The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

[UTmaniac]

I'm starting to think tht doing my workouts in the evenings really isn't great. I felt worse today after a 1.5 hour Z2 ride than I did after a steady state session which should be far more taxing but I did the steady state in the middle of the day rather than finishing the Z2 about 21:45.

Anything but z1/2 in the evening has always risked me not sleeping well, but sometimes I would do them anyway, because I'd failed to do them earlier.

In recent ish months, I noticed that my performance in the zone 1 Zwift Insider Tiny Races (when I actually made them!) were awful compared to zone 2. I've even done a few zone 3 since the clocks went back, so they started at 2100 GMT and I could just squeeze them in before my better half's bedtime, but they've not affected my sleep much as my sleep pattern is already bad... Going to bed before nidnight is a rarity at the mo, typically 0130, has been as late as the odd 0430!

 

[AndyCr15]

I didn't find the Whoop that accurate - similar to Shadowness - just no peaks when I did short efforts. Either a limit of the optical on the extremity of the body, or some kinda smoothing they do... Or me not wanting it tight?!

I was wondering if me wearing it high on the bicep helps? As said, I wore and recorded both for a while and they were very similar.

 

[Vandle]

I always found the whoop to be pretty accurate when measured against the Garmin HRM pro during exercise. Much better than any other optical reader I’ve used. Average was usually the same as was peak, however I found big differences in instant reading, particularly on hard efforts. The biggest trouble I had with mine was using it when connected to zwift. It would record fine in the whoop app but would drop out of connection with zwift for a few seconds every few seconds so was only reading for half the time resulting in an average HR of half what it should be.

 

[fez]

Anything but z1/2 in the evening has always risked me not sleeping well, but sometimes I would do them anyway, because I'd failed to do them earlier.

In recent ish months, I noticed that my performance in the zone 1 Zwift Insider Tiny Races (when I actually made them!) were awful compared to zone 2. I've even done a few zone 3 since the clocks went back, so they started at 2100 GMT and I could just squeeze them in before my better half's bedtime, but they've not affected my sleep much as my sleep pattern is already bad... Going to bed before nidnight is a rarity at the mo, typically 0130, has been as late as the odd 0430!

I rarely feel like my sleep is markedly worse afterwards but the quality of recovery is probably not good due to eating afterwards and my legs certainly feel a lot worse than if I do it during the day. I assume because they go from doing a lot of work to doing nothing instead of being walked and generally used for another 8 or so hours after the session. I am going to try and do all my harder interval stuff in the day as I work from home.

 

[Junglist]

On my ride today my whoop had my average down 4bpm and my highest recorded down by 17bpm

Using it on the wrist and a Wahoo chest strap

 

[robj20]

Got an ANT+ USB for my laptop and my Chest HRM works fine now, you can see the Bluetooth version dropping in and out on the pair screen.

 

[grudas]

Gave wahoo systm a try, actually quite like it. Maybe even more than zwift. Less boring for sure but I don’t race on zwift so..

 

[AndyCr15]

I like Wahoo Systm, but was wondering about trying Trainer Road as I hear a lot of people singing it's praise...

In other news, I think I successfully serviced by Kickr Bike following this video -

I splashed out a little on a bigger digital torque wrench to do the 15 and 26nM bolts and was rather surprised how loose I'd left the bolts holding the legs on

 

[Junglist]

I like to have Zwift this time of year but Trainer Road is something I could use all year around both inside and out.

 

[Martynt74]

Stuck my Fizik Argo saddle on the Kickr bike which has made things much more comfortable. I tend to ride with a much more upright position indoors (often not even using the handlebars) whilst watching tv and the stock saddle was always a bit umcomfy. This has a huge contact area i wasn't a fan of on the road but offers loads of support for this kind of riding.

Always nice to find a home for something relatively expensive thats been relegated to a box!

 

[fez]

Stuck my Fizik Argo saddle on the Kickr bike which has made things much more comfortable. I tend to ride with a much more upright position indoors (often not even using the handlebars) whilst watching tv and the stock saddle was always a bit umcomfy. This has a huge contact area i wasn't a fan of on the road but offers loads of support for this kind of riding.

Always nice to find a home for something relatively expensive thats been relegated to a box!

I would do that too if my HR didn't jump by about 25bpm. My Z2 HR is between 120 and 130 and if I sit up it jumps to 145.

 

[UTmaniac]

I would do that too if my HR didn't jump by about 25bpm. My Z2 HR is between 120 and 130 and if I sit up it jumps to 145.

That z2 zone sounds very low, what is your current estimated Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (98% of your highest 20mins)?

