Zwift Academy Road for men and women launched today, October 1st. Here are the details on what it takes to graduate from this year’s academy, plus more information on the workouts, group rides, and races involved.
Graduation Requirements
The following requirements must be met by November 25th in order to complete Zwift Academy Road:
- Complete all eight Workouts (individually or with a group)
- Complete four other events, which can be any combination of Zwift Academy group Rides, Segment Group Rides, or Races
- Competing for the pro contract? You must complete two Segment Group Rides and both races for your four additional events.
Workouts
Structured workouts form the heart of Zwift Academy, with each workout accomplishing very specific training/testing goals and lasting approximately 1 hour.
You must complete all 8 Zwift Academy 2020 workouts in order to complete the program.
These workouts can be completed individually by selecting the workout within Zwift. They can also be completed by participating in a group workout event. Lastly, if you want to do the workout with a few choice friends, you can organize a Meetup and have everyone select the same workout (more on that here).
Zwift and the Academy coaches have created helpful homepages for each of the 8 workouts. Each page includes a written description, video intro from the coach, and a place to sign up for a group workout:
- Aerobic Power (men’s link, women’s link)
- Sprint Profile (men’s link, women’s link)
- VO2 Capacity (men’s link, women’s link)
- Anaerobic Resilience (men’s link, women’s link)
- Primed FTP (men’s link, women’s link)
- Alternative Sprints (men’s link, women’s link)
- VO2 Development (men’s link, women’s link)
- Anaerobic Depletion (men’s link, women’s link)
Group Rides
Group rides are the most social events on the Zwift Academy calendar. There are two categories to choose from: men’s group rides are at (A) 2.2-2.7 w/kg and (B) 1.7-2.2 w/kg, while women’s group rides are at (A) 1.7-2.2 w/kg and (B) 1.2-1.7 w/kg. Choose the pace that suits you best, then enjoy riding with others.
The rides are led by volunteers from the Zwift community, and last 45 minutes. Groups are separated by gender, and everyone wears the Zwift Academy kit for the duration of the ride. The ride fence is used to keep riders together, and late join is allowed.
Group rides will be scheduled on the following routes and dates:
- France’s R.G.V. (Oct 1-14)
- Paris’ Champs-Élysées (Oct 15-28)
- Watopia’s Figure 8 (Oct 29-Nov 11)
- France’s Casse-Pattes (Nov 12-25)
Segment Group Rides
Segment group rides are a new event type debuting at Zwift Academy 2020. They aren’t available to ride just yet, though: it appears these will be on the calendar from Oct 22-Nov 25.
The idea behind segment rides is to go all-out on particular segments during a live group ride in order to test your power over different lengths of time. The ride descriptions explain how it works and where the segments are on course. Presumably, we’ll see some on-screen prompts as well! Click below for details:
- Sprint Power & Threshold Power (men’s link, women’s link)
- Cat A: Innsbruck KOM After Party
- Cat B: Keith Hill After Party
- Anaerobic Power & VO2 Max (men’s link, women’s link)
- Cat A: 3 Sisters with Volcano KOM Finish
- Cat B: Sand and Sequoias x2 Laps
If you’re competing for the pro contract, you must complete two segment group rides as part of your Zwift Academy experience.
Races
Races will run from Oct 22-Nov 25, just like the segment rides. These are non-categorized events, although the Richmond race uses categories to let Zwifters choose between longer and shorter versions.
- Richmond’s 2015 UCI Worlds
- Cat A: 4 laps (64.8km)
- Cat B: 2 laps (32.4km)
- France’s La Reine
If you’re competing for the pro contract, you must complete both races as part of your Zwift Academy experience.
Looking for More?
For details on all things Academy, check out the men’s and women’s Zwift Academy homepages over on zwift.com.
