Do workout while in an event

Is it possible to do your own workout while in a Zwift event?

Looking for a simple yes or no from Zwift.

The answer is no.

Thatā€™s what it will say.

Yes - if you do the workout in another app than Zwift (including from a head unit).

4 Likes

I often do trainerroad or xert workouts running on my phone whilst riding zwift events.

3 Likes

Yes. That is a good idea, I have not thought about that one - might try it! Only problem is you might fall behind the event if the workout makes it too hard, and also that would mean you cannot connect your power device or resistance control to zwift. Then again, you could just connect a speed sensor instead of a power device.

You connect the trainer as a power source (top left button on the pairing screen), but donā€™t let Zwift control it (bottom right button).

2 Likes

That does not work for me. I can only connect the power source to one :frowning:

1 Like

Use ANT+ for one of the apps.

Confirmed : the answer is a clear NO (Iā€™m not with Zwift) - but Iā€™ve been trying to accomplish this from my starting days on the platform. The need for this arises frequently for me - so +1 upvote for adding this functionality to Zwift. Especially useful would be the ability to do a workout at the same time as participating in such events as the current Tour of Watopia!

I very often participate in events of this nature, where itā€™s too easy to get caught up into a pace that violates my own training objectives - but I like being on the road with bunches of other riders and seeing the chats. Dropping into training mode would allow me to control my pace, stay within training zones, and yet feel like Iā€™m part of something biggerā€¦

6 Likes

I have been doing this in TOW in order to have company and get the double XP. I use Trainerroad. I connect to Zwift via ANT on Mac laptop and Trainerroad via Bluetooth on Android phone.

I usually ride a TT bike so as not to let my intervals confuse others into thinking Iā€™m racing them or relying on them to draft (as the case may be).

Itā€™s unfortunate that it cannot be done with Zwift alone.

2 Likes

I mean, if youā€™re joining an event (group ride), the goal is to ride at the same pace as the group you are with, so doing a workout doesnā€™t make a lot of sense, as you wonā€™t be able to react to changes in group speed and end up shooting off the front or out the backā€¦

There are workout ā€œeventsā€ listed on Zwift from time to time, where everyone who joins the event will be doing the same workout relative to their individual FTP, so might be worth checking those out.

My (pretty large) experience with doing workouts inside group events is that you end up drifting towards the back - as soon as you hit a recovery interval, you get dumped by the lead groups. And thatā€™s fine - typically there will always be riders to catch up to and ride with during the intervals, and you will always get passed during recoveries.

So yes, you canā€™t react to changes in group speed, and yes, you end up shooting off - the back mostly, not the front. But itā€™s still a lot of fun.

3 Likes

Group Rides of the size of the Tour have large bunches of riders at nearly every pace. So youā€™re nearly always with a group! And NO, the camaraderie of a group ride does not demand that you necessarily ride at the same pace as the main bunch, but rather have access to the group dialog etc. Very often group rides (such as TOW Stage 1) are done on courses not available to that dayā€™s calendar. What you also donā€™t understand, is that group workouts are generally done with ā€œkeep togetherā€ enabled, which completely destroys any sort of individual metric capture. (See the related threads on the terrible over/under speeds that are occurring on these E category group workouts). In addition, every workout is different. I can design a 30s workout that I pop in and out of without any effect whatsoever on my ability to easily stay with a given group. Zwift promises us that it can be whatever we want it to beā€¦ so I want to have the option of enabling workouts whilst in group rides of any sort. Given that this feature would have no effect whatsoever on YOUR ride experience in the group, I can hardly understand any pushback on this whatsoeverā€¦ Bizarre.

2 Likes

I can see your point on group rides organized by w/kg, but I only do workouts in giant, open category group events like ToW where there is no set group pace and there a many packs at various speeds with whom to chat. In these types of events an individual doing a workout has little to no impact on other individual riders and no impact on the group ride overall.

1 Like

cos itā€™s annoying as F when ur riding in a nice group at threshold and some nutter doing an interval workout rides off the front at 6+ w/kg :slight_smile: 9 times out of 10 half the group will surge/chase the flier which strings the group out and completely destroys the group pacing for anyone whoā€™s already riding at threshold pace.

group workouts are done with ā€œkeep togetherā€ enabled so that you and ur mates stay close together throughout the ride, but each individual will have their workout tailored to their own FTP. personally I think this is a good feature. iā€™ve got no idea why you would want to race people during a workout. workouts in ERG mode lock you in to a specific target power/cadence anyway, so whatā€™s the pointā€¦?

5 Likes

If you have ever been on an IRL group ride with ā€˜the idiotā€™ that needs to do half a dozen intervals for his training plan you will understand why this is not possible in Zwift.

A group ride is supposed to be social. A chain gang is effectively a group training session probably with a social cool down after. A training session should probably be undertaken alone in order to concentrate on your needs and goals.

Zwift does a great job of being mamny things for many people. However you really need to pick the bucket you want to play with at any one time.

3 Likes

Another reason that this may not be possible is more of a technical one.
On a group ride such as TOW , you are already in a workout mode.
I did a stage 3 ride yesterday and do toy schedule, I had to abandon on the way up the Volcano.
I decided to ride down and collect the easy non double XP and I noticed the masses of riders coming up (participants of TOW) all had work out screens in front of their bikes.

This is not true. You may have seen a group workout.

1 Like

Everyone who has already replied is probably more experienced than I am, and therefore has probably tried thisā€¦That said it would be worth trying. I found an article describing how to do Meetups and do workouts within them. You start/join the Meetup, then open the menu and go into Workout and select your Workout either individually or from a Training Plan. Iā€™ll try it later in the ToW because that would be excellent if it worked (Iā€™m so slow I donā€™t worry about blowing up any packsā€¦)

That does not work in events only in meetupā€™s.