The “Watts up with Power?” ride is likely the slowest group ride you’ll find on Zwift, because it focuses on learning the basics of power based training while riding together on Zwift. Each ride is streamed to Zwift LIVE by ODZ on Facebook, and focuses on teaching specific principles of power-based training. For viewers that are unable to attend live, the teaching is made available for all to review afterwards.
Here is the summary for March 15Â from ride leader Justin Wagner.
If you’ve ever looked into following a training plan, you have likely noticed that they can be rather complex and highly specific. Here are a few tips to help you understand the basics of how to build your own training plan.
1: Pick your events and annual goal
The purpose of any training plan is to help the athlete achieve their goals, and to be on form for the event(s) that build towards or accomplish those goals.
Look through the big events you want to do for the year, and get them on the calendar. Some of the events you did last year might not match your personal schedule this year.
Pick a small number of goals for the year that will be your main area(s) of focus. Even just one goal is sufficient.
Figure out your event schedule early, so you can build your training plan around it.
2: Build training structure around your events
Look at your annual event schedule, and pick out which weeks are going to be hard or easy weeks.
Don’t schedule more than 2-3 hard weeks consecutively, and don’t try to plan hard training weeks when you can’t devote the time required for them.
Most importantly be honest about the amount of training you’ve done before, and don’t try and push yourself way beyond those limits too quickly. Many people ditch their training plan because they tried to push themselves too hard too quickly.
3: Nail down specific weekly targets
Each week needs to have an overall goal for total TSS, as this will help you choose your day to day workouts.
Pick a TSS that will push yourself up to the next level, and target to have a ramp rate of 6 or less on your hard weeks.
Your easier weeks should target a TSS of no more than your current CTL times 7.
4: Adapt to unforeseen factors
Life happens. We are all human, and we can’t know all of the things that will happen to use during our training plan.
Plan a specific day and time each week to sit down and review and adjust the upcoming week’s training plan, taking into account your overall plan structure, and any unforeseen changes that happened along the way.
