6-week FTP Builder -- "Strength" workouts kinda FUBAR

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So, I’m fairly new to ZWIFT + Wahoo Kickr and have been riding about a month or so. I did the ramp test to get a calculated FTP of ~200. Lots of room for improvement! So I decided to recruit the Zwift experts and begin the 6-week FTP builder program. I’m currently just in week two.

The “Foundation” workouts are fine and do a good job of keeping me in zone 2. The “Tempo” workouts are also good, bringing me up into zone 3 part of the time, as I would expect. They’re not particularly challenging workouts at this level, but for those workouts I’m “trusting the process” and expect they’ll get a little more challenging.

But the logic behind the “Strength” workout assignment (or withholding!) of gold stars for completed interval segments just seems completely FUBAR. In the “sprint” segments of those intervals, the app instructs us to turn off ERG (which I do), grab a higher gear and REALLY dig deep to crush it for those (ridiculously short) 10-second sprints. At an FTP of 200, the meager sprint goal we’re directed to hit is 315 watts.

So, I “dig deep” and even with my mediocre leg strength for a 61-year-old, hit more than 500, 600, even over 700 watts. I “dug deep” as instructed. …but as I do so, the silly app tells me to back off and lower my power. wtf? Then it doesn’t grant the “gold star” for a successfully completed segment!

So I back off, and keep the wattage down around 400-450 – because 315 just isn’t digging deep at all – and I either still don’t get that silly gold star or I only get a half star. Why?! Why does the app NOT want us to really hit max wattage during the short sprints on the “Strength” workouts?!

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I had this same issue when I did the FTP builder course.

Posted about it here: Failing Full Gas training segments for using too much power - Bugs and Support - Zwift Forums

They should have probably made those sections free ride sections so you can go as hard as you want without the game screaming at you to reduce power :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the link to the previous discussion. I agree the discrepancy between the workout text and the app’s ability to reward effort “above and beyond” is a curious shortcoming.

That said, clearly the answer lies in taking satisfaction internally from knowing you gave it all you had rather than relying on some external app to validate your effort! :beers: