For my final ride of the week I had it in mind that I’d hit a Zwift Academy 2019 group workout. But that didn’t happen. Real life got in the way.
As I had ~8km left on my weekly 100km riding goal, I decided the best way to get in a solid ride whilst on a short time limit (30 minutes) would be to do either Emily’s Short Mix, or Jon’s Short Mix.
As I haven’t done Jon’s Short Mix in ages, I figured I’d do this one for a change.
Looking at Strava, this week has really tapered off. That wasn’t intentional. And Friday night’s race proves it’s not always about distance.
This workout, in my opinion, isn’t as tough as Emily’s Short Mix.
But that said, it’s still a decent workout.
Right off the bat we jumped into 1 minute at 300w, then a short recovery, followed by another repeat. That certainly got the motor going.
My legs have been feeling a little stiff this week. My Amazon foam roller order still hasn’t arrived, so the stiffness remains, for the moment.
Fortunately I wasn’t feeling too bad for this ride. Just a shame it was under a bit of time pressure.
As to be expected, the first effort felt easier than the second.
And then, somewhat unexpectedly, the second set of efforts were much more challenging for me.
I managed the first two sprint / burst efforts alright, but on the third, the resistance on the trainer became so intense I could barely move the pedals.
This has happened to me before, as I recall. I have no idea what causes this. As best I am aware, the right approach is to keep a very high cadence, but whatever. I tried. I failed on this. I don’t concern myself too much with this sort of thing, as in my opinion it’s a software failing.
After this I wasn’t too sure how I’d fare on the 10 minute sweet spot interval.
However, I found this to be the easiest part of the whole thing.
During this block I hit my 100km weekly riding goal – all good. I also managed to keep around 100rpm average, as best I am aware.
That part felt like the most valuable part of the whole workout.
I’d really rather have put in a more thorough workout, all things considered. The Zwift Academy rides are a much more thorough feeling workout, and only getting ~250 calories burned doesn’t feel like I did my part today.
That said, any time on the bike is better than nothing at all.
Tomorrow is rest day. I feel like I have earned it this week. I’m still not 100% up to speed on my new work schedule, and my sleeping pattern is still taking some adjusting.
I now plan to do my Zwift Academy workout on Tuesday immediately after work, which means it won’t be a group ride. But that’s not so bad.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the weekly review average wattage graph for this week. If I’m right, I’m going to have hit a new high on the chart for Friday’s race.
Today’s a busy one anyway, not done yet.
But overall happy with the week’s progress. Ride on!
