Wednesday’s Zwift Group Workout: Matt Bottrill’s Pace Variation Intervals

TRI247 Workout Series #67 – Pace Variation
TRAIN WITH MATT BOTTRILL ON ZWIFT

Wednesday, 10th April 2019 7.00pm UK time on Zwift

(ZWIFT LINK >>> https://zwift.com/events/view/178179)

For this week’s TRI247 Workout Series group workout on Zwift, we welcome back Matt Bottrill (www.mattbottrillperformancecoaching.com) as coach and ride leader. Matt will be leading a brand new session for our weekly indoor training series.

Pace Variation Intervals

While maximising top end power might not be the key to success in triathlon and time trial riding, there is more to it than simply holding a constant effort for the duration of your race.

Wind direction and terrain will have a significant impact on how to ride for optimal performance, and so it is important that you train to be able to handle such changes in power in training. There are times when going above threshold is the ‘right’ thing to do – and then recovering – and that is the centre piece of this challenging set.

The main part of the session includes, two sets of the following:

Six, three-minute blocks (back-to-back), comprising of:

• 1-min at Zone 3
• 1-min at Sweetspot
• 1-min at Zone 5 / VO2 Max effort

[TIP – It is always worth having the (free) Zwift Companion app to hand on your mobile device. Within the workout screen you can toggle your FTP by +/- 10% ‘on the fly’, which will immediately change your power targets during the session. Legs feeling heavy, can’t quite hold your power targets? It happens! Rather than can the session, how about moving your targets down 5% first, before giving up completely? Alas, the body isn’t a machine and can’t always deliver as you hope/think it should, so a bit of flexibility and not getting too obsessed with the numbers can be a good thing!

On the flipside, perhaps you are having a good day or increasing the overall training stress of the session better meets your own training goals for that day? In that case, you have the option of nudging your baseline up too in the same way.]

Ride leader this week – Matt Bottrill

Matt has amassed a huge collection of National Championship titles, TT competition records and much more, making him one of the most successful British riders of all time.

In 2016 and 2017, Matt raced in several triathlons with age group successes and more recently he is gaining an impressive reputation as a successful cycle coach to several top name pros including Lucy Charles, Tim Don, Matt Hanson, Will Clarke and Susie Cheetham. He is also currently an advisor to Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Soudal), ahead of his upcoming Hour Record attempt.

Join us at 7p.m. on Wednesday 10th April 2019 (UK time) for another quality workout, where we will be riding the virtual roads of Watopia. Set your reminder now on the link below or via the Zwift Companion app.

The session is genuinely open to everyone of ALL abilities. Group workout mode works fantastically in Zwift and ensures that the power targets are tailored to YOUR level. It makes no difference if your FTP is 400 watts or 100 watts, the targets you see will be specific to you – all while being part of the on-screen group.

[To set your reminder, click here: https://zwift.com/events/view/178179]

You can find the custom workout files from all of the previous TRI247 Workout Series sessions on these links, to download and do ride again in your own time:

Custom Workout downloads from previous Zwift sessions:

• Lucy Charles ‘Over-Unders’
• Lucy Gossage ’12 Days of Christmas’
• Lionel Sanders ‘Intervals’
• Joe Skipper ‘ Burner’
• John Levison ‘High Five’
• Ruth Purbrook ‘Over Gears’
• Tim Don ‘Comeback’
• Reece Barclay ‘Mix Session’
• Harry Wiltshire ‘Grim Reaper’
• Paul Shanley ‘Pyramids’
• Karl Alexander ‘VO 2 The Max’
• Jenny Gowans ‘Norse Steps’
• Matt Bottrill ‘Lactic Builder’
• John Levison ‘Russian Steps’
• Sam Begg ‘What Goes Up, Must Come Down’
• Paul Shanley ‘70.3 Minutes’
• Karl Alexander ‘The 13:50 (10 to 2)’
• Richard Stannard ‘FTP Advancer’
• Race Force ‘ChainGang’
• Simon George ‘The Giant’
• Natarsha Tremayne ‘Stomp The Pedal’
• Chris Standidge ‘The Championship Decider’
• Lesley Levison ‘Spiked Tempo’
• Bex Rimmington ‘ Maximal Efforts’
• Coach Kevin Poulton’s ‘Progressive 11’s’
• ‘The Kitchen Sink’ – set by TRI247 Editor John Levison
• John Levison ‘A Bit of Speed too…’
• ‘Glasgow Revisited’ – John Levison
• ‘Club Relays Madness’ – John Levison
• ‘John Levison’s A Bit (More) Speed Too’
• The Dragon – John Levison
• Sweetspot with a Kick – set by TRI247 Editor John Levison
• John Levison’s ’40/20’s FTP Booster’
• Micro Burst Intervals
• Short and Sweet(spot)
• Micro Burst Intervals 2
• Sweetspot Sandwich
• The Sweet Ladder
• 50 Shades of Power!
• Lucy Gossage’s New Year Set
• Paul Lunn’s Kona Quest
• Progressive 4×4’s
• Louise Minchin’s Dare To Tri Big Gear Set
• Gill Fullen’s Lactic Legs Challenge
• Steve Clark’s Ramp It Up To The X
• Hywel Davies’ Hurtbox Time Bomb Intervals

Joining Instructions:

The workout will begin promptly at 7.00pm UK time, Wednesday 10th April 2019. It is worth logging in 10 or 15 minutes before the session to make sure you are set up and ready to go, where you will be able to warm up in the virtual ‘holding pen’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNTXAkky4qE

Look for the TRI247 Workout Series event in the list on the right of the screen once you have paired your sensors. Click to JOIN and you will be taken to the start line ready to begin the workout.

Make sure you have set your FTP level correctly before you join the workout as all the intervals are based on a percentage of FTP so it is important to get that right. If in doubt, dial the FTP number down 10 or 20 watts as it is better to finish the session than to feel like it is too challenging.

If you have never used Zwift before but don’t want to miss out, head to the Zwift support page for tips on how to get the most out of your setup.

After the session head over to the TRI247 Facebook page for some post ride chat.

Zwift Group Rides: TRI247 Workout Series

The cool thing about a group workout on Zwift is that varying levels of ability can ride together in a group and all finish the session together having done the same relative effort, even if the actual watts are significantly different. It is not a race, but a shared goal to get a good session in the training log.