bblair

It is so tempting to go all out every time I ride Zwift, but it is exhausting mentally. And with so much being written lately about doing 80% of our riding (or running or whatever) at a slow pace, I am shooting for that this winter.

My plan is to ride no more than 3 days per week, but 2 of them easy, just riding around. Then maybe once race, TT or fast ride. That is if I can find a race at my level. Getting dropped on the lead-in is no fun.

BTinNYC 

I use the pace partners to slow down my Zwift rides on Endurance Pace days, and still it's hard to stay at an easy pace.

Interesting that riding at a slower pace in the virtual is harder than in the real.

dmanthree

Be sore to include some weights in the winter program. Never hurts to tone the rest of the body.

unterhausen

I think it's probably best to set aside one day a week and do HIIT. I'm not sure 3 days a week of riding is really enough, but maybe just a half hour before doing some weightlifting.
The thing that seems to be bad is doing intermediate level training because it actually tears you down. Doing 3 days a week of HIIT would probably be worse though.
If you get dropped on the lead in to your race, go do one of the zwift workouts

PeteHski

This 80% slow thing has to be taken in context. For example it works well for pros who may ride 20+ hours per week. But it would be pretty ineffective for a weekend warrier riding 5 hours per week. Neal Henderson wrote an article suggesting that you need to be training at least 15 hours per week to make it effective. Otherwise you are better off riding harder for your limited time.

force10

I've been planning on trying the new pace partners now that the days are getting shorter and cooler.

But I also wonder if Zwift has some sort of offseason/winter maintenance training program?

La Tortue

Be warned, "just riding around" is not what they mean. They mean Zone two which requires first you have an accurate FTP to be able to lock in Zone 2. Zone two is not leisurely its more like a brisk pace. Zwift is great in that if you hit the G key it will tell you what zone you are currently in. Assuming of course your FTP is accurate.

Noonievut

My winter plan is same as last year’s, watch the weather and road conditions like a hawk and ride outside as much as possible. Use Zwift when I can’t ride outside, hopefully only 20-30 times all winter, using the app on my iPhone to do a workout so I don’t have to look at the screen, while watching a movie or cyclocross race or something on a larger screen.

bblair

Yea, I do some of that too. Not super intense, but pretty regularly.

Sure, outside is better than virtual, but while a 4 hour IRL ride is fun, a one hour Zwift ride is mentally exhausting. It's just hard to not go full gas all the time.

spelger

how this for a challenge...do the Four Horsemen. I did that last year or the year before. it was a b@ll buster.

i'm tempted to do it again but not planning on zwift this year. probably rouvy again or fulgaz.

dmanthree

I "reviewed" the Rouvy vs FulGaz last spring and chose Rouvy. Both worked fine, I just liked the displays on Rouvy better. Nice to have options.

dmanthree

I'm indoors only now, and agree; it takes a lot more discipline to ride for hours indoors. And there's no coasting. Well, not like the road, anyway. But you adjust. I remember reading about how Lon Haldeman, the ultra-marathon cyclist used to train in his basement on rollers in the dark for hours at a time to build his mental discipline! That's a bit extreme, but, well, it takes a bit to master indoor riding.

spelger

that's the reason why i went with rouvy too. also that they uploaded rides to strava automatically. i coule only get fulgaz to send me an email which became cumbersome.

bblair

Fall is a beautiful time to ride here. Tomorrow I have about a 4 hour ride planned through the hills. Easy on the flats, crank it on the climbs. Time flies by.

But an hour in the basement, even with Zwift, is a killer. Sometimes the dog barks to make it more realistic or someone comes to the door with a delivery.

We are working on a solution, the Mrs. and I: go south for the winter!

dmanthree

I find ways to help the time pass. Sometimes I'll use the phone to run Zwift and watch a movie on the computer. Most times I'll just listen to some music. You get used to it. Zwift has, as you likely know, a ton of incentives in most rides to hold your attention. Like sprints.

bblair

I listen to music also, with Bose Sport ear buds. Big TV's are getting cheap, so I might use Zwift as an excuse to buy one for my basement.

I know that I am not going to make big fitness gains riding indoor, but I want to be close enough so that early spring rides are not a death march.

dmanthree

Anything you do in the winter will help in the spring. But based on my experience, road riding will always require an "adjustment."

bblair

34 º here today with a light rain. So I am going to dust off my train, boot up my laptop and give Z a go. I think there is an update, but not planning an organized event today, just reacquainting myself with Watopia. Or maybe the new island roads.


Last week the temp was in the 70's. This week 20's and 30's.

bblair

So complicated!

I hadn't used my laptop in months...mainly for Zwift now that I am retired, so it had to download and install a Windows update and reboot several times.
Then Zwift had to update and install. Connection problems and slow to load but finally in!

But by then I was 45 min into my "warm up" and had enough. Try again another day.

PeteHski

This reminds me why I much prefer Macs! If you do get that big TV I would also get an Apple TV box to run Zwift on it. They are cheap as chips and there is a native Zwift App for it.

bblair

That is my plan.

My laptop is very old, but thanks anyway for the "I prefer Macs!" Never heard that before.

bblair

Got my new setup running yesterday.

First, thanks to the Apple TV suggestion. About 1/10 what a new laptop would have cost. And very quick to connect. Got a 58" TV and Klipsch soundbar & subwoofer from Costco on Black Friday. With a wall mount, the whole thing cost about $700 and I can now also watch games on a big TV without competing with the Mrs. who really, really wants to watch The Bachelor.

Only negative was when my wife came downstairs to check it out and asked, "why is everyone passing you?"

I need to do some wire management, but was eager to get going.

Bald Paul

Internet connection lag.
That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

chaadster

Winter is always “sweet spot” time for me, with most rides at L3/Tempo power. I usually do three rides a week of those (2 at 40-45, 1 at 65minutes) and one endurance-focused ride of an hour or so. The endurance ride gets replaced with an outdoor ride when I’m feeling up for it (or my club mates shame me into suffering the cold!).

Also, I do one 40 minute and the 60 minute sweet spot rides on consecutive days, with one day off before the weekly 3rd sweet spot. I think going back-to-back helps tax the system in the absence of long hours.

When I go into winter strong, this routine keeps me from losing to much, but as dmanthree said upthread, there’s always an adjustment come Springtime. 10 years ago, before everyone and their mamma was on Zwift, it was a real jump start on the season, but now, it’s barely keeping me from getting dropped on the spring opener!

dmanthree

FWIW, I've run Zwift on a high-end Macbook and a budget Asus Windows laptop. Yes, the Mac runs better, but, well, based on the price difference it should. But I got by fine on the Asus. I like Macs, b ut use what you like!