get to the race, though, I have to get through the first part of the week.  Monday is a holiday here, so at least I get to sleep in before I hit my third consecutive brick workout.  While I am not in a full-on taper, I am taking this week a little easier.  I really want to hammer the crap out of the race.  It’s more of a personal thing, so I won’t go into details.  Anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Planned TSS – 645

If all goes well, I will have a good time on the race on Sunday, and it will basically be a really long speed workout.  After this week, I will be on Zwift for almost every workout through the end of May.  After that, no more Zwift until late July or early August, as I will be moving and racing in Denmark.  This ought to get interesting real quick.  That’s it for now.  I hope to see you out on the island (or London or Richmond).  Until then, Ride On!

Open Pro: A Tale of Three Races

Jordan Cheyne
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Open Pro: A Tale of Three Races

Open Pro: A Tale of Three Races

Editor’s note: Jordan Cheyne’s “The Open Pro” series details his experiences with high-level Zwift training as a rider in the pro Continental ranks. You can read his past posts here.

Just when you think you have a grasp on the sport of cycling, the sport seems to dig deep into its playbook and throw you a new challenge. And so it was, as I sat on my Mom’s couch in late March and flipped through Twitter updates for the Chico Stage Race. The race was meant to be my season opener with Elevate-KHS and I had lugged my new, freshly built TT bike to the airport at 4:30 am two mornings in a row in an effort to arrive there. The springtime fog had other ideas and after a flurry of delayed and ultimately cancelled flights I was left 3000km away from the start line as the peloton rolled away on stage one. That was a shock. In eight years of race travel I have never actually missed a race due to logistical problems. It was a small tune-up event but it still stung and I had no choice but to tread water and turn my attention to the next event one week later: the San Dimas Stage Race.

Calm and collected before the SD TT (Photo credit Jonathan Holland Neve)

San Dimas: Form and Frustration

My travel to San Dimas was smooth and despite spending little time riding outdoors in an unseasonably cold Kelowna Spring, I was confident in my form. I have had a steady progression in the key 6.8 km uphill time trial stage of San Dimas over the last 5 years. It isn’t a viciously steep pure climber’s TT but I have always thought I had the goods to win there if I executed. Execution as it turns out has been a gradually acquired taste for me with my last 4 attempts resulting in placings of: 22nd, 18th, 11th and 3rd in 2017.

I knew I had more to give and on a cloudy and blustery day on Glendora Mountain Road I tore out of the start house and finally found those extra few percent on course. I had worked hard both on my own and with my mental performance coach Mario Arroyave to refine my approach to high pressure, one shot events like these and it paid off; I found flow.  I thought my power meter was broken at times it was reading so high but my time proved it correct. I finished 20 seconds faster than any previous attempts and claimed my first yellow jersey of the season.

A near perfect effort in the San Dimas TT
Wearing Yellow in San Dimas (Photo credit DK Thomas)

I had the form and a strong team to carry my lead until the end of the three-stage event but sometimes all of that can be unwound by poor luck. In the next day’s road race I flatted with 25km remaining and after a furious chase with the team a breakaway slipped away and Christopher Blevins of Axeon cut my lead from 18 seconds to 3 heading into the final day’s crit. With my lack of sprinting prowess and multiple time bonus sprints on offer, it was always going to be a tough equation to balance to retain my lead. Ultimately, the needle was unthreadable and I slipped to 3rd overall. The team walked away satisfied but frustrated with two stage wins, the strongest riders in the race but without that yellow exclamation point on the weekend we all wanted.

Joe Martin Stage Race: Downs and Ups

I was motivated for Joe Martin and confident that I had all the tools for a great result. The first stage setting out of Fayettesville, Arkansas was headed swiftly in that direction.  After 30 km my three teammates and I rode an 18 man breakaway away from the field in furious crosswinds. This time it wasn’t luck but misjudgment and perhaps hubris that stole away a top result. Despite our numbers advantage and strong legs we left ourselves vulnerable to continuous body blows by the opposition and in the end each of us cracked and let the win go up the road. The attacks and counter attacks seem manageable in isolation but by the final climb of the race the sum total of those efforts had emptied me. My last ounces of energy went to help teammate Eder Frayere salvage the day from the field with an attack for 6th place.

