Each week I try to review and reflect on my previous week on the bike. This allows me to see how my fitness and ability is progressing on a wider timescale than day to day. For previous weekly reviews please click here.
A really good week with lots of varying activity including two intensive workouts and my first race in over 2 years(!)
Early in the week I was a little concerned I’d skipped the chance to get back into the routine of doing an FTP Test every Tuesday. However I ended up doing my best 10 and 30 minute efforts during the Saturday race, so I’m going to say I ticked that box anyway this week.
And besides, I have said previously that however I do the 20 minute effort, so long as it’s full gas it doesn’t need to be explicitly the FTP Test. Racing counts 🙂
Here are this week’s rides:
- Tuesday – A Day Late For Ghosts (Indoors / Zwift)
- Wednesday – Zwift Workout of the Week: Spaded Sweetie (Indoors / Zwift)
- Thursday – 40/20’s Into Threshold (Indoors / Zwift)
- Saturday – Tour of Makuri Islands: Stage 1 – Castle to Castle Race (B) (Indoors / Zwift)
- Sunday – Tour of Makuri Islands: Stage 1 – Chasing the Sun (Indoors / Zwift)
I’m still struggling to figure out how to work Golden Cheetah so am unable to get the week’s overview stats out of that. Quite frustrating really as whilst I never truly dived into everything it was telling me, it was a really useful dashboard to give me an at-a-glance overview of the last 7 days.
Still, I have managed to pull out some graphs this week which is an improvement over last week.
The Garmin graph above tells the better story really. I had a couple of easy weeks due to being away on holiday. Now I’m back things are very much heading upwards and to the right once again. Training intensity this week has been the highest it has been for a good few weeks.
Whilst I was happy with every effort I put in this week, I think I probably over did the intensity.
My preferred approach is:
- Monday – rest
- Tuesday – high intensity
- Wednesday – rest
- Thursday – medium to high intensity
- Friday – rest
- Saturday – low to medium intensity
- Sunday – low intensity
Interestingly, this does tend to correspond with what I saw in this great video from GCN this week:
By comparison this week felt mostly high intensity.
Two tough midweek workouts were challenging but left me in really high spirits. Knowing I’ve put in an efficient effort is highly rewarding. Two in a row is tiring but always feels very worthwhile.
I’d be hard pressed to pick out which of the two workouts I found hardest.
What I would say is that both of them were far more intensive than anything experienced in the recent Zwift Academy.
Weight wise, the interesting observation this week was the expectation that I’d have put on weight whilst on holiday.
Not so. Whilst my weight did go up for a while, once I cut out the booze again – I don’t drink much even when I have a beer – I ended up back around 67kg overall. Happy with that… though I think my Zwift weight is currently at 68kg? No point changing that, I don’t think.
Saving the best for last then this week.
The Tour of Makuri Islands has kicked off.
I only realised on Saturday evening – after my first event – why I hadn’t seen the Group Ride in the Zwift App events list. I had the Race filter active. Whoops.
But then, maybe not Whoops.
Would I have done the race had it not been for that? I don’t know… and I guess I never will.
But now I have done the first race I’m determined to see the rest of the series out as both the Race and the Longer Group Rides.
Whilst I get the ol’ anxiety ahead of Zwift Racing events, when it’s an enforced timed event like this it’s got to be done. Contrast this with a Crit City race and it’s easy to think – oh, I’ll do that next time – and yet clearly I never do.
The truth is that Zwift Racing is the best part of Zwift. Hands down. For anyone with a competitive streak, anyone who likes online gaming or whatever, this is where it’s at. It might not feel like it at the time, but trust me, it is.
Whilst doing the race this week I set a new PB on 10 and 30 minute efforts. Whilst I fudged up that race in many ways, those are strong positive take aways, particularly off the back of the earlier intensity midweek.
And really that’s what it’s all about for me. All those intensive workouts are put to the true test when it comes to racing.
Which is why I need to do way more of it.
Anyway, I am enforced to do racing now for a few weeks. And that’s a good thing. So yeah, the week ahead is going to be a mixture of Zone 2 and Zone 4+.
I’m down for two more The Tour of Makuri Island events, and the rest will be enforced ERG zone 2 rides.