Hello Sarah - I came across your web-site from Zwift Insider as I started this years academy. Your videos provide a fabulous level of really useful information and they have helped me get through the academy workouts where previous I might have failed. Your 101 workout video is particularly good as it clarified the real benefits of structured training. Thank you and best wishes . Your great. Ian
Thanks for your series. In hindsight I wish I had done the Pro contract workouts. 3 levels is a great idea! The amount of work in these workouts just wasn't enough and certainly #5 had me ranting too! I'm a long time Zwift subscriber but still find myself looking to TrainerRoad for workouts.
I use a Saris M2 which has done pretty good with the short intervals. I do generally up the effort a second or two before to make sure my cadence doesn't drop off when the harder effort starts. I've got the first three workouts done now. Did Volcano yesterday and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the next three. Great video as always. Keep up the great work!
Awesome feedback on the M2! Interestingly, I think some of the wheel-on trainers fair a bit better than direct drive on some of those short jumps because of the flywheel size, it makes them a little more agile in that regard.
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic I have a Saris M2 - and as you say it is slower to respond to the drop in watts. Therefore you clue of dropping off 2 seconds early works great. In Workout #5 I also change from the big ring to the small ring at the end of the high watt sections to ease the transition. Overall, you described the problem I found on the M2 in Workout #5 so I will be cautious for #6. Great videos - you are a great coach on this and it helps me understand what I am doing. Mostly (as a newer rider), I need to get use to the pain levels which are new to me. Learning to ignore them because they are new to me has allowed me to easily tackle ZA Road 2022.
Thanks for the advice you have given in these series of videos. The pacing of free ride sections in the two pro contender workouts helped out. May have underpaced the 12min one thou. Was just doing those two for personal benchmarks. Have done speeding up right before an arch on very short intervals and it does work, timing is critical when to apply power at end of easy block. Hoping my wahoo kicker 2018 can do the 2-3min of series short intervals. Maybe the type of workouts in ZA is tailored to what the pro teams are looking for with just enough twist for the general zwift users to get the mass numbers doing the workouts each year. From a cat person they will take over the house and your life when they want something. Then other times give you their affection back in their cat logic.
Even racing in Cat C on zwift it seems like you need the anaerobic power on every start of a race, just to stay with the front pack. My problem is that the motivation to push hard is easier to get in a race, than in a workout :-)
thank you for this video. Extremely helpful. Do you think it is OK to change gears up and down to help compensate for the short intervals in order to match the required power. Thank you in advance. Larry
Oh darn! I was looking forward to watching your head almost explode again. 😂As for any body complaining about kidding the cat, I swear I heard him say “F&xk dem Mutha F$&kahs. You my Girl!” Well, if the cat didn’t say it, I certainly did! You keep on being you baby gurl! I love your channel and content, your intelligence you r grit and ESPECIALLY your sense of humor. ❤ So one quick question: how are you doing these workouts when I cannot did them on the app? Are you Illuminati or something😮
How do you feel about the effectiveness of these workout? Are there enough of them to make a difference? Should this program be longer or is it specifically designed to cull out a pro level rider/riders and is it just to get participation amongst the masses?
For almost a week now i can only do long workouts 2 &5 the rest just doesnt show in the workout library. Saw more people with this problem on the forums but it still isnt fixed. Zwift mann…
That's a bullet point for my debrief video, for sure! VERY disappointing. 2 weeks on... I never expected it to take this long! Especially since these workouts need not be done in order. People should be able to select them ad hoc in a way that fits their schedule.
I agree I didn't want to make another video that came off too negative, but this is the second time there was a major on-screen error when it comes to interval timing, my disagreements with some of the more science commentary notwithstanding. I will be bringing that up in my debrief. I've found the workout construction with prompts and descriptions to be very lazy/sloppy. Kind of inexcusable since they have a whole year to prepare.
