Yesterday was my first rest day. Whilst I would like to say I had a lovely extra half an hour asleep, the truth is my kids woke me at the usual ridiculously early hour, and I’m guessing 6am is now the new normal.
Without the morning’s exercise, I felt frustrated. Partly this is because I came so close to doing 10km in under 20 minutes on two separate occasions. And partly because I don’t think 20 minutes activity in the morning is something that really needs a rest day. But maybe it does. Who am I to argue with science?
I had an up-and-down day yesterday. On the one hand I got stuck with a nasty problem at the office all day. And then in the evening I solved a problem that’s been puzzling me for 7 months. Without the morning’s ride, I definitely felt frustrated.
With that in mind, I was keen to get back on the bike this morning.
A large part of me was thinking, hey, with a rest day under my belt, I should surely have the energy to go for it and nail that 10km in 20 minute target I’ve been trying for.
And another part of me was like, Chris, chill out. Try something different. Maybe one of the Zwift Workouts? Or a Training Plan?
As best I currently understand it:
- Zwift Workouts appear to be one-off / ad-hoc exercises.
- Zwift Training Plans are groups of exercise
The training plans also come with a further information “pill”, with a target audience such as:
- Endurance
- Racer
- Raceprep
- Speed
- Strength
- FTP
I found myself flicking through the many and varied workouts and Training Plans available on Zwift. There are plenty to choose from.
Each Zwift training plan has a coloured circle indicating whether the workout is for Beginners (green), Intermediates (yellow), Advanced (red), or Everyone (blue).
I thought the Zwift 101: Cycling training plan sounded ideal. I’d get to learn about the training interface, and be a gentle introduction to a workout. And gentle it certainly was.
The Zwift 101: Cycling training plan consists of 4 x 30 minute sessions. I expect to complete one each day, starting with this mornings ride. The overall plan encompasses 51.9km.
Jumping into the ride, there were plenty of on-screen tips and bits of information. It seemed perfect for somebody who was using Zwift for the first time. As it happens I’ve been using Zwift for about two weeks, and spent considerably longer watching YouTube videos before buying all the gear. Most of this was therefore, not new to me.
In my case: not very.
I could handle the on-screen info if only the ride had been a bit more intense. I think it was set based on my FTP, which at the time of writing is a Zwift-estimated 127w. Low, I know. I wondered how hard the ride would be, based on this.
Honestly, it was far too easy. Frustratingly so. As it was my first training plan, I stuck with it, and I’m glad I saw it through. But I had to go outside the limits of the plan to feel like I’d done some effort. One good thing was that at 30 minutes, it was my longest Zwift ride yet. Also, I guess another good thing is that it wasn’t too hard. That would have sucked.
I enjoyed the process, and I enjoyed the experience. But I do feel like I have only done about 1/3rd of what I would have liked from my morning’s ride.
An interesting point was that I rode Innsbruck, which is a particularly hilly course. As I was on a workout, the 10% gradients didn’t (I think) have any impact on the amount of effort I had to put in. Zwift controlled the experience so that no matter how hard I pedalled, my Tacx Neo 2 trainer seemed to automatically alter the resistance to meet my effort.
At the very end of the ride – well, 29 minutes in to the 30 minutes effort – Zwift placed a message on screen: “If you found this too easy, you can adjust the FTP bias by going to menu… blah blah”. Thanks, right at the end, you tell me I can make it a bit more interesting! Ha.
I think if I were using the Zwift companion app, then there may have been a more intuitive way for me to up the intensity in real time. As it happens, I place my iPad on a little table next to my bike, so reaching over and messing with menus isn’t super trivial. Even so, I did managed to take a mid-ride screenshot today. That should give some indication as to how laid back I felt the session was, overall.
All that said, I did enjoy it. I’m a little frustrated, and can’t wait to get back on the bike tomorrow to try the second workout. I’m going to adjust the difficulty before hand.
Let’s see how I get on.