After cramping up on my previous ride I decided to opt for something a little lighter for this one.
Having some experience with Zwift’s FTP Builder program at this point, I know the all blue days are fairly “laid back”, if that is the right way to describe it. It’s still a workout, but they aren’t particularly intense.
Not wanting to aggravate the niggly little pain still present in my right calf, I think this was the right move for today’s ride.
In truth when doing these rides I tend not to watch the Zwift game that much. Instead, I alt+tab out to watch YouTube, or other stuff. Whatever the mood takes. Simply sitting there watching the character slowly cycle round Watopia ain’t the most fun for me.
As a side note, I can still keep track of what I’m expected to do in the workout via the Zwift Companion App on my phone. Also, the game sounds still play, for whatever reason.
For this route I opted for the Bigger Loop (I think it’s called), knowing I wouldn’t get to cover the full route by a long stretch. I wondered if I’d make it to the top whilst on the workout segments.
This was 4 blocks of 10 minutes at 125w.
Pretty much everyone I did see on the circuit over took me and left me for dead.
Coming towards the end of the final block, I realised that no, I wouldn’t make it all the way during the blue blocks. I would very likely hit the top of the Epic KOM during the cool down, but that wasn’t going to cut it for me.
Once I hit the end of the blue blocks, I paused the workout and then went out of the saddle to the top of the KOM. I felt like I was cheating as I pushed past another rider who had passed me long ago.
Once at the top, I figured, what the heck, let’s tackle the Radio Tower.
Oof.
This was probably by far my strongest ever radio tower climb.
I can’t recall any previous time where I’ve “saved myself” to the top of the Epic KOM just to hit the radio tower?
It was still hard af though. That thing is brutal. Regrettable life choices, etc etc.
One thing I absolutely struggled with on this run was pacing.
Without being able to see watts or heart rate, I had to go off the red line and the graph on screen to judge my performance.
Towards the end I felt like my heart rate was going crazy. Checking the stats after the ride showed it hit 192 bpm. So I was right. Ahh well, no enjoyable retirement with the grand kids for me. Zwift has cut my life short by 10 years easy at this point.
Once at the top I whacked the workout back on and rode out the cool down.
And this was when things got a little dicey.
Perhaps doing this Radio Tower push was a bad idea.
Just at the point in the screenshot below, the cramp started up again.
That little ball like feeling in my right calf was there again. Nowhere near as bad as yesterday, but absolutely there all the same.
I tried a few different things:
- Changing position on the bike (standing vs seated
- Stretching out the leg fully – dropping the heel
- Spinning much slower
Maybe some other stuff. It wasn’t bad enough to make me stop, but it was concerning enough to make me worried about this Zwift Academy race tomorrow evening.
I’m going to assess how I feel tomorrow, and judge whether or not to hit this ride. It sucks ‘cus these Zwift Academy races do not fall very often in times I can attend, so missing this one would be frustrating.
According to Zwift Academy rankings or whatever, I have been placed into Category C for this race. This means I am going to get absolutely smashed, I know this already. That’s not really the point. I just feel like I’m ready for another race. It just sucks that physically it might be a fail.
Can’t really complain about this workout, however.
The extra climbing bumped up the calorie count that’s for sure.
Having been doing a little light research into my dinner time calorie consumption, it is alarming how much work is involved in burning off a pasta salad and crisps combo.
That said, I’m not trying to lose weight, so it’s not that big of a factor.
Actually I should weigh myself. Last time I did, I noticed I was at 71kg, which is down from 72kg, and I am yet to update my Zwift profile, come to think of it.
Maybe I’ll get banned for weight doping.
