As covered in the weekly review, my current goal is to get through the remainder of the Zwift Academy 2020 series before my Zwift subscription is due for monthly renewal on the 12th November. As such, tonight’s ride was Zwift Academy 2020: Workout 5 | Primed FTP.
Now, there was a group ride for this one starting at 4pm.
I was ready. Bang on 4pm.
But, unfortunately, Zwift crashed. And as such, I wasn’t able to join.
It’s almost like they don’t want me anymore. Maybe the app knows of my intentions to leave, and is giving me the cold, buggy shoulder.
Whatever, anyway, I did it as a solo workout.
The short version of this is it really didn’t feel that bad.
It probably would have done if I was riding as I have been doing for a long time now, when using my laptop. Connected to the wrong device, and therefore having to work my sweaty nuts off to meet the power targets, due to the readings being out by a clear 20w+ when doing an effort.
Anyway, none of that this evening.
And as such, I found it fairly straightforward.
The one thing that did kinda cause this workout to feel easier than it ought to have, was that after my first 5 minute “on” interval, in came my youngest who demanded some attention. She’d “broken” the TV (closed the app she was watching, and couldn’t re-open it), so I had to jump off and do a bit of daddy day care.
That kinda gave me a breather enough to see myself with about a 5 minute gap between the first two harder intervals, and so maybe this session was easier on me than it otherwise should have been.
That said, I really didn’t find too much of a struggle here.
It gave me a renewed confidence to hit the SST sessions, but I don’t think I’m going to have time in my schedule to get another one of those in before my subscription is up.
Also, one thing that I did kinda want to do tonight – but had to postpone – was a repeat of last Tuesday’s 3R PedalPlay EVOLVE Interval Ride [~2.9-3.2 w/kg avg] (C). Man alive, I can’t believe it’s been a week already since I did that one. It only feels like a few days, at most.
Crazy times.
There were a number of prompts during this workout around how difficult it should be feeling.
I was getting kinda mixed messages about this.
Firstly, as above, I have been riding way above my targets in recent workouts, without realising it. Therefore, this one, by comparison, felt easier. This can be seen in my heart rates, which are comparatively down quite significantly.
But secondly, surely if you’re feeling absolutely maxed when riding at FTP, then this says your FTP is perhaps too high?
It does to me, anyway. But I’m no sports scientist.
Did I enjoy this one then?
Well, it was an alright workout.
It would likely have been more fun in a group.
However, due to rubber banding and all that jazz, the distance travelled in the group workouts is always lower than if I did one myself.
And that said, I must have been absolutely cranking it as I covered 30km in 51m 30s. I mean, give over. That just would never happen outdoors. And with 183m of climb? Zwift is talking utter nonsense.
I’m not rightly sure what remains in the Zwift Academy at this point.
I’d like to find a race. A proper race, not a race up Mont Ventoux like what was on offer at the weekend. Racing is the best part of Zwift (for me) and I haven’t done one in such a long time. It would be nice to get one in before switching platforms.
That said, the available times and options for Zwift Academy this year have been a bit lacking. And apparently there’s no make up days this year?
I’ve just taken a look through the app and tried to find a Zwift Academy race between now and Sunday and haven’t found a single one. What I might do is finish the Academy any way I can, and then find a race as a separate event. There are tons of races to do, if you’re not as specific as I’m being.
Anyway, given how I’m feeling after today, I’m aiming to do the next Academy workout tomorrow night. Not sure what that is, but I feel rested enough to take a crack it it regardless.