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
Thanks. I was struggling to get my head around it
How do we track all of the various elements? Pen and paper or will there be a helpful tracker on the companion app? (please NOT “in game” as I don’t really want to go through that faff of logging on just to see what’s needs completing)
On the Zwift Website when logged in you get to see on the Academy page what you‘ve finished and what‘s left. Not visible in Companion yet for me
If you are logged in to Zwift, you can also find your progress at this link:
https://zwift.com/zaroadmens
Interesting… I’ve signed up for – and completed – my ZA sessions so far via Companion but when I look at those same sessions at that link, there’s no indication I’ve completed them. This, coupled with no kit or bike unlock in my Garage suggests to me there’s a disconnect between /how/ someone signs up for or joins a session and whether they get credit for it. Going to keep poking around, but I smell some bugs…
Just got off chat with support as I seem to have tripped over a multitude of problems. Definitely some bugs on the web side preventing the progress block from showing (Mac Chrome and Safari anyway). That coupled with the known bug preventing progress display in the Companion app, we’re flying blind till these are fixed … or just have to go old-school paper and pencil 🙂
For some reason some riders are getting the kit and the bike after completing one workout, I completed a workout but received nothing. Do you have any info on this? Doesn’t seem very fair that some riders got it after doing only one workout…
I don’t have info, except to say what you said – some riders are unlocking everything after one workout, while others aren’t getting anything!
Make sure your Zwift install is up to date. I’m sure Zwift will go through and give people the proper unlocks soon.
After the workout, save and exit and start a new ride. You should receive everything then.
That happened yesterday indeed. Today everything is gone again. We’ll see what happens tomorrow!
Tried that a few times over the last couple days, still no goods :/
Fwiw, I completed my second ZA session (Workout #1 yesterday, Group ride A today) and still no kit or bike unlock, even after saving, exiting and signing in later to check. I figure maybe it has to do with the first “award” unlock happening at 25% upon completing three sessions… we’ll see.
Anyway, a little bit of a bummer to finish the ride and have the group go by all in their ZA kits while I revert back to ‘just’ my MAAP one…
Seeing others in the previous ride kit after an event is just how the game renders the other riders avatars. They don’t have the kit. This is just like in any other group ride with designated kit.
Yes, I got a blue cap after completing 3 events, two workouts and one group ride.
Found this at Zwift Support: “We are aware of a bug where some members are completing the first workout in Zwift Academy and unlocking the completion kit and bike.
WorkaroundThe unearned unlock bug has been corrected. Riders will now be able to unlock items as they progress through the program.”
Which sounds to me like early ZA riders got lucky, and the rest of us are going to have to wait for the kit/bike unlocks.
https://support.zwift.com/en_us/zwift-academy-known-issues-rkgsNFGIw
Small error in the group ride cats: **2.2-2.7** w/kg and 1.7-2.2 w/kg.
Thanks, fixed!
Women’s ride choices are “1.2-1.7w/kg and 1.7-2.2w/kg” at least according to https://zwift.com/academy/zaroadwomens/groupride1. It may be worth noting this difference as well.
Done. Thanks, Kelley!
Women have to go to the Women’s Academy homepage on Zwift.com and then go to the individual women-specific workouts and sign up for group workouts from there. Only men can sign up for workouts on the individual pages linked here.
Updated the page and added women’s links. Thanks!
Thank you very much, Eric. Zwift so far has been a total failure in communicating to Zwifters what they should expect and when. They should be embarrassed. Do you know anything about Today’s Plan? Zwift announced that it will be free for Academy participants, but did not care to disclose how to sign up for these two free months.
More Today’s Plan info here: https://zwift.com/news/23308-todays-plan-and-zwift-academy-road
Thank you!
As a daily athlete whose goal is to stay in shape and underweight, without reaching big time marks, may I be interested in joining or having the advice of todays plan?
I signed for today’s plan for free month about two month ago and now it opened with some features from ZA statistics
Do you know if there is a requirement (number of stars) to complete the workout and make it count
You need to complete at least 75% of the workout to get credit for that particular workout.
