Curious about people’s experiences with doing numerous zwift races during a week. I read an article about a guy who is supposedly the top ranked racer on zwift power, he is 40-years-old and races pretty much 6 days a week. He said it wasn’t a big deal because the races were all an hour or less and it was a pretty similar training load to his college swimming days or even easier.
I feel like I’d get tired doing those races day after day I wonder if your body would adapt? I also feel like I would kind of start to dread them after a while.
Curious about people’s experiences with doing numerous zwift races during a week. I read an article about a guy who is supposedly the top ranked racer on zwift power, he is 40-years-old and races pretty much 6 days a week. He said it wasn’t a big deal because the races were all an hour or less and it was a pretty similar training load to his college swimming days or even easier.
I feel like I’d get tired doing those races day after day I wonder if your body would adapt? I also feel like I would kind of start to dread them after a while.
We are all different. Some with superior experience and genetics might be able to handle 6 days of racing a week, other might not. I personally won’t be able to; 3 (maybe 4) days per week of that level of workout is enough for me.
Basically similar to how some could run 80 miles a week, while for others, 50 miles/week is pushing it
That guy probably only races 3-4x/week, max. His team will be racing every day, but will also take a day or two off.
I personally race between 4-6 times per week, but no races lasting longer than 40-55 minutes. I struggled initially but my body definitely adapted. That said, I always take at least 1 day off the bike per week, and will sprinkle in an easy day or two if the back-to-back days become too difficult.
Challenge yourself to 5 races/week, or find a schedule that is conservative (races that start easy and don’t begin racing for 10-15k are really good for this).
has that schedule made you a better outdoor rider? I’m a slow starter and have lost top end with age, I think e-racing would his some weak spots for me that need work
That’s a great question, I don’t know. I haven’t ridden outside since April of last year (when my 2nd kid was born). My numbers are higher now than they were even 10 years ago when I was in my early 30s, so I’m sure my outdoor riding would reflect that.
I have been doing 4-6 races per week and sometimes 2 races in one day. Mostly on the short side of things 35-45 min with some in the 15-25 min range. Most of the races are around my ftp or a little bellow. I am on the top of the B category so most races are not crazy difficult and I spend most of the time thinking about how the final sprint is going to be so long races get boring. I have been doing some A races and those are much harder and I need time to recover.
My ftp and vo2max are higher than it has ever been and I am 40 years old.
I also got faster outside, at least in the short stuff. I was able to do 12% more power than my best effort in the past 4 years in 10 mile the TT that my cycling club runs weekly. Even when I did it after racing on zwift in the morning I was able to do higher power than past years.
I have a physical job and work 12hour shifts both days and nights, and am 58 years old, I did a race series on Zwift last year and twice a week races were more than I could handle.
Thanks for the replies maybe I will treat it like track and get some intensity during the winter time along with some longer fat bike rides and Nordic skiing for the endurance.
Curious about people’s experiences with doing numerous zwift races during a week. I read an article about a guy who is supposedly the top ranked racer on zwift power, he is 40-years-old and races pretty much 6 days a week. He said it wasn’t a big deal because the races were all an hour or less and it was a pretty similar training load to his college swimming days or even easier.
I feel like I’d get tired doing those races day after day I wonder if your body would adapt? I also feel like I would kind of start to dread them after a while.
My favorite Zwift race is the 9.8mi Crit City race, which takes about 20min to complete.
It’s just the right amount of intensity and duration for me.
I’m 54 and have only raced a few times, way too may variables for the races to be fair. I just pick routes and ride them, though I do a few group rides.
Many high end B racers can race that much, because they are coasting / sandbagging… not pushing to their limits, and just win sprints
If you actually raced to your potential, you’d be an A, and then prob Have your ranking / # of races be a bit more reasonable
Just a guess
I have been doing 4-6 races per week and sometimes 2 races in one day. Mostly on the short side of things 35-45 min with some in the 15-25 min range. Most of the races are around my ftp or a little bellow. I am on the top of the B category so most races are not crazy difficult and I spend most of the time thinking about how the final sprint is going to be so long races get boring. I have been doing some A races and those are much harder and I need time to recover.
My ftp and vo2max are higher than it has ever been and I am 40 years old.
I also got faster outside, at least in the short stuff. I was able to do 12% more power than my best effort in the past 4 years in 10 mile the TT that my cycling club runs weekly. Even when I did it after racing on zwift in the morning I was able to do higher power than past years.
I am curious about this, I did a few races in the winter/spring, and did one again yesterday.
Another question I have for people is, how much do you warm up for races?
Yesterday I rode an hour, with 30+ minutes of zone 2 and tempo before the race, which was 25 minutes. The race was basically sweetspot with 4 x 1 minute hard (start, hill, hill, finish). I felt way better than I had in other races and the full warmup felt like the right way to do it, and even though it was pretty hard, it felt “right”. So I am going to look into racing more often, but doing shorter races with more endurance warmup, rather than looking for 40k races to fill my hour.
I think what he’s saying is if you can handle racing in the A’s, then you should be an A. i’m mid pack A at best, and it’s pretty thin there. I feel like most A races are fast A’s and A+, but not much in the middle, because those folks find a way to stay in the B’s. There is almost never a 2nd chase pack, unless the race is 50-100 deep , and there aren’t too many races that size on a daily basis. maybe that will get better with northern hemi winter coming up. i think modifying the categories could be interesting, so some races would be A+ only vs A if #s were large, and if numbers were small they could be combined cats like A/B. that would force some B’s to race with A’s, then they may realize that is where they belong.
Pretty bad guess unless you are talking about someone else. Because if you are talking about me, you clearly didn’t read what I wrote .
It doesnt sound like you read it either!
I have been doing some A races and those are much harder and I need time to recover.
We all could race a category or two lower than we are capable of and race multiple times a day, but is it fair on the people who are genuinely trying their hardest?
Yeah, because everybody is racing down a category and never up a category right? That one time that I got my 95% at 4.01 wkg should make me an A rider forever, and I should not count the others that put me at 3.91 average.
Doing some 10-20 min flat A races is pretty different than doing 35-50 min races. At longer A races my power is lower because I blow up, get dropped, and ride at my own pace, that happens even at the 16 k crit races.
I wrote that I’m already at my best power numbers ever and racing close to ftp most times, but I guess I’m not going hard enough and not living up to my potential and sandbagging
(Snip)-Another question I have for people is, how much do you warm up for races?
I built a custom warm-up, really just using Zwift’s own ramp-up, most of the time followed by 15-20s jumps at high watts. If I don’t warm up for a good 25-30 minutes then I know I’m in trouble at the start since I struggle for the first 5-10 minutes or so most races because of the high pace.
I am right at four watts per kilogram which puts me at the dividing line between a and b. I don’t have a spectacular top end however and seldom make the split. After things sort out I end up often in a mixed group of b and c and the pace frequently gets a bit languid then maybe I do some attacking if I’m feeling spritely. It’s not a great format for me personally but it does seem to hit me where I’m weakest. it’s not something I’m really taking seriously but I was curious about it from a training standpoint. I did a fair bit of racing over the winter and from a numbers perspective I was certainly in better shape. what summer rolled around and there was no racing I just kind of screwed around and did lots of random junk miles
Another question I have for people is, how much do you warm up for races?
This is the warm up I use for Zwift. It’s adapted from the Team Sky/Ineos warm up protocol.
I agree. 20 min warm up 20-25 min race, 20 min Cool down… yeah that never happens. I end up on the trainer about 2 min before the race starts, then go so hard I have to lay on the ground next to my bike and cry at the end.
