Having been using Zwift (with 2 breaks when I was away) since October last year I am keen to try and improve my racing through one of the Zwift training plans. Build Me Up sounds worthwhile and I was ready to start this but then, after my last race, I thought I don’t know if I can do it, I enjoy racing too much!
Which got me thinking about the level of commitment required (say 5 x 1 hour weekly for 12 weeks) and likely outcome (maybe 10-20 watt gain in FTP) versus something I come up with myself (that may be more enjoyable, more flexible and yield similar results*). Possibly 2 short, hard over / under interval sessions a week, 1-2 longer low intensity rides a week and 2 races a week. I stress that those options are entirely off the top of my head (I have never done any structured training and have next to no knowledge of training for cycling).
*The suggestion that it would yield similar results is simply based on the increased volume and new stimulus in the form of intervals.
In short, is the Build Me Up programme really worth the commitment and sacrifice versus something less fixed / ad-hoc?
I should add that I know I would get satisfaction from completing Build Me Up but would be disappointed if it didn’t produce a substantial FTP increase. I’d be hoping for 20-25 watts; my current FTP is 238 though I believe it’s probably 225-230 at the moment as I am just returning from an extended break from Zwift (though was cycling outside occasionally during that time).
You also have the option to use an adaptive training app that adjusts the plan every day based on what you have done in the past. This can help make room for other ad-hoc activities like races so you don’t have to do planned workouts all the time.
There’s a big list of 3rd party services that have workout integrations with Zwift which you can see here: Zwift and Third-party Platforms
Xert and TrainerRoad are a couple of the popular ones, but you may want to sample the offerings.
I would call Build Me Up the best training plan in Zwift so it’s not a bad choice if you are committed.
I believe most coaches would say this is too much intensity per week. I don’t follow a training plan anymore, I do 1 or 2 races a week and then TTT every Thursday (which is like a long over under workout) and then fill in the gaps with longer zone 2 rides. This has worked well for me, intervals.icu tells me my FTP has gone up over the past 2 years and I am in a pyramidal style training progression.
Make something up. You can roughly follow the BMU template for the overall periodisation, and even use the workouts if you like. There are some good workouts in there. Shane Gaffney knows what he’s doing. If it was me, at 58yo, I’d do something like this …
Week 0 FTP Test
Weeks 1 - 3
2 × sweetspot workouts + easy rides
Week 4 Easy rides with 1 optional ride with intensity
Weeks 5 - 7
2 × threshold workouts + easy rides
Week 8 Easy rides with 1 optional ride with intensity
Weeks 9 - 11
1 VO2 Max workouts, 1 ss/thresh workout + easy rides
Week 12 Easy rides with 1 optional ride with intensity
Thanks for the suggestion, I hadn’t considered that. I think I like the idea of having a plan in front of me, committing to it and completing it so am likely to go that way (this time round!)
If I could I’d just race with occasional, longer, easy rides and I’m confident my FTP would increase, probably gradually. I think however I maybe owe it to myself to try something a bit more structured and see what happens.
Thanks for the laying out the detail, really appreciated. It may well feed into / form part of what I settle on but when I look at what you’ve suggested I think it’s too easy (I realise that’s maybe very conceited having not done those workouts). What quickly comes into play here is my (misguided) belief that worthwhile training or effort has to be hard and demanding, exhausting even. I see this play out in other areas of life too.
I think I really need to challenge that view or approach as I understand it simply isn’t the case; it’s just not how our physiology works.
You can also take a plain-text description like that, hand it to ChatGPT, tell it to make a workout plan for you. Tell it your goals, hours per week, weeks until you have a major event, etc. You can also give it some of your data and tell it to make the plan harder if you want. Workout files created that way can also be imported to intervals.icu which can sync them to Zwift.
That’s a really useful suggestion, I find chat gpt extremely useful… And I am embarking on my first ever weight training effort so need to schedule those too (aiming for 2-3 / week). I might still just give BMU a go but it does seem a huge commitment and that’s not counting the loss of scope for racing.
If you’re starting lifting for the first time and you’re about to start BMU … I hope you’re at least 30 years younger than me
ETA: if you’re training to improve at Zwift racing, do a thorough analysis of exactly what you need to improve to be better. That will likely shape your training.
No, not quite 30 years younger, 6 I think. My eyes are bigger than my belly though
Yes, my first time ever using weights and that is number one for me at the moment. The motivation is twofold:
I rock climb (indoors and outdoors) a lot and am curious to see whether greater system strength and synergy might give a performance / grade bump.
More important than that is taking steps to stay healthy as I get older. I understand weight training / loading the body in this way is very beneficial.
As I think carefully about the nuts and bolts of this (what I’m going to do and when I’m going to do it) it becomes clear that my initial plan was unrealistic. It’s still very much a work in progress but at the moment I am looking at 3 Zwift sessions a week, 1 of which has to be a race. There’s therefore no way I can do the BMU plan now. I might be able to add a fourth easy session i.e. longer zone 2 ride.
This is entirely made up so needs more research / thought but the 3 Zwift sessions might be: 1 x Sweetspot, 1 x over / under intervals and 1 x race.