At least one day I would think, maybe two depending on your history. It takes a bit longer for that high end snap to come back for the sprint and short climb 🙂
That question is more complicated than it should be.... are you on an Apple device? If so, there is a bug they have been trying to root cause that is preventing some or all of the long workouts for ZA Road from showing up... it's not a good answer, but probably why they aren't showing up. But, double check that there is not a expandable subfolder, they actually blend in and you don't notice them right away. They have a little arrow to the left and if you click they expand.
Many do. This one will likely be much easier to finish for a lot of people. Adding a little to the bias might edge up the response, but sustained efforts can definitely be harder!
Depends on race goal. Maybe time to swap training load including longer interval workout for muscular endurance at high load, even though it's not being used much in your race. But it will give more fatigue resistance when muscle is more developed
Great Video. The temper tantrums are you just keeping it real and expressing your thoughts and feelings. I love how you give us your honest opinion. Your Videos and content are so informative. Please keep them going. Im new to zwifting abd I've been doing a lot of climbs to get the Tron bike. Questions? Should I just ride or do the workouts?
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic Yep. I'm surprised how much crap Teddy takes off of you. You should be honouring him like an Egyptian God. 🐈 🤴 Be warned, his kindness is not boundless and you may one day suffer his wrath!
@@JibbaJabber this spoiled ass cat... Let me tell you 🤣 man has his own fancy blanket that must be maintained in an upside down orientation for him to knead "biscuits" on at his wim. Treats are to be provided promptly on command. There will be no "pedestrian" cat food in this house. If Teddy puts his toy on my face at 3AM it means fetch is to be played immediately... He's not so innocent this guy 🤣🤣 And he knows he has me wrapped around his little paw 😆
Lol, love how you apologized to Teddy. He seems to have forgiven you no problem. =D. I do indeed very much love your tantrums. A good rant is so dang cathartic to watch. I so love your videos. I hope you continue making them as frequently as your busy life allows. Re: not using erg. I just switched from a Kurt kinetic dumb trainer (which, I have to say, has been such a fabulous workhorse! We've used that thing for at least a decade or more, and it just keeps on trucking!) to a kinetic wheel on entry level smart trainer. First ride on it was yesterday and it went pretty well! I thought I wouldn't be able to do the epic climb/radio tower anymore, but it seemed to adjust to make the climb difficult, but achievable for such a back of the pack rider as myself. Not sure if it was meant to do that, but anyway, it did. I'll have to try the alpe at some point and see what happens. ANYWAY!!!! Tomorrow will be the first time doing a workout on the smart trainer. You mentioning erg mode: I don't see anything on the screen to turn that off. I think there's meant to be something? but there's not? Soooo...I'm wondering what I'm missing. Maybe it's just on the companion app? Tomorrow will be an education for sure. =D Secondly, I noticed that my watts are significantly lower using the smart trainer. I don't know if my powermeter was overestimating my watts before? Or if the trainer is underestimating them? I understand there's a power loss between the crank (where the powermeter measures) and the wheel (where the smart trainer measures the power), but surely it's not 20-25 watts of power loss? I know it's not ideal, to say the least, to change equipment during the academy, but I'm not a top of the line rider by any means, so it really doesn't matter too much. At some point I'd like to get a wheel off smart trainer because I can't express to you how freaking sick I am of changing flats. Apologies for blowing up your comment section with such a huge amount of words.
I'd like to stop by and thank you for spending the time to provide us with this much information, it's VERY valuable for us. Thank You ! I'd would also like to ask your opinion on what's next. Now there's a TON of workouts and workout plans available on Zwift. It really feels like they are just making small twists and variants to classic workout types. Is there a better workout plan available right now on zwift ? Should I build my own custom workout plan picking available workouts ? How should we go about this ? Considering your knowledge, this would be a great follow-up to this series :)
@4:50 'Not everybody has the same size squirt gun' Tell me about it. One minute's worth then I'm done. But at least it's trainable. Can't wait to show the gainz next spring to my friends and blow them off on the local hill climbs.
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic I posted on several of your community posts throughout the year, but without any replies from you or anyone else. Kinda feels like wasted time writing posts that go totally unnoticed, but whatever; I'll keep my thoughts to myself from now on.
