I’m not sure if there’s better “bang for your buck” in terms of workouts on Zwift than riding Emily’s Short Mix. It’s 30 minutes of 3 repeated intervals, each time at slightly longer duration.
Given that I’m extremely pushed for time this week – and rather tired too boot – I need to get as much out of my short workouts as I possibly can. And thanks to Emily, I definitely did do today.
Last time I opted for Emily’s Short Mix I rode on Innsbruck. Today, New York. Not that it really makes much difference, to be fair. But I prefer Innsbruck.
I mention this only because last time I was absolutely dead by the end of the workout. That time I was at an FTP of 196W. Today, 195W… would 1W less make any difference?
I started far too high in terms of cadence. I mean, ridiculously over doing it. By the end of the first green block I was feeling thrashed, and the subsequent two minute efforts were hard going, and done at an even higher cadence.
When will I learn?
The short 1.5 minute recovery window was barely enough and I resolved to try and keep a more realistic cadence on the second set of intervals.
I still think I went too high during this set, in hindsight.
It’s a strange workout this one in so much as the first few minutes seem really hard, but by the end it’s almost like how were the first few minutes seeming hard work … this is hard work!
I guess that’s how I feel about cycling generally, actually. It’s all relative.
For the third set I made a concerted effort to take the first green block at a much lower cadence, ideally around 80rpm.
I did much better with this as a target during the third set.
Again, thoughts turned to how the hell I managed to ride for 20 minutes during my last / first FTP test. 3 minutes at 195w were hard, followed by a ramp up to 225w and I was absolutely dripping.
Yet again I found the Wahoo Tickr to be a little temperamental on this ride. Whilst I didn’t experience any drop outs, there just seems no way that my heart rate stays steady at certain BPM’s for so long.
Maybe it’s new battery time.
In truth the last 3 minutes were a real effort. No time for screenshots there.
By the time I finished I was so dead I could barely turn the pedals over to reach 145w.
I think my cadence dropped down to about 40rpm.
Thankfully, however, it was over. For today, at least.
Here are some glamour shots of the sweat.
Yes, that is a little puddle beneath the front ring. Graphic.
This one only worked out at 14.5km, and a total of 295 calories burned.
I’d like to be in a position where I could get a solid hour or more on the bike, but at the moment that’s just totally unrealistic.
With that in mind, the idea of being able to complete 12 Zwift Academy rides over the next ~55 days seems hugely unlikely.
I’m going to aim to put in rides on both Saturday and Sunday each week, but there will be some gaps there as I am not here for the full thing. Oh well, you can’t win them all.
The biggest win really is getting some time on the bike. 295 calories isn’t great, but it’s 295 more than I would have otherwise burned, and it goes some way towards burning off that Gregg’s dinner time sandwich and prawn cocktail crisps.
All in all, I’ll take it.
