Podcast questions - what do you want to know?

@Matt_RoweThanks for a detailed response. I’m better at training than resting. And of course have over trained more than once. Thank you.

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The longer the event, the more aerobic training (Zone 2-Sweet Spot) that you need to do. All of those deserve a significant aerobic base but the more explosive events also need some work on the higher end work, VO2 max and enough neuromuscular that you’re ‘comfortable’ going there in a race.

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Hi Matt love the podcasts and find them enjoyable to listen too and very informative. Being an older rider/zwifter (65 years old) and still keen to improve and race I was wondering what you and the guys think about doing national age group races each year. I believe there’s a masters league but would be good to either have a seperate age group yearly race or link it to the existing National Champs. What do you think?

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What’s your thoughts about ultra distance racing (race non stop over days) ?

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I would split training in to two aspects;

  1. The physical demands of the event; and

  2. The technical demands.

  3. Physical demands
    So, taking the physical demands first - it all comes down to ‘training the demands of your event’, so for a crit - it is likely you will need to hit race day having spent a lot of time training your top end (Zones 5 and 6 plus your sprinting). The demands of a crit basically sees you making full gas efforts, or cruising. Little time around threshold (your average power may be around your FTP, but this will be made up of serious peaks and troughs). Comparing this with a cx mountain bike race - I would say your sprint is less important, and you are riding the event more like a time trial.

After each type of race - look back at the time you spent in each zone, and try to replicate these zones in training. Would be interested to hear what gravel racing is like, having never raced it myself!

All these nuances are kind of the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and to tackle, you will need to have a base fitness. This ‘base’ is traditionally built riding steady for long hours, but now, through Zwift and being specific with our training - sessions like Over-Under’s, Sweet Spot, Spiked Sweet Spot etc. can help build your aerobic base in a fraction of the time.

Muscle tension is key here also - so rather than spending 4 hours on the road, where you get little breaks / micro rests in the wheels, around bends, downhill etc. you spend a solid hour or 90 minutes pedalling every second, with your muscles fully engaged for the duration. This places a huge stress on your body - helping you to be really time efficient.

Zwift is the place to train yourself physically.

  1. Technical demands
    You are going to need to practice cornering on tarmac for crits and riding in close proximity to other riders. Group rides and chaingangs are a good idea.
    For mountain biking, obviously the technical demands are very different - you need to spend time on your mtb, getting used to the bike and riding off road. Some specific downhill work. Also, that single track, rooty stuff - it’s tricky at the best of times, so again, practicing on the terrain and technical demands of your event.

IRL riding is where we develop our technical skills.

A great example of how Zwift and IRL riding complement each other perfectly.

Hope some of this resonates with you… will cover fully in a podcast!

Cheers,

Matt

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We have all been there - the key is to recognise when we are doing too much, and to reign back. Discipline.

I agree - it boils down to ‘Training the demands of your event’.

That said, if your event is a long one, yet you have a limited amount of time to train (say 4 or 5 hours a week), it would be a mistake to follow the old school approach of doing plenty of purely aerobic riding as you just don’t get enough training stress.

Throwing some top end intervals / specifics in to the mix has a place in everyones training, 12 months of the year. A Zwift race can be perfect!

As a type of event I think they are more of a psychological challenge vs a physiological one. Same goes for the training. If you ride steady and fuel well, you are more than half way there - the big challenge IMO is the shear amount of time you spend riding, plus the sleep deprivation - an absolute killer for the mind.

In training - the hard bit of fitting the volume of training in around your lifestyle. Huge sacrifices need to be made.

I take my hat off to anyone who does any form of ultra distance sport - I couldn’t hack it!!

Top tip - buy a top pair of shorts!!!

Thanks for the reply Matt! Great advice!

I competed in the Barry Roubaix gravel race here in Hastings Michigan this past Saturday and, thanks to zwifting all winter, I did better than I had expected finishing 12th in my age group. Had I not been forced into the 40 - 45 AG, and competed in the 34 - 39 AG (I’m not quite 40 yet) I would have placed 4th!

I think gravel racing can be tricky because the weather can really effect the conditions of the roads in so many different ways. Luckily it was a sunny day, in the mid 40’s at the start with a high of 51 (that’s Fahrenheit not Celsius) and a little bit of rain and lots of wind the day before helped keep the dust to a minimum. The roads were well maintained thanks to the local road commission so the pace was really fast! Had the weather been different, or the roads full of ruts and washboard bumps, it would be a completely different outcome. You also have people riding mountain bikes, fat tires, and traditional CX gravel bikes all mixed into the same category so equipment can also make a big difference. There are categories for fat tire, but mountain bikes get lumped in with cx bikes.