I’m kinda confused by the Segment Group Rides. If you’re supposed to go all out, that means it’s basically a race, right?
Hi, is there a specific/scientific structure and timings to the workouts? Which one should I do first? Which workout coincides with which races etc? Ideally I would like to follow the best possible plan. Has this been communicated anywhere?
It’s basically an 8-week program, with the idea being you could complete it by doing one workout per week, and a group ride of some sort every other week.
I would do the workouts as they’re numbered from 1-8. But Zwift says that’s not required.
Best possible plan is to only do the workouts, races, or segment rides when you’re fully recovered, since they require maximal (or near maximal) efforts. Group rides are meant to be easy and social, and should be doable on recovery days or any other day.
Thanks Eric!
How does one LEAVE the academy? 🤔
It is like Hotel California. You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave 🙂
Why do you need to leave it? You are not required to finish it, it expires in November.
What are the unlocks for completing the Academy?
In terms of the rides, it looks like there are 4 stamps that will get filled in as you do either group rides, segment rides, or races. If you want to compete for a contract do you need to avoid the group rides (so that your ‘stamps’ come from the segments and races)? Or can you do as many group rides, segments and races as you want? (Not that I have any hope of a contract of course!)
Eric, having done the first workout, the implication is that the last 8 minute “free-ride” is some sort of FTP test. How do I actually get the result of the test. I can see what my average power for that interval was, but should I be translating it into a revised FTP? Thanks
Good question is like to know this as well
Same question… seeing that average power over the segment was a nice validation of the FTP value I’ve been working with (set from a recent Ramp test) but for all the hype during the session, it seemed to go nowhere.
Yes I came here looking an answer to this same question?? I doubt any results from that 8min effort would be very good for me since I was pretty toasted by that point but I guess that was the idea! Be nice to know!
Same thoughts too. I did the workout with an FTP probably set a bit too high and I was toast before the last 8 min effort. If I had set the FTP 50-100W too low intentionally I would have cruised through the first part and probably killed the last effort, resulting in a much higher average FTP. Any thoughts??
I found somewhere on Zwift that you can redo your workouts.
I understand they are looking to see your ability to maintain a strong aerobic effort during that 8-minute effort after depletion of your anaerobic reserves during the prior segments. The ride description says they are looking to see an effort of 105-110% over your FTP during that effort if you are an elite rider. I think they expect you to know your FTP already and be able to pace accordingly during this segment.
You’re right but I think they said that their workout fully depleted us of anaerobic capacity (or something like that) and suggested the 8 minute test following those intervals was more accurate than a 20 minute test… then proceeded to not give us the results.
Same here. Their workouts feel like tests for selection of the best cyclist from those competing for a contract. Indeed, they do not provide any information after the test. But who knows, maybe they will computer-generate something at the very end that is similar to 4D assessment from The Sufferfest. It would be better if they had explained it before the Academy started. These are still interesting workouts to go through because they have elements of unconstrained effort, without prescribed power, which one rarely sees in standard Zwift workouts. So far, I completed two of them.
Following this as well as I thought it would’ve come up with and FTP to use for the next workouts.
I’m glad it’s not just me. I was wondering why after having done the max 8 mins effort it didn’t show me where I’m at, absolutely no feedback on your effort. I think my FTP in Zwift is about right, but surely the point of this is using a workout like that to test where you actually are? I did workout 2 and again no feedback. Obvs Zwift gets the data and I’m fine with that, just would like to have it also given I’m putting in the effort! Made me wonder why I’m doing it instead of other structured… Read more »
Same here! i get the academy is for youngster going for the contracts however, for the rest of us it would be good to get some feedback on the efforts.
