Glad they are helpful. I always like to know what is coming, and I share these videos for folks that might not be as used to interpreting the graphs yet so that they can know what is TRULY coming. 😉
Thanx again for the valuable tips and information. I'm attempting Workout 2 and 3 this week. I will be sticking to the short workouts as its my first ZA attempt.
Sounds like a smart approach. You can mix and match, so if you find you want to jump into a longer one here and there, you still get credit for completion. 🙂
Had to go with the short workout as I’m trying to squeeze outside rides around ZA. Seemed quite a bit easier in the short workout. It is what it is. Living life and getting ZA worked in is challenging.
As usual doing an amazing job with these videos. Would you believe it, I contacted support today and they are still having problems sending out the baseline ride emails so they STOPPED sending them temporarily as in for the last two days. This is a different issue than the rubber band one. They can’t seem to launch anything correctly it’s incredible. Kudos to you for providing the information they should have!
I don't understand why they can't get their shit together! They sent these emails last year, and that was the one part of the Academy that wasn't a dumpster fire from a logistics standpoint. They were supposed to have more emails this year with progressive updates.... Not holding my breath. One week in and the majority of people don't have emails. From my observation, if you were not on PC, you didn't get a proper email.
Hi just getting back into the bike after a longish lay off. I am trying to build back my base so working out at around 150/250w either indoors or out, and that's my base rides for around 1 to 2 hours doing this for 3/4 rides per week and intending staying with it for 12 weeks. Is that enough or should I be doing more perhaps short intervals as well I feel like it, but want to keep it going without fatigue. Feeling good at the moment most of my zwift rides feel easyish. I don't have a heart rate monitor at the moment so riding on what feels easy. Loving zwift and my wahoo core, game changer for indoors and your vids are cool.
I wish they were a little more thoughtful in their design on these. These are not race simulation workouts, they are builders. Even more advanced workouts don't set recovery that high unless it is the mini recoveries within the working sets.
I am a week behind due to being under the weather . Would you recommend the shorter program !! Also does each workout have its own route or do you select a route . Great job on the video’s 👏🏻👏🏻👍
I think you could manage the longer workouts if you are feeling physically up to it after illness. Your first and last week might have 3 sessions (adding in the Baseline and Finish Line at beginning and end) but you could space out the other workouts so you can still recover in between. If you're still feeling some after effects, might want to start with short and work your way up. Mixing and matching still gives you full credit 🙂
About the previous workout, yes recovery valleys were a bit higher than usual. It's for a reason, the point was not to give you an opportunity to recover fully. The point is often to make sure you start the next interval with a higher heart rate, which is better especially i it take time for you to get it high. It's also interesting to see how you recover from higher power output, fatigue and so on... They based several of ZA workouts ans the pr contenders ones on that.
Respectfully, that's not the appropriate format for this workout. The aim of a recovery interval of those lengths is not to maintain heart rate. If that were the case, the interval would be shorter and likely at a higher power output. Recovery should be set between 40-50% of FTP to allow physiological replenishment and psychological relief. In this process, the body facilitates the processing of metabolic byproducts which replenish fuel stores that are utilized in work intervals that follow. Higher-intensity recovery intervals are aimed more at specialized performance capabilities. In particular racing disciplines, athletes are faced with sustaining or repeating efforts. They are set at higher intensities to maintain a high level of oxygen uptake while simulating the demands of racing. Higher-intensity recovery is more common in workouts seen in sharpening phases and typically in intervals of two minutes or less. The workouts also, more often than not, use the higher intensity recovery valleys *within* the set and standard recovery valleys *between* the working sets. Trust me, there was no thought put into the recoveries for workouts like two or three. There are multiple indications of the laziness of the workout builders throughout the academies. They are dragging and dropping identical blocks from workout to workout for ease. Comparing these to similar workout structures from coaches or more respected training programs, you will not see recovery valleys between sets exceeding 50%. Research reveals total training stress only marginally increases with active recovery compared to passive recovery and as such, the intensity chosen here has no appreciable value. I mentioned it in my last video, but I will repeat it here: If your recovery interval hampers your ability to be productive during the working set, it is not appropriate. For many, the intensity of the recovery will hamper their ability. To address your last statement, the pro-contender workouts are not actually based on any training benefit. They are *assessments* nothing more, nothing less. They are using those workouts to simulate a race environment and critical power outputs during those free intervals and recoverability outside of them. While training stress will provide a benefit to fitness, it is not a *workout* strictly speaking. ZA Road is using power measurements from those sessions to sort out potential contenders from the chaff. You don't have to take my word on this, as everything I am sharing has been based on years of research and experience on the topic from hundreds of sources. Expressing these videos in layman's terms is not indicative of my understanding, only my objective to democratize this information and build the community. I always encourage people to do their own research, but I will not hesitate to correct inaccurate generalizations. Have a great day 🙂