@@LinkinVerbz44 I haven't seen anything, I'll have to do a search when I get back to my computer to see if they are sitting in there. My notifications haven't come through consistently for community posts for some reason so I know I miss some comments if I don't go hunting, but I still think the YT comment traps are hurting some of my commenters. They seem to punish longer comments. I see my longer comments on other channels disappear all the time. The algorithm should know someone with multiple replies and multiple hearts on a channel should be left the hell alone! I enjoy your contributions... At least when I can see them!
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic Most if not all of my comments were less than a few sentences long, so I don't think that has anything to do with them not appearing. A few of them were pretty dumb in all honesty, but there were a few heartfelt ones in there. I appreciate your saying that you enjoy my contributions. We haven't always gotten along (I don't know if you remember this, but we got into an argument over something--I don't remember what--about a year ago), but it's nice to see we've moved past that. I apologized to you about it in your New Year's community post . . . which also went unnoticed lol. Anyway, that's enough of my rambling. It's good to see you back after that four-month hiatus.
@@MrLeovdmeer My view of things is that you watched one or two videos and made a hasty generalization that is altogether inaccurate. How does making fair and substantiated critiques make someone "anti-Zwift?" Let's put this into perspective, though. I have been using Zwift since 2015. Paid EVERY month without interruption since fall of 2016 despite not using it during summer months. I am beyond level 50, completed every badge and most major events. I have some of the most viewed Zwift content on UA-cam, showing people how to use the platform and ENCOURAGING people to get on Zwift and showing them how to use it to their best advantage. To the tune of MILLIONS of views, to be specific. This entire series of videos is sharing breakdowns of the workouts from the perspective of *training science* I'm not here to blow smoke, I am here to give people actionable advice that will help them get the most of their time in endurance sport. If it causes hurt feelings by a multi-million dollar company, I would be VERY surprised. As a long-time user of the platform, I am very much invested and enthusiastic in the success of Zwift. As such, I WILL have criticisms and recommendations for the company to continue to improve and serve it's community better. I have spoken directly to employees at Zwift on multiple occasions, and have had them comment on several videos THANKING me for thoughtful feedback. If that makes me "anti-Zwift" in your view, so be it. But understand that your opinion is factually inaccurate and not shared by anyone who looks at the trajectory of this channel objectively. You have every right to your opinion, but maybe this channel is not right for you. Enjoy your day.
Hello Sarah - I came across your web-site from Zwift Insider as I started this years academy. Your videos provide a fabulous level of really useful information and they have helped me get through the academy workouts where previous I might have failed. Your 101 workout video is particularly good as it clarified the real benefits of structured training.
Thank you and best wishes . Your great. Ian
Teddy has forgiven you. His kindness is boundless.
He really should be considered for sainthood.
A solid workout. Have enjoyed having you back with this series.
Thanks for your series. In hindsight I wish I had done the Pro contract workouts. 3 levels is a great idea! The amount of work in these workouts just wasn't enough and certainly #5 had me ranting too! I'm a long time Zwift subscriber but still find myself looking to TrainerRoad for workouts.
This workout #6 wss a good one . For me I couldnt set ERG on. I had to compensate and adjust with manual gear changing. Good experience though.
I use a Saris M2 which has done pretty good with the short intervals. I do generally up the effort a second or two before to make sure my cadence doesn't drop off when the harder effort starts.
I've got the first three workouts done now. Did Volcano yesterday and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the next three.
Great video as always. Keep up the great work!
Awesome feedback on the M2! Interestingly, I think some of the wheel-on trainers fair a bit better than direct drive on some of those short jumps because of the flywheel size, it makes them a little more agile in that regard.
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic I have a Saris M2 - and as you say it is slower to respond to the drop in watts. Therefore you clue of dropping off 2 seconds early works great. In Workout #5 I also change from the big ring to the small ring at the end of the high watt sections to ease the transition. Overall, you described the problem I found on the M2 in Workout #5 so I will be cautious for #6. Great videos - you are a great coach on this and it helps me understand what I am doing. Mostly (as a newer rider), I need to get use to the pain levels which are new to me. Learning to ignore them because they are new to me has allowed me to easily tackle ZA Road 2022.
