Tonight's Zwift Group Workout: Get Off That Couch!

Train with Steve Clark – winner of the 2017 Triathlon X

TRI247 Workout Series #122 – ‘Get Off That Couch!‘

Wednesday, 27th May 2020 – 7.00pm UK time on Zwift

(ZWIFT LINK >>> https://www.zwift.com/events/view/817200)

Ok, so triathlon racing might be over for quite a while – but that doesn’t have to stop all of your training, particularly cycling from the comfort of your own home / pain cave! Thanks to Zwift, you can self-isolate, train hard (or, as hard as you want), and get your fix of social interaction all in one, thanks to the TRI247 Workout Series!

We’ve got another (!) brand new addition to the TRI47 Workout Series this week. This week we welcome back to the role of guest coach and ride leader, Steve Clark from Off The Couch Fitness (www.offthatcouchfitness.co.uk).

If you are new to Zwift and are not sure how it all works, it’s well worth checking out these recent articles we’ve published to find out more:

The Session: Get Off That Couch!

After an 8-minute easy warm/up, it’s straight into 5x 3-minute FTP efforts, with a short recovery between each effort.

After a short recovery spin, next up is 6x 1-minute efforts above FTP, before a final set which will feature 7x 30-second short and sharp, full-gas sprints.

The weather is pretty good outside at the moment – so you can expect to be sweating during this one… don’t forget your drink!

This week’s ride leader: Steve Clark

Steve Clark is a highly experienced and talented Age-Group triathlete, and a frequent rider leader of TRI247 Group Workouts.

He has a Sub-9 hour IRONMAN on his C.V. and in 2015 won an Age-Group Gold at the ETU Middle Distance Triathlon Championships in Rimini, Italy. He is also a triathlon coach through his business, Off That Couch Fitness (www.offthatcouchfitness.co.uk).

In 2017 Steve race (and won) Triathlon X, which may well be the toughest iron-distance event in the world, featuring almost 17,000 feet of climbing. Steve’s winning time of almost 14 and a half hours will give you a good indication of just how challenging an event it is. You can read about his experience HERE.

Join us at 7p.m. on Wednesday 27th May 2020 (UK time) on the virtual roads of New York. Set your reminder now on the link below or via the Zwift Companion app.

[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/817200]

Joining Instructions:

The workout will begin promptly at 7.00pm UK time, Wednesday 27th May 2020. 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’.

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.