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic I simply meant this is not really a problem that some recovery valleys are higher, nothing else. Most of the time yes, they are between 40-50%, I agree with you. The problem with Zwift Academy is the main goal behind it, there is not the same objective for everyone. If you are just here to get some PB on the next Finish line Ride, It makes sense to get used to get more fatigue because you are basically trying to reach 1'30", 20-30" and 6-8' PB in the same ride. Even with such long intervals betweens the 3 segments, you still have some fatigue in the system. If you are here to improve your top end power in your different zones, well that is not really the best plan as you cannot get specific improvements by working one different zone every workout. In my opinion, ZA is good to boost your competitiveness and maybe try to beat some PB if you mostly just follow plans without reassessing your level in different zones by working really hard some critical power except the 20 minute test. You talk about periodization in other videos and yes that is an effective way to really get some gains instead of mixing things every workout like ZA does. I do not think repeating ZA over and over will lead to big gains if you think long term. Nonetheless, when you are in your specialty phase, you can have higher %FTP for your recovery or you can have some "kitchen sink" intervals to mimic the fatigue you will meet at the end of the race. I think of Gimenez exercices for instance, the target is to boost your MAP and the valleys are at Sweet Spot (and that is one way to do a Gimenez, it can be adjusted depending on your goals). About that I am not refering to this video, but one of the latest you made about ZA. When it comes to Specialty phase, whether you train on Zwift, Trainerroad, Sufferfest, and even some coaches, you have sometimes some "kitchen sink workouts". Once again, yes if the goal was to really target adapatations in one zone, no it's not optimal. But it's perfect to target get used to what you will face during your targeted event. Anyway, my goal is not to try to be right about that especially because this ZA can be highly questionable depending on what you look for when you do it and I 100% agree with you. Frankly I do the ZA just do have fun and get an excuse to beat some PB during the Offseason before going back to my winter plan. And let's be honest, except for some really weird workouts, most of the time, there is no absolute answers about training topics and the first answer to "Is it good or bad?" is "it depends" ^^ About your last statement, actually I do the same. I first learnt from books like Training with a Powermeter, getting online courses, compiling what I learnt in athletics, with Trainerroad coaches and now my personal coach and ... what I can say is, No one should blindly take anyone's word on training. If it was so easy to get a one size fits all, we'd all be expert coaches. What I enjoy though is listening to other point of views like yours (among others) just for the pleasure to make me think about training and maybe reconsider my points of views.
@@DISCOhooch So I'm not completely crazy. They tempered down the workouts this year for sure. If you ever have a chance, take a look at the folder for 2016.... that was a SERIOUS undertaking. Paart of me wishes they would bring that format back as an "Academy plus"
Good question, they do not. In this case they aren't giving a short version for the more "time crunched" athlete who just needs more efficiency, but rather a trimmed-down version of the primary workout which could act as a good stepping stone to the longer version.
Do you recommend retaking the FTP test before starting on this type of power training? I've spent this cycling season outdoors doing long distance bike packing. I have the endurance, but I am pretty certain power is suffering.
It's not a terrible idea. I suspect you might have seen a modest decline that will recover pretty rapidly with training in these zones. It's not like you stopped training altogether. Your muscles do have a "memory" and will likely acclimate to the load quickly, but there is no use risking failure during the sets because your FTP is a little out of reach at the moment. A ramp test can give you a decent sense check and won't bake too much fatigue into the system 🙂
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic Great. Thank you. I had been contemplating doing exactly that. As I've been doing the Great Cycle Challenge (kids cancer event, if you're not familiar) mostly indoors (even in September), that's where I noticed a disturbance in the Force. It's good to have confirmation.
Does it matter for how the workout is structured if you do it in a group event or on your own? I did 1 and 2 on my own and had to choose a course. I'm relatively new to Zwift so I didn't know if that mattered.