Thanks for the advice you have given in these series of videos. The pacing of free ride sections in the two pro contender workouts helped out. May have underpaced the 12min one thou. Was just doing those two for personal benchmarks. Have done speeding up right before an arch on very short intervals and it does work, timing is critical when to apply power at end of easy block. Hoping my wahoo kicker 2018 can do the 2-3min of series short intervals. Maybe the type of workouts in ZA is tailored to what the pro teams are looking for with just enough twist for the general zwift users to get the mass numbers doing the workouts each year. From a cat person they will take over the house and your life when they want something. Then other times give you their affection back in their cat logic.
Thanks!
Even racing in Cat C on zwift it seems like you need the anaerobic power on every start of a race, just to stay with the front pack. My problem is that the motivation to push hard is easier to get in a race, than in a workout :-)
thank you for this video. Extremely helpful. Do you think it is OK to change gears up and down to help compensate for the short intervals in order to match the required power. Thank you in advance. Larry
looking forward to that one like a bowl of cold sick🤮
Another consise synopsis Sarah👍
🤣 it's a fun one!!
love your analogies! tnx!
Hope they are helpful! 🙂
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic They are! I am a newbie to cycling physiology but am excited to learn. Thanks so much!! 🙏🏽🚲
Great content as always! 😊
Oh darn! I was looking forward to watching your head almost explode again. 😂As for any body complaining about kidding the cat, I swear I heard him say “F&xk dem Mutha F$&kahs. You my Girl!” Well, if the cat didn’t say it, I certainly did! You keep on being you baby gurl! I love your channel and content, your intelligence you r grit and ESPECIALLY your sense of humor. ❤
So one quick question: how are you doing these workouts when I cannot did them on the app? Are you Illuminati or something😮
H3 ? Yeah, good choice. I had one, I changed for a Direto XR, only because I "could". I was fully satisfied with my H3.
How do you feel about the effectiveness of these workout? Are there enough of them to make a difference? Should this program be longer or is it specifically designed to cull out a pro level rider/riders and is it just to get participation amongst the masses?
For almost a week now i can only do long workouts 2 &5 the rest just doesnt show in the workout library. Saw more people with this problem on the forums but it still isnt fixed. Zwift mann…
That's a bullet point for my debrief video, for sure! VERY disappointing. 2 weeks on... I never expected it to take this long! Especially since these workouts need not be done in order. People should be able to select them ad hoc in a way that fits their schedule.
Love your videos! And thanks to you, I've found an excuse to drink mapple syrup 👍
🤣 good an excuse as any!!
Having on-screen text tell you 30/15s are 30/30s is sloppy. This is one of their big events.
I agree I didn't want to make another video that came off too negative, but this is the second time there was a major on-screen error when it comes to interval timing, my disagreements with some of the more science commentary notwithstanding. I will be bringing that up in my debrief. I've found the workout construction with prompts and descriptions to be very lazy/sloppy. Kind of inexcusable since they have a whole year to prepare.
Missing your videos. Did Teddy put you on timeout?
How much rest would you recommend between workout 6 and the finish ride?
At least one day I would think, maybe two depending on your history. It takes a bit longer for that high end snap to come back for the sprint and short climb 🙂
How are you able to access these longer ZA workouts in the workout page? I only see the shorter ones.
That question is more complicated than it should be.... are you on an Apple device? If so, there is a bug they have been trying to root cause that is preventing some or all of the long workouts for ZA Road from showing up... it's not a good answer, but probably why they aren't showing up. But, double check that there is not a expandable subfolder, they actually blend in and you don't notice them right away. They have a little arrow to the left and if you click they expand.
Thanks. I am using an IPad. I wanted to do the longer 4 workout but only 2,3,5 and 6 show up under the longer rides. Great content by the way!
