Wednesday’s Zwift Group Workout: Train with Adam Bowden

TRI247 Workout Series #170 – The Surge

Wednesday, 28th April 2021 – 7.05pm UK time on Zwift

(ZWIFT LINK >>> https://www.zwift.com/events/view/2035948)

Join us this week on Zwift for the latest edition of the Tri247 Workout Series. Free to join and open to ALL abilities, enjoy an hour of structured training with the added motivation of a virtual group training environment.

We’ve got another brand new addition to the TRI247 Workout archive this week – as for the first time we welcome Adam Bowden as your guest ride leader and coach.

If you are new to Zwift and are not sure how it all works, it’s well worth checking out our articles archive to find out more:

• Getting started with Zwift Cycling
• Five ways to train on Zwift
• Using Zwift for iron-distance training: what do Pro athletes do?
• Zwift RUN: It’s not just cycling…!
• My Zwift Experience: Laura Siddall
• Kick-Start your Cycling year with Zwift
• New from Zwift: ‘Hide Display’

The Surge session

We have another session this week compiled by Rhys Jones (www.JinxSport.com), who along with Marc Jenkins, is part of Adam’s new coaching setup for 2021.

The structure of this workout is built around responding to surges within a race and then returning to race pace after that spike in effort. Not all events and courses allow a consistent effort, so best to prepare for those situations in training.

The main set comprises of 3 reps of:

• 7:00 at 85% FTP (approx. 70.3 race pace), straight into
• 3:00 at 105% FTP (‘The Surge’ – go with the pace/chase the break), straight into
• 2:00 at 90% FTP (‘maintain strong pace’ after the surge)
• 3:00 recovery.

Tonight’s Ride Leader – Adam Bowden

Adam competed in the World Junior Cross-Country Championships and 3000m steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games, before successfully switching sports to become one of the world’s best triathletes. After becoming one of Great Britain’s most consistent athletes on the World Triathlon Series and winning National Elite titles in triathlon and duathlon, Adam turned his attention to longer distance racing.

A winner at Challenge Roma and IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai, Adam was also a very close second at the IRONMAN 70.3 European Championship and set the fastest 70.3 time to date for a British athlete, at the IRONMAN 70.3 Middle East Championship in 2018.

Adam will be leading the session this week from the comfort of his Wattbike Atom, so join him – along with athletes from around the globe – for an hour of quality training and banter. This session will be part of Adam’s preparations for his full distance IRONMAN debute next month at the North American Championship, Tulsa.

The session is suitable for ALL abilities, as every athlete will work to their individual power targets, all while working within the group workout environment on Zwift.

Free (Virtual) Kit!

Every rider who completes a TRI247 ride (including our weekly Manic Monday Time Trial), will now unlock the bespoke TRI247 kit to their Zwift garage, to wear online whenever they choose!

[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 in the same way.]

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://www.zwift.com/events/view/2035948]

Joining Instructions:

The workout will begin promptly at 7.05pm UK time, Wednesday 28th April 2021. It is worth logging in 5 or 10 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’.

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.