My LTHR has been as low as ~150 in the last year, when it used to be 170-175 before October '22, it's currently ~156.

https://intervals.icu/ says for 156, my zones are...
0-126
126-143
144-148
149-155
156-160
161-164
165-189

Some sites like Strava, that give zones from simply maximum observed heart rate, give very weird zones.

 

[Syla5]

So I did a thing, just ticked over 50 weeks on zwift and to test myself out last week i went for a go up the Alp du Zwift as ive not done it in a while. Went up in 61:19 but at the end thinking boy that was hard. Realised that since getting my Zwift Ride ive been using a Flat gearing ratio, which makes it no surprise that my average cadence up the Alp was in the 60's!

So I gave it a few days, changed my gearing and got back on, hitting a 57:56:12! pretty pleased with that given ive had no prior cycling experience over and above riding a bike as a kid!

 

[fez]

That z2 zone sounds very low, what is your current estimated Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (98% of your highest 20mins)?

My LTHR has been as low as ~150 in the last year, when it used to be 170-175 before October '22, it's currently ~156.

Its going more off RPE and anything over about 135 I think I am outside of the RPE for Z2. Power wise i'm doing most Z2 workouts at 180-200w vs an FTP of about 285 so 63-70% of FTP.

When you say 98% of your highest 20 minutes, do you mean 98% of my highest average HR over 20 minutes?

So I did a thing, just ticked over 50 weeks on zwift and to test myself out last week i went for a go up the Alp du Zwift as ive not done it in a while. Went up in 61:19 but at the end thinking boy that was hard. Realised that since getting my Zwift Ride ive been using a Flat gearing ratio, which makes it no surprise that my average cadence up the Alp was in the 60's!

So I gave it a few days, changed my gearing and got back on, hitting a 57:56:12! pretty pleased with that given ive had no prior cycling experience over and above riding a bike as a kid!

Thats fantastic progress mate. Very jealous!

 

[UTmaniac]

Its going more off RPE and anything over about 135 I think I am outside of the RPE for Z2. Power wise i'm doing most Z2 workouts at 180-200w vs an FTP of about 285 so 63-70% of FTP.

When you say 98% of your highest 20 minutes, do you mean 98% of my highest average HR over 20 minutes?



Thats fantastic progress mate. Very jealous!

98% of highest average HR for 20mins.

Intervals site I posted earlier (donate-ware) will alert you if you set a new LTHR best and leave it to you to change in settings if you think new figure wasn't influenced by anything besides your cycling effort. When you sign up, you will be able to import at least the last 3 months of history from Strava, more if you donate.

 

[fez]

98% of highest average HR for 20mins.

Intervals site I posted earlier (donate-ware) will alert you if you set a new LTHR best and leave it to you to change in settings if you think new figure wasn't influenced by anything besides your cycling effort. When you sign up, you will be able to import at least the last 3 months of history from Strava, more if you donate.

Intervals has my threshold HR at 172

Z1 Recovery 0 - 80% 0 - 138
Z2 Aerobic 81% - 89% 139 - 153
Z3 Tempo 90% - 93% 154 - 160
Z4 SubThreshold 94% - 99% 161 - 171
Z5 SuperThreshold 100% - 102% 172 - 176
Z6 Aerobic Capacity 103% - 105% 177 - 181
Z7 Anaerobic 106%+ 182 - 198

Those are my HR zones based on that. Not gonna lie, if I put out the power required to sit at 139-153 BPM while positioned on the bars I would likely be at 210w or so and my Z2 rides would rinse me.

 

[Junglist]

I love being a parent but man I'm sure Nursery is trying it's hardest to take me out of existence.

Whenever I get into my training.. blam... a chesty cold.

Was looking forward to a interval session this evening but think I'll try and make my way through a Z2 ride to at least do something

 

[fez]

I love being a parent but man I'm sure Nursery is trying it's hardest to take me out of existence.

Whenever I get into my training.. blam... a chesty cold.

Was looking forward to a interval session this evening but think I'll try and make my way through a Z2 ride to at least do something

Yep, same here. Little blighters just know. "Daddy is doing quite well at his training at the moment. Imma about to ruin this mans whole career.."

For now I have kind of resigned myself to treading water. Work is busy. Life is busy. Weather is **** and I have been relatively frequently ill throughout the winter.

 

[Junglist]

Im Just doing a z2 ride now and I can tell him not even 50% because my heart rate is in the 150s

But im determined to do the hour. Missing a session is a slippery hill in my mind

 

[fez]

Im Just doing a z2 ride now and I can tell him not even 50% because my heart rate is in the 150s

But im determined to do the hour. Missing a session is a slippery hill in my mind

Well...either that or that session in your weakened state will set you back 6 months in your recovery