Hi Katie. In general, doing a workout on Zwift in a group shouldn't affect your personal workout at all. It's designed to give you the company of other riders regardless of how strong/fast anyone else it. However, Sarah noted some strange stuff in the baseline ride, if that's what you're trying to do. Check out her first video in this series. Good luck!
Thank you to both of you!!! Great team work ☺️. I've already done the baseline (as a group) and workouts 1 & 2 as individual workouts. I chose a route that seemed flat to me and I think the few inclines "didn't exist" during the workout if the makes sense. I was concerned that if I was doing a workout and ended up on a kom route that my workout wouldn't be as accurate. I think I described that right!
Noob here, so all comments welcome- I just finished workout 1 today and set my FTP based on a ramp test at 225. As I was going through the workout, I didn't expect Zwift to give a "window" of power vs. just giving me a number to stay above. I was hurting today (sore, fatigued, maybe FTP too high) but stayed within the window, albeit just above the lower range. Can't help but feel that psychologically if I was told to push above the actual number they wanted me to be at that I would do that instead of the bare minimum of the window. Should I lower my FTP or make it a goal to just stay in the middle of that range?
Hey Christopher. My advice is to not change anything now and try again when you're recovered (usually 72 hours after a hard workout). Your mindset might be quite different when 1) you're rested and 2) you know what to expect from the workout and can be better mentally prepared. Hope that's helpful!
Shelley is right on here. Your true threshold will change by the day, sometimes we are a few watts shy of where we need to be, no big deal. The closer to the top of the zone you achieve, the more stimulus you will get, however, within the zone, you are still working the same energy system and will get the same overall benefit. It doesn't sound like you are far enough off to play with your FTP yet. Observe your additional workouts and see how you are trending. Even if you are a little south of 225, you'll likely train your way into it. It sounds like your in striking distance though 😉
Yes, seriously. You are working above your lactate threshold and using sugar quickly. Your statement assumes your glycogen stores are topped up when you start, which often isn't the case. Fueling the work ensures peak performance. Fast burning energy, like glucose, ensures energy availability above LT2. The science is clear on this. More to the point, the second statement is categorically false. If you're relying only on glycogen to do 90 minutes at threshold, you're throttling your performance and likely tapping into liver glycogen hampering recovery and likely future workouts.
Should I do only one of these workouts a week at the age of 57?It seems that at the end of the day riding too much high intensities worsen the longevity of life🤔🤔
I’d love to know too how often one should do these academy works. Not specifically during /for the academy, but over say the course of the winter. And any guidance you could give on how to mix and match them over the long haul of the winter. Sarah, Love all your videos and that you take the time to share your wealth of knowledge! ❤
I’m no expert, but perhaps it depends on where you are in terms of your training up to now. I’m 66 and I fully expect to do 2/week. Practically speaking , I need to do 2/week to get done in time. I’ve never heard of this being detrimental to your health, unless you just aren’t ready yet for this type of training🤷♂️
@@RightRudder I dug around through more of your videos, and I see that This is basically the difficulty in answering my question ... ru-vid.comUgkxvQxW1AEOBwav0B86Ctu4ALAmN9OV6Rfv
@@RightRudder In my experience, winter is the time to do longer, easier endurance-level (Z2) rides and weight training. Once March rolls around, I ramp up the intensity with outdoor rides and phase out the heavier weights. Do an FTP test if you want, but I really hate them. As with most things, it depends on your goals, but that's my general pattern. I train to stay with the pack on the speedy weekend group ride. Those are my "races." (I'm almost 50, live in the US, road cyclist cat 3/4)
I like that name! Just had someone else hear back from support that they temporarily paused sending the emails! So frustrating. Not sure what the problem is because the emails actually worked last year. First time, every time.
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic Email arrived this morning, you must have influence 😃, thanks. On a separate note, none of my custom workouts are syncing to my ATV. Any info on that?
@@Roy-ud1db Only thought is to check the syncing settings (I'm guessing you're using trainingpeaks? Sometimes it inexplicably breaks. It's also possible Zwift broke it with the latest update 😑 hope that's not the case, though.
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic my own zwo files created in notepad. No issues before. They are populating on Zwift in windows. Probably broken with new update, I guess will be fixed soon.