Gravel racing is great fun, I highly recommend it!

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Hi John,

Thanks for the kind words on the podcast and for your question, which is an interesting one, especially as my Dad is an avid Zwifter and has similar feelings!

I think having a masters category is defiantly a great idea, one day! However, for now the whole esports arena is so new, that the focus has to be purely on the Open category for now. Once there are national championships all round the world, extra categories can be introduced.

No reason why there couldn’t also be youth races, Paralympic races - catering for everyone, just like IRL!

Keep up the good work - hope to see you competing in the nationals, or maybe world champs one day!

Matt

Sounds fantastic and something I will no doubt have a go at one day…just means another bike!!

Thanks for the reply Matt yes your right youth para etc would be great. Maybe a little early for age group Nationals although on zwift power you can add the age column and see over 60s, 50+, masters etc so sort of age banding. I was 5th in over 60s cat. Out of 10 so not too bad :blush:. My next target is to do Alpe d’huez IRL under 60 mins going there early in June this years so training hard for that and using a lot of your tips to hit that target :crossed_fingers:. So far have got to 61 mins on alpe d’zwift so may be possible on a good day. Thanks again for replying keep up the good work Matt.

Regards

John

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All the best for Alpe d’huez!

You will know what power you can sustain on Zwift, so if you use that average power IRL, you will pace it well and have a little left to lift it towards the top (power generally reads a little lower indoors on Zwift vs outdoors so a safe pacing strategy using your Zwift power to pace!).

Let us know how you get on and your thoughts on how IRL AdZ and Alpe d’Huez compare?

Matt

Thanks Matt did 61 mins on Monday for the Alpe on zwift at 210 watts or 3.1 watts/kg so just a little more effort to get to 60 mins before I go. Will let you know how I do.

Regards

John

How about we try something, John? A change in tactics…are you up for it?

Try pacing Alpe d’Zwift riding around 200W for the first half… pressing on up to 225W on the steep sections, and backing off down to 190W on the shallower sections and see how you go?

Second half, especially once the clock ticks past 40minutes, is down to you to really ride on feel. You will have a good feeling of how you are going that day, and from then on its just about squeezing anything you have left, out.

This approach helps you to have ‘negative splits’ - to finish faster than you start, ensuring the whole effort doesn’t turn in to a car crash and you blow up with 16 hairpins to go!

Good luck and let me know how it goes - good or bad!

Matt

Sounds interesting Matt I’ll give it a go next time I do it on zwift probably a week on Monday and let you know how it goes. My last effort was the reverse of that so hard for the first half and dropped off second half so I see the logic in what you’re suggesting. I’ll just need to ensure I pace the steep and shallow sections appropriately. :+1:

Regards

John

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How did you get on John?

Hi Matt your email stimulated me to have a go as Monday was my 65th and I went outside instead. I tried to follow your advice although it’s difficult at the beginning as it’s so steep but managed to have an evenish power output. I was 1 min 40 secs slower though on my last time 62.48 v 61.08 so need to practice the approach a bit more I guess. Plus I’d had a few rest days the last time whereas not this time although I felt much better the last 7 bends this time :+1:. Guess I’ll have to practice the approach some more as I’m sure it’s the right way to do it although only 6 weeks to the real life effort :scream:.

Regards

John

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Hello Matt, Greg and Kev!

Re 500m sprint - my best so far was 36.31sec.

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Hi Matt,

Here a big fan of the podcast.

My question relates to Zone 3 riding:
There is lots of talks about avoiding zone 3 and doing long ‘base-miles’.

My latest MTB marathon (75km) was about 3.5 hours of Z3+Z4 riding. And I was almost cramping in the last one hour (Couldn’t keep up the pace anymore)
It appears to me that I should have done more Z3 training instead of all the predominantly Z2 rides that I did last winter (I ride about 6 hours a week). As you state -here above- that “we should train more as the demand of the event(s)”. This is exactly how it didn’t feel for me: I wasn’t training intense enough, neither for this duration.
But, training 3+ hours of Z3 sounds a bit ackward too… Especially for back to back days.

Maybe I should start with the ‘Roubaix’ training session that you’ve mentioned last podcast :wink:

Maurice

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