After last week’s “progress” with the ZWIFT training program I’ve decided that a couple of modifications will be needed. To adjust and fine tune all software and hardware settings I choose a different, lighter training program. Also to get to know how the trainings will go and if everything hardware-wise will work correctly.
I choose to start the 6 week long beginner FTP Builder Program. Like its title says it’s 6 weeks long, with various types of training in the schedule. As I have already ridden a similarly structured program, this should be a good start for my adventure with ZWIFT. Unlike the last week’s idea…
This week consisted of four sessions – two foundation rides, a strength session and a tempo session. The foundations were a good warm-up before the tougher sessions came in, allowing to see how the system reacts an my behaviour on the bike. I did fine-tune a couple of settings in the ZWIFT app to remedy a problem I still have with the speed sensor – as it is located quite far from the laptop which receives its signal I encounter quite frequent signal does, for 3-10 seconds, which unfortunately usually means that particular intervals are not counted as successfully completed.
The technical side of ZWIFT with it’s virtual power setting is actually really intriguing. The system “estimates” the power you are putting on the pedals, based on your cadence and speed readings, when you have a supported turbo trainer. It seems to be working pretty fine, but with frequent signal losses and tire slip on the trainer roller you have to anticipate system’s behaviour – especially when approaching a short and intense interval. You may end up speeding the trainer too late for getting the correct power reading before it ends.
In my case I will be trying to use the solutions proposed on Zwift Insider website and official ZWIFT forums and install a dedicated trainer tire and add and extension cable to get the ANT+ sensor closer to the speed señor on the rear wheel. By the way I should be able to add some unnecessary extras to the setup as well.
But back to this week progress – see below how did it go and how close I were to what was planned:
As you may have seen I did after the sessions finish a few minutes additional cool down, just to stretch the legs a bit more, hence the drops at the end of the sessions. What also is noticeable is that the Strength Session (Day 2) readings do not show the peaks of hard intervals at all. There are two reasons behind this – one is that on some the speed sensor did actually drop just before or at the beginning of it and second is that TrainingPeaks from which the curves are taken smoothes the curves a bit too much. For the first thing the remedies are on the way so the signal drops should be gone soon. For the second one, the smoothening of the curves has to be kept at this level, as with it being set to lover value the jumps between the reading make the curve unreadable. You will have to believe me that they are done correctly – my legs tell me so at least.
Photo courtesy of Boris Stefanik on Unsplash
Caesar's Cycling 