182km of power spikes and bad tactics at Joe Martin

The rest of the weekend passed in a blur. The team came close with Alfredo Rodrguez’s 2nd place on the Stage 2 sprint and then James Piccoli’s 2nd place in the short uphill TT on Stage 3. For me though, the TT was a swift punch in the jaw. In frigid 2 degree Celsius weather I underdressed and my legs turned to useless slush just minutes into the effort. Lesson learned, but that doesn’t mitigate the sting of a missed opportunity.

This is where the mental game came was again crucial. With a bruised ego plus a freezing cold technical crit the next day the weaker part of me wanted to cruise around and let our sprinters do their thing. The stronger part of me got on the trainer in the morning to spin out the kinks and set about producing some lemonade out of a rather sour set of lemons. I focused on staying with each step of the process and produced one of my stronger performances. I drove 2 separate breakaways and allowed Strongman-Sprinter Sam Bassetti to mop enough points to steal the green jersey. With us up the road and the pressure off in the field, Alfredo saved all his fury for the final sprint and took a massive UCI stage victory. I haven’t been that satisfied in a long time.

Alfredo winning big (Photo credit Joe Martin Stage Race)

Gila: Full Speed Ahead into the Wall

The third and final race in the set was the daunting Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico. It is a race decided by high altitude climbs and time trials and I was riding high into the first stage’s summit finish. The final climb of the day is far from straightforward and features a decisive, false flat-crosswind section mid way up. I knew something was wrong when I saw the Rally team storm to the front there and had no teammates ahead of me in the top 20 positions. The group was strewn into the gutter by the echelon; I looked back and made what turned out to be a rewarding decision for the team. I sold myself out at a rather high price and dragged my fellow climbers James and Eder back to the front group just as the climb stabbed up again with 4km remaining until the finish. That was it for me, and I clutched and grabbed at the scraps of the peloton on the way to a 24th place finish. It was worth it to see James up in the distance though, fighting all the way for a 6th place finish.

Empty after a huge effort in Gila (Photo credit Jonathon Holland Neve)

That situation was a tough call at the time since my I fancied my own chances on the climb but fortune proved it wise from the team perspective. In the subsequent stages I came down with a chest cold that quickly robbed me of any energy and top end form I had. I was reduced to a team role anyway and would have lost any high placing I had.

The race doesn’t stop just because you can’t stop coughing though and I was determined to hang on and make a difference for James and Alfredo in the sprints. I was able to cover attacks, collect bottles and help marshal the troops and we ended up with a 4th and a 5th on the final stages and James retained 6th overall. Not a glimmering success but a solid team performance at the beginning of a long season.

That’s how I feel about my first three races personally as well. The pieces are all there but it can be a damn hard puzzle sometimes and I just have to keep making smart, strong efforts to find the winning combination. My next chance is the Redlands Bicycle Classic in Southern California this week and I like our chances.

Week 20 – Why Can’t My Legs and Work Just Cooperate?

Ian Murray
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Week 20 – Why Can’t My Legs and Work Just Cooperate?

Week 20 – Why Can’t My Legs and Work Just Cooperate?

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.

The last last thing I needed was to have my legs turn into jello.  Well, that and a crazy week at work.  Seriously, I just wanted one more big week of training before a recovery week.  Yeah, that didn’t happen.

Impromptu Recovery

After the great long ride up to Las Terrenas at the end of Week 19, I started the week off on fire!  My run was a little slower than normal on Monday, but I didn’t expect much.  The swim that afternoon, though, was pretty awesome.  I hit my marks perfectly, hitting the 3K mark in under 52 minutes.  The next day’s swim was another tough one, but I felt even better with each 1K interval being faster than the previous.  At that point, I thought that it was going to be a great week.  Two days in, and I was already at 350 TSS.  Oh yeah!  Let’s just say that the awesome week ended right there.

