@Roady just going on and racing at the same old power will not improve you unfortunately, you need to drop the races and start doing some stuff where you're over that threshold you've been pushing in races for 2-4 minutes, bit of recovery then same again, if you're doing a 20min warm up then into those efforts 7 or 8 times then warm down, theres your hour and improvement will come.
The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread
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Soldato
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I can understand that.
I think I mentioned this before, when I was growing up in the 70`s early 80`s every weekend their was some kind of amateur cycle racing going on. Then for whatever reason it all stopped. My gut feeling it was idiot councils demanding more and more red tape and such and the people that ran just decided to call it day and the youngers then had other distractions like the playstation
People having less time on their hands. Don't get so many traditional Sunday runs these days, most folk need to get home to go out with the family or whatnot.
Lack of volunteers and loads of smaller teams/clubs rather than big clubs putting on events so less members to host events.
The paperwork is brutal and with covid it's even worse, BC give next to no help for an organiser. A guy I know was looking at charges after some crashes at s race he organised. Was bricking it. BC seem more interested in memberships and sky rides rather than competition. The small team i was riding with aren't affiliated with BC now due to the red tape. A diversity officer, a covid officer and you need someone to be a covid officer that isn't a coach. I'm told you can't be both.
My boss has newspaper clippings of wins and you can see about 4-6 races on a weekend and time trials on top. Now I'm lucky to get 2 races in a month.
Good link and good numbers for a Vortex. I found mine out massively more than that (FTP over 280W, then 250W once I went to direct drive).
Still lots of jokes/banter in 3R about 'riding a Vortex' as a 'solution' for easy power gain (even when calibrated). They're that bad/renowned for it!
I like to buck trends, so I'm actually doing the opposite - noticed an unexpected upward trend with my Zwift results and FTP. Tried everything I could to solve/stop it. Gave up trying to get my trainer accurate. Bought a power meter instead and suffering a power loss from it!
Did a ramp test tuesday as a bit of a 'where am I', knowing I've had a few bad weeks and struggling. 239W. Pretty poor from the 260W I was around the start of the year (when trainer was more likely to be accurate - than the 270W I saw late Jan). But at least it is hopefully a figure I'm at 'rock bottom' with, yet consistent to build back up from.
A 'golden' FTP for me to aim back towards will be around 270W, I raced a few weeks with that on the questionable trainer config and it was great. A figure I've been near before a few times before so not impossible, but for now I'm aiming at 250W just as a 'baseline' to hopefully coincide with more outdoor riding.
I'll get a direto xr for next winter and see how the numbers drop
hopefully they'll stay the same or get better by then.I think you're best just being honest with yourself, I couldn't have a higher FTP with doing less on the bike.
What @SoliD said is true, I keep riding at or around my FTP so won't see many gains. I want to try get some intervals in above FTP but not sure where to aim. I see people doing 2 X 30, 2 X 20 and 3 X 8.
Soldato
I hear that it kind of all adds up. So 5 x 3 high, is better than 2 x 6 for example, if that makes sense? What I've learnt from Sufferfest is it depends what you need to work exactly? Neuromuscular (5 second burst), Anaerobic (1 minute power) Maximal Aerobic (5 minute sustained power) or 'regular FTP'. Different workouts focus different areas. My weakness is MAP (5 minute) so that's what I'm targeting. Sessions with lots of 120% for 3 or 4 minutes, or variations of.
People having less time on their hands. Don't get so many traditional Sunday runs these days, most folk need to get home to go out with the family or whatnot.
Lack of volunteers and loads of smaller teams/clubs rather than big clubs putting on events so less members to host events.
The paperwork is brutal and with covid it's even worse, BC give next to no help for an organiser. A guy I know was looking at charges after some crashes at s race he organised. Was bricking it. BC seem more interested in memberships and sky rides rather than competition. The small team i was riding with aren't affiliated with BC now due to the red tape. A diversity officer, a covid officer and you need someone to be a covid officer that isn't a coach. I'm told you can't be both.
My boss has newspaper clippings of wins and you can see about 4-6 races on a weekend and time trials on top. Now I'm lucky to get 2 races in a month.
I'll get a direto xr for next winter and see how the numbers drop
I think you're best just being honest with yourself, I couldn't have a higher FTP with doing less on the bike.
What @SoliD said is true, I keep riding at or around my FTP so won't see many gains. I want to try get some intervals in above FTP but not sure where to aim. I see people doing 2 X 30, 2 X 20 and 3 X 8.
