Yesterday I made an attempt at Emily’s Short Mix, thinking I was smarter than Zwift (hey, I’ve been riding for 2 solid weeks, I’m practically pro!) and bumping the FTP up to 165w.
I failed. Epically.
Today, I decided rather than admit defeat, I would try Emily’s Short Mix at my Zwift guesstimated FTP, 127w. On the plus side, I managed to make the distance.
I enjoyed it, in a weird way. The middle section was perhaps the hardest. Here’s the ride plan:
- 3 minutes at 107w
- 1,2,3 minute at 127w
- 1,2,3 minute at 146w
- 1.5 minute at 95w (cool down)
Yesterday, when I hit the second section, I was almost dead. Today, I had a small sweat on, but was confident I could make it. There’s loads of things to keep you going on Zwift, from other riders nearby, the visual indicators of where effort starts and ends, heart rate monitoring, cadence, and so on. Lots to keep you or I distracted whilst pushing ever forwards.
It’s the little things that get to me, mid-ride. My headphone cord brushing against my leg each time I raise my right leg. The towel, blown by the fan, gently sweeping against my left knee on the other side. The iPad, struggling to keep a proper frame rate when more than a few riders bunch around me. All the small things.
I’m really looking forwards to getting a proper TV setup in front of the bike. I’ve been looking at various bits of kit. I don’t have a huge amount of space around my bike.
This stand I found looks ideal.
At the time of writing, there is one for sale, second hand, for £50. With the gap between the legs, it looks perfect to slide the front wheel between, maximising the space I have available.
Also, it has a laptop / iPad stand.
The reason I want to go to a proper TV is simply that I cannot see much of the info on screen at the moment.
I really wanted to give a Ride On today. But I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Having to lean forwards, grab the iPad, lean back, try to find the Ride On button… all whilst keeping up my cadence… Not ideal.
You may be wondering why not use the Zwift Companion app on my phone. Well, that’s because I’m using my phone for music. I go to mixing.dj and whack on a set before starting my ride. Today was Sasha’s Last Night On Earth. Always belting. However, in Android at least, you can’t play audio in the browser and then switch to another app whilst keeping the audio going. Bit meh.
With that in mind, I’ve been contemplating somehow Jerry rigging one of my other computers up to be a full time Zwift PC. This has plenty of advantages, but one big disadvantage – cost. I do need a new laptop for work, so maybe that will be one way to approach this problem. Pity Macbook Pro’s are so darned expensive.
There’s one other issue I have today. Zwift structured workouts are far too rigid. I mentioned already that I started the Zwift Cycling 101 training plan. Well, I wanted to complete the second exercise today, but I wasn’t allowed. Missing a day blocks the exercise. I think that’s a bad decision, and should be left up to me to punish myself, if that’s my approach.
Overall I’m fairly happy with my effort today. I’m aware the overall Weighted Average Power (118w today) is lower than I have been achieving on my own, unstructured free rides. I’ve been pushing myself to do 10km in under 20 minutes on free rides, and have been around 133w Weighted Average Power.
As such, I am going to continue with unstructured / free rides for the forthcoming week. I’m still going to try to meet my 10km / 20 minutes goal, and then next Saturday or Sunday, I will re-attempt Emily’s Short Mix at a higher FTP – maybe 135w. I think Zwift slightly underestimates my FTP, but then again, I was proven so wrong on that front yesterday that maybe I should accept I am a puny weakling.
For the moment.