@@thomaspeterman3073 Rumor is that there will be an update next week that will put the longer workouts on iOS devices.
That longer session…to me the initial 30sec efforts aren’t really hard enough to create a decent load and the Vo2 blocks really should be 3min to 4min
Is the final baseline ride the same as the initial or will there be another ride that comes available and called final baseline ride?
It's called finish line and should show up Monday. If you scroll a couple days out in companion, you'll see it 🙂 it's a good question though!
Little known fact , Sarah also wears watches on both ankles :) . Great video as always , always look forward to your insights and helpful tips!
🤣 listen Ray Maker routinely wears 4 watches at a time!
Synchronize Swatches!
I knew Teddy didn't care. Teddy knows that his kind is worshipped as gods. If he thought you were serious, he would have just smitted you.
He really does know that! Off camera he is showered with praises and can do no wrong 😆
I've always struggled more with long intervals (>8 mins) at or slightly above ftp than these vo2max short intervals.
Many do. This one will likely be much easier to finish for a lot of people. Adding a little to the bias might edge up the response, but sustained efforts can definitely be harder!
Depends on race goal. Maybe time to swap training load including longer interval workout for muscular endurance at high load, even though it's not being used much in your race. But it will give more fatigue resistance when muscle is more developed
Great Video. The temper tantrums are you just keeping it real and expressing your thoughts and feelings. I love how you give us your honest opinion. Your Videos and content are so informative. Please keep them going. Im new to zwifting abd I've been doing a lot of climbs to get the Tron bike. Questions? Should I just ride or do the workouts?
Duly completed and Yep😵...had to go deep one that one Sarah, another set might have done me in girl🥵
It's a good one for sure! They ended the workouts on a high (albeit sadistic) note!
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic If you race it's the zone that matters if you want to be there at the end💪
Full apology, I should think so. Surprised he does'nt need counselling🤪
Now on with the video🤠
He demanded cuddles all night. I think I have been forgiven 😆
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic Yep. I'm surprised how much crap Teddy takes off of you. You should be honouring him like an Egyptian God. 🐈 🤴
Be warned, his kindness is not boundless and you may one day suffer his wrath!
@@JibbaJabber this spoiled ass cat... Let me tell you 🤣 man has his own fancy blanket that must be maintained in an upside down orientation for him to knead "biscuits" on at his wim. Treats are to be provided promptly on command. There will be no "pedestrian" cat food in this house. If Teddy puts his toy on my face at 3AM it means fetch is to be played immediately... He's not so innocent this guy 🤣🤣 And he knows he has me wrapped around his little paw 😆
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic A well trained human just like me😂
Lol, love how you apologized to Teddy. He seems to have forgiven you no problem. =D.
I do indeed very much love your tantrums. A good rant is so dang cathartic to watch.
I so love your videos. I hope you continue making them as frequently as your busy life allows.
Re: not using erg. I just switched from a Kurt kinetic dumb trainer (which, I have to say, has been such a fabulous workhorse! We've used that thing for at least a decade or more, and it just keeps on trucking!) to a kinetic wheel on entry level smart trainer. First ride on it was yesterday and it went pretty well! I thought I wouldn't be able to do the epic climb/radio tower anymore, but it seemed to adjust to make the climb difficult, but achievable for such a back of the pack rider as myself. Not sure if it was meant to do that, but anyway, it did. I'll have to try the alpe at some point and see what happens.
ANYWAY!!!! Tomorrow will be the first time doing a workout on the smart trainer. You mentioning erg mode: I don't see anything on the screen to turn that off. I think there's meant to be something? but there's not? Soooo...I'm wondering what I'm missing. Maybe it's just on the companion app? Tomorrow will be an education for sure. =D
Secondly, I noticed that my watts are significantly lower using the smart trainer. I don't know if my powermeter was overestimating my watts before? Or if the trainer is underestimating them? I understand there's a power loss between the crank (where the powermeter measures) and the wheel (where the smart trainer measures the power), but surely it's not 20-25 watts of power loss?