2x30/20 will be sweetspot sitting just below ftp where you get a performance increase without the damage to your legs, sor you can do this semi regularly for slow improvements.
2 to 4 minutes at 115 to 125 of ftp is my favourite sort of session. Repeated 6 to 10 times, slowly increase the reps or duration each week to build up. The fatigue.
If you want to read more try training and racing with a power meter. Some great info and examples of workouts for you to use.
Soldato
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Yeah you're essentially spending time in zones that hurt but it's broken down into small amounts to make it bearable.
I haven't built enough data up as yet to see where I want to improve. Maybe once the group's start up I'll find out. My 5 minute is 358w which I recon could be higher.
Soldato
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Yeah you're right, bit long for intensity. I've literally just started reading it a few nights ago. Haven't for very far as I'm no book worm.
It's not an easy read at times and tbh I read it ages ago but until I had a few years of being coached it only made partial sense. Now I get it a lot more. Main things to really focus on are consistency, structure and recovery.
Slowly building up the fatigue week on week got 4 to 6 weeks, week of recovery and start again.
Slowly building up the fatigue week on week got 4 to 6 weeks, week of recovery and start again.
Soldato
Start doing some regular short ERG workouts that include Z5+ efforts, for example, Emily's Short Mix (decent practice for attacking three hills in quick succession outdoors) https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-an-hour-to-burn/emilys-short-mix or https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-an-hour-to-burn/grin-and-bear-it .
Alternatively, start doing regular short races such as the regular Crit City 8-lappers (that will last just over 20mins for the likes of us), or the even more brutal Kirchmair sprint double races on Fridays (1800 and 1830) that are typically ~15mins each.
Not to mention the frequent TTs on Tempus Fugit etc. that will take less than 30mins.
Think that's one of my longest Zwift sessions, did a 70KM 3R race, 4 times over box hill, bloody hard as hell. Strung out the first time out and then settled into a group of about 55-75th place for most of the rest of the race, which was fine, although could have put more power down on the flat, but just didn't have the peaks up the kicks like everyone else seemed to which seems to be the main reason why I get dropped in these races, but then that's positive for the upcoming TT's if I've got good consistent power. Died on the last kick with about 5km to go and got droppepd and just rolled through to the end. Good workout though, although could have got out as the predicted rain didn't materialise.
How do you get Zwiftpower to get decimal points on your weight? Do you need smartscales?
How do you get Zwiftpower to get decimal points on your weight? Do you need smartscales?
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Soldato
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4 laps sounds horrendous, twice up it was bad enough for me at just over 4w/kg. The rise out of the subway station is a ******* too whilst I'm having a moan.
Soldato
Hahaha yeah it's like 10seconds but it kills. I averaged 271w for 1hour 40 odd managed to get up the climbs each time at 310w or so minimum, first was rough as it strung out. Someone may be able to shed some light but how are some riders able to free wheel down boxhill whilst still keeping pace. I stopped spinning for one or two seconds and I just lost the wheel, I was on the tron bike.
Soldato
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That actually suits me. 7 W/kg for around 5 seconds... it's all over
Lucky you! I find my trainer takes a bit to ease of compared to others so my effort feels like it continues well over the top.
I'd love to know too, I got over the hill in front of my group and went into the tuck at 36mph but the bunch just went flying away. I can never get it right.
Soldato
What do you guys weigh? At 95kg I think I get away with a lot more on the way down. Definitely in real cycling, I free wheel down a lot of declines, past people peddling. I can't remember specifically, I think most times on Zwift I benefit coming down, for sure (going up having been much harder to keep up).
Soldato
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77-79 I seem to float between.
I was glad to be outside today even with the wind and rain. Was going up a drag giving it big watts and go rid of two skinny ******** that were out with us. Cold,wind and a number starting with a 4 on the Garmin is fat boy territory
I was glad to be outside today even with the wind and rain. Was going up a drag giving it big watts and go rid of two skinny ******** that were out with us. Cold,wind and a number starting with a 4 on the Garmin is fat boy territory
Soldato
Did the PRL Full yesterday. **** me. Never again.
Associate
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Can you do it if you use imperial units when it converts back from lbs?
You need to amend your weight in the game itself. It will allow precise to .1 weights if you do it this way.
Editing your weight in the browser on Zwift website or in Companion app won't do it to .1 - only works in the game client itself.