Yeah, I was blown up.  Unfortunately for me, I happened to be the last one to know.  For some reason, my work seems to know just when I really need a low-stress week where I can get home at a normal time and get adequate sleep.  Then, it makes sure that I have exactly the opposite kind of week.  On Wednesday morning, I utterly failed the Endurance Lab Short Grids workout.  In fact, I shot the moon, 0 for 24 stars.  I couldn’t even hit the warm-up power targets.  It was a disaster.  The subsequent rides to work and ride home were way harder than usual, and I had very little gas for the ODZ SkillZ and DrillZ Ride.  Fortunately for me, I get to determine how much effort I put in to the ride as the leader.  Thus, I just stayed in the middle of the group and provided instruction.  Thursday was another failed attempt at a workout, so I just did what I could.

The week was really catching up to me.  Every night this week was a late one with work.  I didn’t get home before 10 PM except on Wednesday, but I still got up at 5 AM to train.  Well, that was M-TH, at least.  On Friday, I got up at 3:50 AM to take someone to the airport.  I had to go back to the airport later that day to pick up the wife who was returning from a trip, and I barely had the energy to make the drive without falling asleep.  Thus, I bagged the plan for Friday and just did a short, easy run.  The legs hadn’t returned by Saturday.  On the bright side, I was scheduled to commentate for the ODivaZ race https://www.facebook.com/ZwiftLIVEbyODZ/videos/641074259570233/  , so I was able to just spin the legs out while chatting with the other race commentators.  By the end of Saturday, I really started to feel better, and I thought that I might do something on Sunday.  Fortunately, my wife had to run for 90 minutes, so I decided to accompany her as the support bike.  Well, I actually changed a spoke and trued the rear wheel of my mountain bike first, then I went out to give her some water and play some musical support (Spotify not me singing).  We finished off the workout with some Kodiak Powercakes and put our feet up.  The pancakes had blueberries in them, so that made them healthy.  Don’t judge me.

TSS Planned – 839; TSS Completed – 599

Getting Back to Work

After the week of goofing off, I don’t have the luxury of taking a second recovery week.  No, I have to get right back at it.  I have only about six weeks left before I have to pack up and move, so I need to make sure that all of the prep work for Denmark is done.  Yes, it’s not ideal to move five or six weeks before a big race, but my bike will be going with me as checked baggage.  Anyway, this week is going to be a bit of a big week, as I got roped into racing a sprint tri the following week.  I’m really looking forward to the brick work over the weekend.  It will give me some good idea of where my legs are coming off a bit harder bike effort.  The other key effort is the 8 x 800m run on Wednesday.  That’s going to be a whole boatload of fun.

Planned TSS – 945

Like I said earlier, the clock is ticking.  On paper, I still have plenty of time.  In fact, USA Triathlon just released a training program starting 23 April for the 14 July race.  That’s a bit ridiculous in my mind, but hey, it’s not mandatory to use.  Right now, I am not feeling particularly sharp, but I know that I can easily handle all of the distances.  As we move forward, the sharpness will come.  I’m not worried about that.  I just hope that the movers don’t accidentally pack my helmet and bike shoes.  I’m pretty sure that I will have nightmares about that all next month.  That’s it for now.  I will be outdoors more over the next week, as I need some time in the heat for the sprint tri, and I want to put more time on the tri bike.  The week of 30 April, I will go back to being on Zwift more, so I hope to see you out there.  Until then, Ride On!

This Week’s Top 5 Zwift Videos

Eric Schlange
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This Week’s Top 5 Zwift Videos

This Week’s Top 5 Zwift Videos

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Interview With Zwift CEO & Co-Founder Eric Min

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Cycling Porn interviewed Eric Min during the EU Kiss Crit finale in London. Check out the perspective of Zwift HQ on community driven race efforts.

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Introducing the 2018 Specialized Zwift Academy Tri Team

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Zwift Academy is back, and this time it’s for triathletes. Meet the members of the Specialized Zwift Academy Tri Team.