Hi, I’ve completed WO 1, but would love to be able to schedule the next few workouts. Why can’t i see the dates / times for those coming up?
https://zwifthacks.com/app/events/
shows events for the next few days. The following link uses “WO #” in the Name filter.
https://zwifthacks.com/app/events/?key=5f7bb6fe75d68
Hi, yestetday I finished the first workout in a groupride. The figures didn’t corresponded with the ride. My figures afterwards were quite different (lower) than presented on the screen during the ride (I took every star). Even some parts of the workout same to be switched with another part (for instance a part on FTP-level was switched with the cool down). What is happening? Any idea? Thx for your reply
Rinie
Hi Eric,
I was not aware of the rules and I have completed the ZA ride. I want to give a try on the contract competition. Once the races will be open, will I have a chance to overwrite the ride in the additional 4 events?
Thanks.
Bart
After the first workout in Academy how do we know what our FTP setting should be?
If I’ve understood correctly, your FTP should be in the range of 0.909X to 1.053X , where X is your average power for the 8min free ride interval in the workout.
If I do the Anaerobic Segment Ride A (3 Sisters with Volcano Finish) and carry on after the Volcano would I be able to get the 3 Sisters Route badge? Am assuming not but would be nice to know.
Looking at the listed events in the companion app & on ZwiftHacks, it seems Zwift have scheduled ZA races for both men & women, but ZA group rides are scheduled for women only. Can anyone confirm if that’s correct, or am I missing something? Presumably it’s an oversight & there should be some group rides for the men also.
Do we have any information in the kit unlocks at this time? There appears to be a cap, socks, jersey and bike but no info on how to get them.
¿cómo identifico combinación de viajes en grupo de Zwift Academy, viajes en grupo de segmentos o carreras?
Are there any extra XP points for doing the Academy?
Eric, 1 for your weekly Q&A.
I never understand why they don’t provide more detailed results from the workout (i.e. if you have just done a workout testing 1 min power, couldn’t Zwift provide a summary at the end of the ride and on the Zwift Academy website?
Yep, they have the data, but it doesn’t get fed back. Where do you stack up against others? So I just end up looking in Strava and on intervals.icu to analyse outputs. I did a segment ride last night, but you get zero data on how you are performing in game, except for your current power and HR. The KOM climb on Innsbruck course, had no elapsed time, avg power or comparison to others just a final time once you go under the banner, but this isn’t then visible once you have saved the rides (unless you screenshot it?).
The first race is already behind us, and the first segment ride will run form October 17th ’till the 21st. Maybe time to update this post? Because it still states that both races and segment rides will only begin the 22nd.
All in all, I think the communication on zwift’s behalf regarding the schedule for the whole acadamy could be so, so much better… It’s quite annoying how little and how late they share with the community for events like these.
Does it matter what bike you use for individual ZA workouts? I’m using the standard Zwift TT bike, I’m happy to work hard if it does matter (that’s the point of the workouts!) just intererested to see if it does make any difference? Thanks…
It doesn’t. Your speed in workouts is artificially slowed anyway, so bike choice won’t make a noticeable difference.
Great. Thank Eric! 😊
i can’t seem to enter Le Renie race, I’m unable to make any selections.
many one else have this? Any reason for it?
I have 2 questions. I’m quite new to zwift so still getting used to how the functionality works. I tried to do the first workout as the academy suggests to do them in order but it’s not available. Perhaps I’m too late? Will I be able to complete the ftp session another time?
Second question, I registered for the sprint session but couldn’t find the instruction anywhere, ie, 10 min warm up, 4 mins @ x power etc etc so it just became a normal ride which didn’t seem the object of the session. Where am I going wrong?
I completed a Zwift Academy race and didn’t get credit for it. I didn’t have a hr monitory on (not sure if that’s a requirement), it was also a race someone created I believe (16 laps of some short course). Anyone have any ideas?
Do we know if the Races will be on rotation (Richmond last weekend, La Reine this weekend, Richmond next weekend etc..). Or will this week be our last chance to compete in Race #2 (La Reine)?
That’s what I would like to know. Zwift is so bad at communicating infomation for their events. Why can’t they put out an event schedule in advance?