Just wondered what people thought the toughest workouts are?
Recently finished the build me up program and was fine through most of that and previous workouts. I had a half decent jump in ftp after but since then Iv only done a few workouts and found 2 of them really hard.
1st one I struggled with was the Mat Hayman Paris-roubaix, this was tough but I was tired so had to lower the level a little to finish it.
Then I recently tried the McCarthy special and dam that was hard, again I took 2% off after the first interval but then for intervals 2&3 I had to pause for a min before the final effort each time
Popular opinion of the McCarthy Special is that if you can complete it using your current FTP setting, then you really have a higher FTP.
I haven’t done enough Zwift workouts from the list to comment on the hardest.
I think that answer depends on how you are feeling at the time.
TSS doesn’t always tell the whole story.
Some people excel at VO2 intervals, some at 40/20’s, some at SST.
GC Coaching’s “The Shinnick” looks pretty difficult.
That makes me feel better as it felt impossible to complete it in one go. Suppose at least I have a benchmark now and will try it again in a few weeks
The hardest one I ever did was 2x25 minutes at FTP+10. I was practically crying by the end of the second interval.
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How much rest between the two 25min intervals? If the rest interval is pretty short, being able to do 50min at FTP+10 implies that your FTP could probably be bumped up by 5W, just my two cents.
Probably right! Although 95% of that was just under my FTP.
5 minutes at Z2 between the intervals.
Either way, it was disgusting.
Wringer & McCarthy are my 2 personal favs when you wanna smash ur legs 
I had to turn down Paris-Roubaix at the and, but with McCarthy I thought there was no way that someone with a correct FTP could finish it. Some of the GCN workouts are tough—SUPER Fast was absurdly difficult.
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Yes the Dan LLoyd workouts in GCN are all incredibly challenging !!
that’s basically two 20-minute FTP tests back to back (wherein you take your 20-minute max average power and multiply by 0.95 to get your FTP).
I’ll say McCarthy too. But let me add that if you ever want to try something similar in a group format (there is great comfort in crying and vomiting together), then look out for Mattias Thyr’s (SZR) group workouts. His workout designs are very well thought out. No, they’re devilishly smart and exact rather. I diagnose him as an incurable benevolent s4dist. Sort of in analogy with Xert’s breakthrough (breakdown?) concept, the idea is for you to… well… break on through to the other side, the DARK SIDE! Usually somewhere towards the end you are supposed to run on fumes, and then… for a more or less evidence based fitness gain. They are not impossible at correct FTP (like McCarthy), just that soft push to just about tip you off the cliff’s edge into the abyss of eternal pain and misery. Oops! Not sure he runs any workouts these days but if he does or he starts again, then you should try one, so keep an eye open.
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Did a 20 min FTP Test and improved by quite a bit. Did the Gorby with the new set FTP and it was pretty hard, but somehow doable. But that´s nowhere near the McCarthy. Could do the first block containing those 3 waves, but had to lower the third wave of the second block. Same again in the third block. It´s a new challenge now.