Each week Zwift sends me an email summarising my activity for the week. For previous weekly reviews click here.
This last week has been very frustrating.
On the one hand, it started really well. I managed to ride four days in a row, with each ride being giving me a decent workout and generally feeling like I was making great progress.
And then on Friday, I really hurt my knees.
As a result I didn’t ride over the weekend, and as I write this, I am not sure I will be back on the bike before Wednesday at the earlier.
It’s all to do with my saddle position. I keep messing around with it. Trying to find a more comfortable position, and this week even adjusting my front bars to see if I can get more use out of the drops.
As a total beginner, and with no one to ask in-person, I’m reliant on watching videos and reading articles to try and figure out a lot of this stuff. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes. This isn’t the first time I’ve messed up my knees either. But it’s certainly the worst damage I’ve done.
My theory goes right now: try another two light rides once my knees are better, and if after that, I don’t feel any pain returning then stop mucking around with the bike for a bit.
If, however, I do feel any pain, I’m going for a professional bike fit. It’s looking like ~£50, but at this point, that’s peanuts in the scheme of what I’ve spent so far. And frankly, if it gets rid of the pain – for good – it’s a very small price to pay.
Rather than dwell complete on the negatives, there are three positives I’m taking away from this week:
- Increased FTP from 189w to 193w;
- Put in a really strong effort (by my standards) on Richmond hill climbs;
- My enforced rest will mean I’m rested enough to do a proper FTP test.
For the FTP increase this week, I set myself a challenge of riding as hard as I could on a fairly flat circuit for a 20 minute period. This is basically the FTP test that Zwift will give me, to the very best of my knowledge. I did my stint on the TT bike to avoid any draft boosts or what have you.
I gave it a good shot. I had to take some rests in between. That’s fine, I have no desire to get off the bike puking up or whatever in the name of being some sort of super sufferer. God no. Coming out with an FTP of 193w should, in theory (as best I understand) mean this is the average wattage I could sustain for a full hour? I’ll be honest, I’m skeptical.
Even though Richmond destroyed my knees, I’m really happy with the two climbs I did this week. On the second climb in particular, the 23rd Street KOM, I smashed 20 seconds off my previous personal best. That’s what you get sprinting up a hill versus my previous rather more sedate (by comparison) attempts.
And finally, whilst I’m being forced to stay off the bike for what looks like at least 5 days at this point, I should be refreshed and good to give a proper attempt at the official Zwift FTP test on my return. I anticipate having a couple of more “laid back” rides (for want of a better term) and assessing my position. If we’re all good, then I’m going to attempt the proper test.
The upshot of doing this is that any subsequent workouts should be much more accurate / challenging. And that’s great.
The long and short of it this week is if I hadn’t mucked up my knees, it would have been a great week. As it was, the first half was decent, and the second half was non-existent. Again, looking on the bright side, things can only get better.