Yesterday was the first-ever running of Zwift Insider’s VO2sday Micro Races: 5 back-to-back mini time trials designed to give you a structured VO2 max workout hidden within the motivation and engagement of a race.
I jumped into the B category, so I could experience the races firsthand… and because I know I need to do more VO2 max work! Here’s how it unfolded for me…
Race 1: Overshooting
The first race was on 2.75km of Tempus Fugit, ending just after the rock arch marking the end of the “lead-in” section and the start of the official Tempus Fugit lap. 371 riders started that first race, even though, of course, the game only renders the nearest ~100…
With so much excitement in the air and adrenaline in the veins, I jumped hard out of the pens. Probably a bit too hard. After the first 60 seconds, my average power on screen showed 392W, so I purposely eased up a bit, knowing there was no way I could hold that power across 5 races!
I had decided beforehand to shoot for an average of 350W in each race. This felt like a tough but achievable target, since I’ve done it in past VO2 max sessions.
I could see on the minimap that I was sitting in a sea of green (B) riders, with blue (C) not far behind. I definitely wasn’t going to make it to the front of the group, but that was OK: for me, today was about trying to put in 5 big, steady efforts.
I crossed the line in 41st out of the B’s, at 359W average, HR at 173bpm. Let’s head to the race 2 pens!
Race 2: My Best Result
Everyone’s banter game had been strong from the start, but it would only get better as we all descended deeper into the VO2 max abyss.
I knew recovery would be vital if I wanted to put in good power numbers during these races, so I kept the legs spinning, at very low power, as we all caught our breath and chatted for ~5 minutes.
Race 2 was on the first 2.5km of Quatch Quest, ending somewhere on the rollercoaster climb of Titans Grove. I tempered my start a bit on this one, knowing the last bit would be uphill, and having more power to give on those climbs would improve my overall time.
We hit the uphill rollers with 1.2km to go, and I tried to lift my power when I felt the resistance increase. A bit over VO2 max on the ascents, ease a bit on the descents. Wash, rinse, repeat. But it was working! I was moving up in the field, or at least holding position on a hilly bit. So I kept that pattern going, and crossed the line in 19th. (This would be my best finishing position of the day.)
Average power of 356W, finishing HR of 179bpm. Now to the race 3 pens to spin the legs and recover for just under 6 minutes.
Race 3: the #%&@ Hilly KOM
The third race started in downtown Watopia and headed up the Hilly Route – the oldest route in Zwift! This was the climbiest of today’s 5 races, taking us up the Hilly KOM and ending just afterward on the downhill at 2km.
I didn’t anticipate doing particularly well in this race, given the climbing involved. But again, I had to remind myself that “doing well” today meant hitting my target power, putting in a maximal VO2 effort in each race.
Once again I conserved on the flat lead-in, knowing I’d want more power on the key climb. My average power was at 322W as we started the KOM, then I tried to ramp it up.
But ouch. I could tell the legs were feeling the two previous efforts. This was gonna get ugly.
I wasn’t paying attention to my pack position. I was just trying to keep the effort high. To push through the suffering. As we neared the top of the climb, I shifted up a few gears, getting out of the saddle to hammer a bit.
It didn’t help.
I sat back down and pushed to the line, finishing 57th, at 339W, with a HR of 180bpm.
Race 4: Implosion!
As I sat in the pens spinning my legs and questioning my life choices, it was heartening to see I wasn’t alone. There’s something really encouraging about knowing the people behind the avatars on your screen are also maxing out their legs and lungs.
This race was on 2.7km of Flat Route Reverse, ending on the JWB Bridge. We jumped out of the pens, began the climb up into The Esses, and it quickly became abundantly clear: I didn’t have 350W to give for this race.
But I wasn’t going to stop. I just dropped my power, holding around 300W, hoping this would let my legs recover a bit for the final race.
Unsurprisingly, this was my worst result yet: 76th place in the B’s, 299W average, 178bpm.
Race 5: the Downhill Comeback
We made it! The last race was mostly downhill, a 3km effort on Jungle Circuit. Some riders were going with gravel bikes, but I stayed on my TT rig, betting that the aero and rolling advantage, particularly on the initial 1.3km paved portion, was worth whatever I’d lose to a gravel bike on the dirt portion.
Jumping out of the pens and beginning our descent to the Jungle, I could definitely feel that my legs had benefited from dogging it in the previous race. Still, I wasn’t able to hold my initial 350W target. So I just tried to keep it steady, knowing the suffering would be over in just anothe minute or two.
I finished in 43rd, 332W average, 181bpm.
Watch the Video
Takeaways
I was happy with how the first-ever VO2sday Micro Races went. We started with 371 riders in race 1, and finished with 340 in race 5. That’s a lower attrition rate (8.3%) than I would have predicted!
The comments in game were largely positive, if you don’t count the many “This is terrible Eric, you’re the worst” sort of messages. 😂 I loved seeing all the banter, the camaraderie, the messages like this one from Alex affirming that these races did what I’d hoped they would do:
In terms of my personal performance, I finished 41st out of the 89 B racers who completed all 5 events. Not my finest moment, but you know what? It was a great workout!
I recorded my whole session on my head unit, using my Favero Assioma pedals as the power source. Looking at the chart (see it on ZwiftPower), it looks like a solid VO2 max workout, even if the 4th race is a bit low:
One annoying thing is that the JetBlack Victory trainer I’ve been using for a few months likes to read low on occasion, and this was definitely one of those occasions. Every race I did had the trainer 10-15W lower than my pedals. Gah!
But that makes me feel a bit better about my effort on the day. Based on the pedal data, I basically just overshot my VO2 max target in the first two races and nearly hit it in races 3 and 5. I’ll take that.
What Next?
Several riders offered feedback before, during, and after these races on tweaks to dial in the experience. I’m curious what you all think of these ideas, so please comment below! In no particular order:
- Have categories start separately, with slower groups leaving first, so it becomes a bit of a chase race. This would make it easier to see how you’re doing against the riders in your category, and reduce the processing load for people running Zwift on a potato.
- Neutralize the bikes/wheels so nobody has an advantage. Or alternatively, put everyone on the same frame/wheels.
- Disable steering, so those with steering don’t have an advantage.
- Enable drafting, because racers are lazy and want to sit in (this one’s for you, Beccah! 😄)
As I spun around the Jungle Circuit for a cooldown, my glycogen-depleted brain also had the idea to make these time-based races instead of distance-based, so each race ends at (for example) 4 minutes. Then it’s a question of who rides furthest in the allotted time.
I really like this idea, because it would let us have precise “interval” lengths, and because it’s very different from typical Zwift races. There’s just one problem: I don’t think ZwiftPower can support it! But I’m looking into it.
I’m hoping to use Zwift’s Compound Score for categorization beginning next week. Working with the ever-helpful Tim Hanson of zwiftracing.app to make that happen!
Lastly, many of you have requested additional timeslots for this event, which is perfectly understandable. I do plan to add timeslots… I just have to figure out what they’ll be, and when to launch them. Stay tuned for news on that.
More VO2sday Videos
Here are a few more livestreams from the day’s racing. I bet we’ll see some nicely-edited highlight reels from other Zwifty YouTubers in the coming days as well! (Share your link below if that’s you, and I’ll share the video on this page.)
Manuel Essl
Justin van der Nest
Bill Henson
Luke Walton
Questions or Comments
What did you think of your VO2sday experience, and what do you think of the various ideas for tweaking the experience listed above? Share your thoughts below!
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