Tonight’s Zwift Group Workout: Tempo with a Twist

TRI247 Workout Series #162 – ‘Tempo with a Twist’

Wednesday, 3rd March 2021 – 7.05pm UK time on Zwift

(ZWIFT LINK >>> https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1828034)

Join us tonight 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.

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:

• 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

The Tempo with a Twist Session

The core of this session is a familiar one to the training schedules of many triathletes and time trial riders – 2x 20mins.

Rather than a flat power target for each interval, the blocks are set up as four, back-to-back reps of:

• 1 min @ 105% FTP (Zone 5)
• 4min @ 88% FTP (Upper Zone 3 or Tempo/Sweetspot)

While the textbook approach to steady-state (triathlon / TT) racing will suggest that minimising variability in power and maintaining a constant effort is a goal, in practice, weather conditions, road surfaces, terrain and other factors will often mean that is not realistic. Hence, those one minute efforts above FTP here provide the ‘Twist’ to the four minutes of ‘Tempo’, as we try to train to replicate those scenarios and condition the body to deal with those enforced power spikes, and then be able to get back into that sustainable longer-distance race pace.

As always, we’ll be nicely prepared for the main set courtesy of a progressive warm up, which will also include some short ‘efforts’ to prime the legs for what is to follow.

Every rider who completes a TRI247 ride, 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/1828034]

Joining Instructions:

The workout will begin promptly at 7.05pm UK time, Wednesday 3rd March 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.