For this evening’s ride I took on another SST session. The difference being that today’s session was completed indoors on the turbo, versus yesterday which was outdoors on the open road.
Right off the bat I will say I found this session harder in so much as there was no slacking off. No coasting. No dipping for 30 seconds or after the “on block”.
But then, each “on block” was easier, in so much as I was under the computer’s control. All I had to do was pedal.
On the subject of pedalling, I found this one really challenging.
I’ve had SST sessions in the past where I’ve absolutely nailed the cadence. Bang on 95rpm, transitioning between blocks smooth as butter.
Not today.
Today I was all over the shop – coming in at an average of 97rpm, and frequently around 100rpm in the “on blocks”.
I guess this is that I am fairly badly out of practice with the turbo at the moment.
Oh, and this one was much sweatier, too.
Whilst both today and yesterday’s rides were done over 30km, today’s ride took less time. By 53 minutes I’d covered 30km, even with ~250m of climbing.
Compare that to outdoors and it’s a totally different matter entirely. I’m left wondering how accurate Zwift really is.
But from a pure efficiency point of view, I still believe indoor training has it absolutely nailed. You can just crank up the music, get your head down, and do the work.
I will also say that my right shoulder feels significantly better than a comparable outdoor activity. It’s not been great since I had a bad fall, but after an indoor session there is noticeably less aching.
Even though I clearly still have routes to explore and I know of at least a couple of things on Zwift I’ve never done (the back of Box Hill, for example), constantly riding round the same loops, and seeing the same sights is getting pretty boring at this point.
I’ve been seriously contemplating dropping my Zwift subscription for a bit, and switching to a different platform.
I’m wondering at this point if I could use the Garmin Edge 530 to create an SST workout, and then ride that inside GTA 5, for example.
Sure, you don’t get the other riders and the ride ons and stuff… but really, so what?
About the only thing that Zwift has that I can’t find elsewhere at the moment is racing.
I guess there is also the aspect of Zwift’s group rides.
Speaking of which, the big deal today was the Chris Froome group ride for World Bike Day. I didn’t know this was happening until I was coming towards the end of my workout and was looking in the app at what rides are available over the weekend. The most interesting of those, to me, is the Pride Ride. So I’ll get into that at 4pm on Saturday.
But yeah, Zwift could have done a bit more to advertise their WBD activities… turns out I did get an email… this morning. Good heads up there.
I’m unsure what to do tomorrow. I can’t reasonably spend a few hours trying to get GTA Bike to work. I might give RGT Cycling a go. Or I might just do one of the active recovery sessions on Zwift.
One things for sure, I’m confident the recent mental frustrations I’ve been going through re: work are definitely the cause of me feeling less happy after a workout than when employed. Things have been better on that front this week, but I feel there may yet be a way to go.
Anyway, overall things are going in the right direction. I hope you’re doing well, whoever you are, and wherever you may be.