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Custom phone holder for Garmin mount for Zwift, TrainerRoad etc

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Zwift’s mobile phone app is finally a useful compendium to your Zwift experience. Here’s how to create a custom mount for your phone without adding additional clutter to your handle-bar?

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Zwift FTP Test Erg Mode On or Not

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Erg mode often seems a bit confusing for many Zwifters. Should you make use of it in workouts? Is it used for FTP tests? How should you use it during an FTP test? This video has the answers.

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Keiser M3i vs Peloton: The Ultimate Comparison.

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We’re usually talking about smart and not so smart trainers for your bike. But there’s an alternative: you could buy a full stationary bike and mount power meter pedals. In this video, Studio Cycles puts two popular stationary bikes head-to-head.

Zwift Update 1.0.25770 Released

Eric Schlange
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Zwift Update 1.0.25770 Released

Zwift Update 1.0.25770 Released

Zwift released a minor update this morning which includes new Alpe du Zwift timing features and lots of minor bug fixes. It also includes a redesigned login screen (see above) which looks great!

Bend to Bend Timing

A sector stats panel is now visible while riding up the Alpe. This displays your PRs for upcoming bend to bend sectors, and as you complete a sector it shows your time as well as average heartrate and wattage.

This new panel fits right into Zwift’s approach to indoor fitness: making it more engaging, more challenging, more rewarding. One way Zwift could further improve this new panel is to show estimated completion time on the current sector, as it is difficult to know whether you are ahead or behind a PR based simply on current time–especially on longer sectors.

Showing estimated completion time for all timed segments would be nice, for this same reason. A simple timer doesn’t tell you much!

Improvements (or Bug Fixes) Needed

It appears there is a bug in the wattage display for the current segment, since it only show your current wattage (which is already displayed at the top-left of the screen) and not your average wattage for the segment. Once you complete the segment your average is displayed, but not while you’re actually riding it. I assume it does the same for heart rate.

Additionally, while riding a sector your PR time is not visible. It would be nice if you could see your PR, current time, and estimated completion time for the current sector.

Powerup Timers

There are three powerup locations during the Alpe climb, denoted by a thumbs up on the asphalt. Now as you approach each powerup location a countdown timer is displayed on the map. You must now reach the powerup location before the counter runs out in order to receive the powerup.  Get moving!

How are the powerup time cutoffs calculated? According to Game Master Jon Mayfield they are “are based off some of your previous efforts, plus or minus a random amount of time.”

Jon included this little teaser in today’s update notes:

Our next release will include a larger feature we’re finishing off now, so stay tuned.

Ride on!

See full update notes >

What do you think of this Zwift design concept?

Eric Schlange
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What do you think of this Zwift design concept?

What do you think of this Zwift design concept?

Lukas Bischoff, a Zwifter from Aachen, Germany, has posted a redesign concept for the game we all know and love.

Lukas says:

As a Zwift user, I’ve always wanted a more trendy and clean interface to come up. In this redesign I tried to modify some minor things to provide a more delightful experience to the users. Here’s my proposition.

Like Lukas’ concept? Give it an upvote on the Zwift support forum. Here are my thoughts on his fine work…

Login and Icons

The login is straightforward enough, but redesigned to match Zwift’s current branding. The icon set is nice and clean.

Club, Courses, and Data

First, notice the useful navigation bar on the left which lets you easily switch between key app screens. This “get anywhere from anywhere” layout is distinctly different (and in my opinion, vastly improved) from Zwift’s current “step by step” approach to game experience.

The Club screen is the app’s “homescreen.” This is one place where Zwift could vastly improve their user experience today. Use this page to inform the user about news and events, and let them easily find friends! Lukas has added a friend search feature which is much-needed in the Zwift app, and he has also envisioned a “groups” feature which, while currently non-existent in Zwift, will certainly be built eventually to make it easy to build groups and interact with teammates.

The Courses & Workouts screen lets the user chose their world, then view the courses for that world. Obviously we don’t currently have the much-requested ability to easily ride in any Zwift world, but we know it’s coming soon. Clicking a course brings up its details, including elevation profiles, number of riders on that course, and your PRs.

