With their challenge on Tenerife’s Mount Teide still months away, our trio gets to grips with Zwift’s Training Plans…
as you might be about achieving an ultimate training target, you might fall short without short-term, incremental goals.
This is where training plans or structured sessions come into their own and as a Zwift user, you’re not short of options. The most recent addition, Flexible Training Plans, takes into account your busy lifestyle, with windows to complete sessions in, rather than a rigid timetable. To avoid overtraining, if you have to skip a session, the plan restructures to ensure you get the most from your remaining sessions that week. New sessions can only be unlocked once you’ve completed the last, encouraging you to follow the plan.
They’ve certainly appealed to Hannah this month, who is on the Fondo 60 three-week plan: “Like most people I like structure and, still being quite new to cycling, it’s easier having a coach telling you what to do, rather than leaving it to guesswork. Riding for 90 minutes would feel like a long time, but broken down into intervals it’s much more manageable.”
Other training options include Workouts, which can be done as standalone sessions focusing on specific skills, such as time trialling, or as part of a more long-term
training plan. John and Adrian have been using Workouts this month; John’s trying out some intense sub-hour sessions, while Adrian has enrolled onto Zwift Academy, which opened its doors in August.
For cyclists confident in their knowledge of training or committed to a plan outside of Zwift, the other training option is Custom Workouts, which allows you to design your own sessions or download existing workouts from platforms such TrainingPeaks.
Whether you’re starting a plan from scratch or well into one, there’s one number Zwift needs: your FTP. Functional Threshold Power is the highest average power, measured in watts, that you can sustain for an hour. In Zwift, your FTP is used to determine the difficulty of your sessions; the higher your FTP, the higher the wattage targets you’ll need to hit during each interval.
While Zwift can estimate your FTP, either through a fitness level profile or through performance in nonworkout Zwift rides, it’s advised you do a proper test (the main effort lasts for 20 minutes). An estimated FTP can be under or over your true figure, meaning workouts can be too easy or too hard. Also, by estimating it, you miss out on the joy of completing an FTP test. Only joking, it’s a famously hideous experience. You should know it’s going to hurt and will feel like it’s never going to end, but the figure you record will give you reliable, achievable workouts.
“Music is crucial,” reckons John, of a successful FTP test. “Build a 20-minute playlist of your most high tempo music that starts frenetic and dials it higher.”
“It’s the longest 20 minutes,” says Hannah. “Zwift warms you up nicely, then you get stuck into the 20-minute test. It was the first FTP test I’ve done so pacing was the hardest thing, but I felt I did a good job by the end. Zwift is always there to offer encouragement.”
Because an FTP test is so hard, you’re advised to go in fresh, so make sure you have a rest day leading up to it. Afterwards, take the rest of the day off and come back and select the training plan or workout that best fits. Ride solo or hook up with a group that is riding the same session. Or, if structure isn’t quite working for you today, simply head into the game for a free ride around one of Zwift’s worlds, knowing you can pick up your training session later on.