I know it's not ideal, to say the least, to change equipment during the academy, but I'm not a top of the line rider by any means, so it really doesn't matter too much.
At some point I'd like to get a wheel off smart trainer because I can't express to you how freaking sick I am of changing flats.
Apologies for blowing up your comment section with such a huge amount of words.
I'd like to stop by and thank you for spending the time to provide us with this much information, it's VERY valuable for us. Thank You !
I'd would also like to ask your opinion on what's next. Now there's a TON of workouts and workout plans available on Zwift. It really feels like they are just making small twists and variants to classic workout types. Is there a better workout plan available right now on zwift ? Should I build my own custom workout plan picking available workouts ? How should we go about this ? Considering your knowledge, this would be a great follow-up to this series :)
@4:50 'Not everybody has the same size squirt gun'
Tell me about it. One minute's worth then I'm done. But at least it's trainable.
Can't wait to show the gainz next spring to my friends and blow them off on the local hill climbs.
That's the spirit! 💪
15 minute recovery in ERG mode? 😁👍
Nap time! 🤣
Did you block me?
Nope I see you 🙂 I haven't seen anything from you though. I assume your comments are disappearing? 😡
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic I posted on several of your community posts throughout the year, but without any replies from you or anyone else. Kinda feels like wasted time writing posts that go totally unnoticed, but whatever; I'll keep my thoughts to myself from now on.
@@LinkinVerbz44 I haven't seen anything, I'll have to do a search when I get back to my computer to see if they are sitting in there. My notifications haven't come through consistently for community posts for some reason so I know I miss some comments if I don't go hunting, but I still think the YT comment traps are hurting some of my commenters. They seem to punish longer comments. I see my longer comments on other channels disappear all the time.
The algorithm should know someone with multiple replies and multiple hearts on a channel should be left the hell alone! I enjoy your contributions... At least when I can see them!
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic Most if not all of my comments were less than a few sentences long, so I don't think that has anything to do with them not appearing. A few of them were pretty dumb in all honesty, but there were a few heartfelt ones in there.
I appreciate your saying that you enjoy my contributions. We haven't always gotten along (I don't know if you remember this, but we got into an argument over something--I don't remember what--about a year ago), but it's nice to see we've moved past that. I apologized to you about it in your New Year's community post . . . which also went unnoticed lol. Anyway, that's enough of my rambling. It's good to see you back after that four-month hiatus.
🌹 p♥r♥o♥m♥o♥s♥m
This channel looks like an anti Zwift channel.
You're joking right?
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic Seems like you always have something negative to say on your channel when it come to Zwift. Just my view of things.
Was it inaccurate?
@@MrLeovdmeer My view of things is that you watched one or two videos and made a hasty generalization that is altogether inaccurate. How does making fair and substantiated critiques make someone "anti-Zwift?"
Let's put this into perspective, though. I have been using Zwift since 2015. Paid EVERY month without interruption since fall of 2016 despite not using it during summer months. I am beyond level 50, completed every badge and most major events. I have some of the most viewed Zwift content on UA-cam, showing people how to use the platform and ENCOURAGING people to get on Zwift and showing them how to use it to their best advantage. To the tune of MILLIONS of views, to be specific.
This entire series of videos is sharing breakdowns of the workouts from the perspective of *training science* I'm not here to blow smoke, I am here to give people actionable advice that will help them get the most of their time in endurance sport. If it causes hurt feelings by a multi-million dollar company, I would be VERY surprised.
As a long-time user of the platform, I am very much invested and enthusiastic in the success of Zwift. As such, I WILL have criticisms and recommendations for the company to continue to improve and serve it's community better. I have spoken directly to employees at Zwift on multiple occasions, and have had them comment on several videos THANKING me for thoughtful feedback. If that makes me "anti-Zwift" in your view, so be it. But understand that your opinion is factually inaccurate and not shared by anyone who looks at the trajectory of this channel objectively.
You have every right to your opinion, but maybe this channel is not right for you. Enjoy your day.
@@EverythingIsPhotogenic I looked at your library. There are more then one or two vids.