Our Data screen presents our key rider info in a clean and useful format. I particularly like the new features Lukas has imagined of a leader jersey counter and automatic race categorization.

Badges, Equipment and Settings

The badges and equipment pages are nicely designed, but I especially like the improved Settings interface which breaks settings into different categories: Interface, Audio, Connect, and Visual. Lukas doesn’t include screens for each of these four categories, but his one screen for “Connect” shows a nicely polished interface which should help newer users get set up more intuitively.

In Game

Lastly, Lukas gives a shot of what he envisions the in-game screen to look like. Since his settings options (above) include “Interface” options, I assume Lukas would like to see the ability to turn certain in-game dashboards on and off. I think this is a great idea–let riders have a very clean screen if they want, or a more crowded one. I think this would be an excellent upgrade to the in-game experience.

Overall, I would say I’m quite impressed with Lukas’ work. What do you all think?

Zwift Coaching Podcast Episode 6

Eric Schlange
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Zwift Coaching Podcast Episode 6

Zwift Coaching Podcast Episode 6

The Zwift Coaching Podcast features training tips from Matt Rowe (Rowe & King), Greg Henderson (Coach Hendy) and Kev Poulton (Powerhouse Cycling).

Learn warm up tricks in Episode 6 of the Zwift Coaching Podcast!

The discussion points for this episode are:

  • How long should you warm up
  • What is happening to your body during a warmup
  • Is there a difference between warming up for a ride or a race

Download Greg’s Warmup Zwift Workout

Following on from last episode’s discussion on the ground breaking benefits of pickle juice, find out why a trip to the butcher’s will help make your longer rides more comfortable!

Should Zwift Include a Velodrome?

Zee Kryder
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5
Should Zwift Include a Velodrome?

Should Zwift Include a Velodrome?

Now that we have the Alpe du Zwift, many have wondered if we will get our own velodrome on Zwift. Coming from a track background, I have been asking for a velodrome too! So when BKool invited me to train for a month on their platform, I wanted to see their version. I learned some positive and negative aspects of what BKool offers. What can Zwift learn? And how can they be original in their approach?

Bkool has two velodrome options, Luis Puig and the Galapagar Velodrome, both in Spain. You can opt for video mode or game screen. I prefer the game mode, mostly because it lets you see other riders on screen.

Track Length

Watching a video of the track feels real. However, I think most riders new to a 250 meter track will find it to be a tight circle. It can be dizzying and one can lose where they are on the track. When this happens, you have to rely on the on-screen numbers. For these reasons, a 333 or even a 500 meter track like Roubaix may work better for Zwift.

Here’s what BKool looks like in video mode.

Speeding with Others

Bkool has several options. You can enter either your own program or one started by another rider. I started an hour ride. Here’s the interesting part: if you wait and warm-up for ten minutes, others can join in and ride with you. It is definitely better with some company! I rode a twenty minute effort at my FTP. I also ran a 3 kilometer pursuit effort and a one kilometer effort as well. Speeds seemed realistic. I ran my FTP at 3.6 w/kg and averaged 40.6 kph. My pursuit at 4.6 w/kg averaged 43.9 kph. My kilo at 7 w/kg hit an average of 50.0 kph. When you race against other opponents, you earn points to purchase jerseys for your avatar. Interesting idea.

I did like having a speed that means something to me, and a velodrome course gives me this. 50 kph is the goal I was shooting for. All I need to do is figure out how to do that for another 59 minutes and I’ll be ecstatic. I like this aspect of flat track racing. What does a 14:00 lap of Watopia mean? The average watts tells you some part of how your ride went, but not the whole story. On the track, your numbers are simply more relevant.

Riding with others makes it more competitive and fun.

Race Options… are Limited

Bkool has race options of Keirin, Pursuit, Team Pursuit, and an Elimination race. Sounds great! Guess what? None of those options are available to power meters, only smart trainers. This is unnecessary, there isn’t any elevation changes as there would be in a long steep climb.

Lag Challenges

The worst part of my experiment with Bkool and its velodrome was a seven second lag. When a race started my avatar waited, waited, and then took off. In workout mode, the lag continued to grow from seven seconds to almost thirty seconds. This made intervals impossible to gauge. I have a very fast gaming computer that runs very smoothly with Zwift. It was frustrating to say the least.

Looking Forward

How would a race work? The number of riders must be limited. This may be the reason Zwift has not installed an open velodrome. Until Zwift is ready, I am willing to wait.

Soon, we will have a volcano points race. It will be nine laps long with points each lap over the 40 km distance. The information will be at http://www.z-race.com/about/ If any organizer wants exciting sprint races, I would love to see sprinters line up at the London 1 KM banner sprinting one on one to the finish line. Definitely live, with Nathan shouting himself hoarse.

#woodit

Week 19 – Goal Week Number Two

Ian Murray
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Week 19 – Goal Week Number Two

Week 19 – Goal Week Number Two

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.

Wow, what a week!  After last week’s sunburn debacle in the pool, I wasn’t sure how the goal workouts would go this week. It was definitely a week of ups and downs with a big ending.

Dead Arms Don’t Speak

Last week’s goal of finishing the week with a 7k swim didn’t happen, but the 5k that I did do did a good job of wrecking shop. I started Monday with a nice 10-mile run before riding the almost 10k into work. That afternoon, I hit the pool with my swim partner. We hammered through some good sets, pretty much finishing the job that I started on Sunday.  I was pretty happy with being able to hit 1:33/100m SCM repeatedly. I was actually pretty stoked for Tuesday’s swim.  I quickly rode home the 10k to take care of some business that evening for work and returned back home at about 9.

The next day, I got to the pool and set about teaching my body that “it wasn’t tired.”  It was a good lesson that I thought would take. It did for a while.  I consistently held mid-1:30s per 100m for a while, including for longer sets.  Then, it hit me. I was starving. And, my arms no longer wanted to catch and pull. They were ok flailing around like a drowning victim, but they were done. I cut the workout short at 2500 meters and went looking for food. HUNGRY!  The next day went fine with a good bike workout and SkillZ and DrillZ keeping my day busy. Thursday’s swim picked up where I left off on Tuesday. My swim muscles were shattered. Done. Cooked. I barely got enough in to hit the 11k mark for the week (including Sunday’s swim) and went back on the prowl for food.

Friday was an interesting beast. I had to get up before 4 AM to take someone to the airport. By the time I got back and finished the Coaches’ Corner podcast, I had to get right into my goal run for the week, a 30k sustained effort. On the treadmill. Yeah, 18.6 miles on the treadmill. Awesome. The reason I chose to do it on the treadmill, you ask?  Well, I was able to program the course for the race into the treadmill, so I actually could simulate running the whole thing. Yes, I am a genius. Thank you. Anyway, 2 hours and 15 minutes of sweat later, I finished up. I felt good the whole way. I probably could have gone faster, but the goal was not destroying my legs. It was to practice the distance and the nutrition. Goal met!

Saturday was a fairly light day, or at least it was scheduled that way. I took over as the Director Sportiff/Road Captain for the C group at the TeamODZ Goats & Bears Race. It was a lot of fun, as we had a pretty good group who chose to work together. Andy, Paddy, and I did most of the work, as we are all A and B group riders who were on an “easy” day. In the end, we were able to help one of our ODZ teammates take the C group win, nearly catching the few remaining D group riders and holding off the As and Bs. It was a bit more TSS than I had planned for the day, but it was worth it to see Tim have a great race.

Then came Sunday (dread and doom music playing in the background). I decided to do a race simulation ride this weekend to cap off a week of goal sessions. Starting just outside of Santo Domingo, I would head north across the country for 76 miles to just outside Las Terrenas, on the north coast of the Samaná peninsula, stopping at an overlook point. Following the bike, I planned to run the remaining almost two miles to the beach for lunch.  For safety and recording reasons, my wife and friend followed behind me in the car, providing me with a support vehicle.

We left the house at 6:10 AM and headed to the starting point. After a couple of pictures and loading up my aero bottle with my favorite Skratch Labs drink, we got to it. The first 20 miles passed quickly, making our first planned stop in about 55 minutes. We stayed just long enough to fill up my aero bottle and hit the bathroom. I was only rolling with the one bottle, as we planned to stop every 20 to 25 miles to let my support crew out of the car. This turned out to be an interesting tactic that didn’t work out all that well. We got going again and quickly hit the hills south of Los Haitises National Park.  None of the hills were all that hard, but they just kept coming, one after the other, and there never seemed to be a downhill following the uphill. It was just a series of steps going up. Finally, 20 miles later, the road began to pitch in a more favorable direction.

Here’s where my tactical plan went sideways. You see, I have done part of this route a number of times. Normally, I stop at one gas station at the end of my ride to transition to the run. Unfortunately, my brain didn’t calculate that I normally turn around 20 miles after the first stop, refilling my water from the car on the side of the road.

So, there I was, hammering away, looking for the gas station that would never appear… ever. At about mile 48 or 50, I was pretty much out of water and getting a bit thirsty. This put me in a bit of a dilemma. Should I stop and refill or keep bombing down the hills, rolling along at 35 MPH. Anyone who knows me quickly knows that there was no discussion about it. I pressed on and hard.  It felt so good. I got into a super tuck a few times, even blowing by some guys on their motorcycles. During one section, the support car had a hard time keeping up, as I was able to take the curves much faster than Ruby and Juan José.  I made my wife a bit nervous during the white-knuckles descent, but I had so much fun.

Mind you, I was still looking for my gas station, but I realized that I might have missed it. I decided to push until I hit the 100-kilometer mark or my body gave in to the heat. Fortunately, the air flowing over my body from the high speeds staved off any problem from the heat, although I started to get a little thirsty by mile 56.  Finally, we hit the end of the toll road and made the turn off toward Las Terrenas. I passed through the 100k mark and found a good spot to pull off. I threw down some calories and water and refilled my Skratch Labs drink then got back to work.

The last 13.5 miles were tough.  The first part was fairly flat but into a head wind.  Once we hit mile 65, though, the road pitched up.  It felt like I climbed for the next 7 miles.  I know there was a little bit of downhill there but not much.  At one point, a third lane was added to facilitate the passing of slow moving vehicles.  I was such a vehicle.  Hell, I was barely moving before the third lane!  Finally, at about mile 72, we hit the crest of the final climb.  The next few miles undulated, but were significantly easier than the previous seven.  At long last, I saw the sign for our finishing point, the Mirador Paraiso.  After a few happy snaps with the bike of the lovely view, I switched out to my running shoes, and we headed toward the beach for lunch.  A quick two miles later, I met up with the support crew at Playa Cozon and jumped in the ocean.  The quick dip was closely followed by a tasty lunch at Restaurante Luis on the beach before the two-hour long drive back to the house.  During the ride back home, I took the back seat and napped a little bit, trying to get in a little bit of recovery before returning home.  Overall, it was a tough day, but it was not overly taxing.  I was more tired from the schedule that I had maintained over the past few days than I was from the ride, so I took that as something positive.  The week ended up being a great one in terms of training.  I had a good bit of fun, and I think I took a good stock of where I am in my training plan.  Things are looking good.  If you want to see a cool map depiction of the ride, click here.

Planned TSS – 1013; Completed TSS – 1121

Another Week of “Fun”

After the hard week, I have another hard week.  Let’s see how the body recovers.  I’ll admit that I’m a bit fatigued, but we’ll see how things go.  There is no single workout that stands out as being super hard, but the totality of the week is definitely a bit daunting.

Planned TSS 926

Starting to Wrap it Up

Well, we’re starting to wind down the training.  The volume is there, so it’s time to work on getting faster.  This is my favorite part.  I love hammering out speed work for runs.  After the next recovery week, that will start in earnest.  I am looking forward to it very much.  Once we get things planned out, I’ll try to post up the speed workouts that I will do on the treadmill on Zwift.  Join me if you get the chance.  Until then, Ride On!

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