I think some of the on-screen instructions for Workout 2 need tweaking.
For the 4th sprint, with the 30 second easy spin beforehand, the on-screen instructions aren’t clear that there’s an extra 30 second period, and seem to indicate the hard effort starts earlier than it really does.
The instructions with 30 seconds left of the 3 minute rest say something like “in 30 seconds we’re going to do the one that really counts”; but actually that interval is in a minute’s time. You can see where I started sprinting and then realised it wasn’t the interval:
I did not make the mistake, but I did get confused. I believe it also mentioned something like ‘Go Go Go!’ just prior to the 30s rest interval.
I also had a discrepancy between target cadence on-screen and on-companion, but I believe to have read that this is a more general issue.
Last, I did not succeed in hitting the target of the 30s intervals right after the sprint so a note on how to achieve these would be helpful. E.i. would it help to keep ERG off on these intervals?
<SteadyState Duration="180.00002" Power="0.55000001" pace="1122314923" Cadence="90">
<textevent timeoffset="0" message="Great work with those opening efforts, you should feel ready to go."/>
<textevent timeoffset="10" message="We'll take 3min nice and easy, then get the effort that 'counts' done :-)"/>
<textevent timeoffset="140" message="In just over 30sec, we're doing our last one of these."/>
<textevent timeoffset="150" message="You should be confident in your gear selection by now, be prepared for a quick rest and finale after this."/>
<textevent timeoffset="160" message="Get ready...."/>
<textevent timeoffset="170" message="CRUSH IT!"/>
</SteadyState>
<SteadyState Duration="30.000002" Power="0.34999999" pace="1122314923">
<textevent timeoffset="10" message="Short rest here...Get ready give it EVERYTHING next! Remember to stay seated."/>
<textevent timeoffset="20" message="Give it your ALL!"/>
</SteadyState>
<FreeRide Duration="10" FlatRoad="1">
<textevent timeoffset="0" message="FULL GAS!"/>
</FreeRide>
“In just over 30sec, we’re doing our last one of these” is misleading because the interval is 70 seconds away. The “Get ready…” then “CRUSH IT!” come as we go into a 30 second interval at 35% of FTP! Hardly need to crush that… =)
I had exactly the same issues. Also, at the 30-sec easy intervals, the on screen command said turn your ERG off, but the workout plan showed 70 W - not a free ride. I wasn’t sure if I’m supposed to listen to the plan and keep riding with the automatically set up 70 W (with ERG on) or listen to the commands and turn it off. I still don’t know which one was right.
Also, could anyone explain please why some of the commands said that you should start the sprint on low cadence? Isn’t it easier to hit a higher peak power when you start pedalling fast from the beginning of the sprint interval?
I didn’t touch erg mode. I just let the workout control my trainer and it seemed to work as I’d expect.
“Okay, let's take it out of ERG again if you went back to it after the sprints.” to me meant the software was telling me “I’m going to take you out of erg mode now”.
(I don’t know why the workout styles it as “ERG”, it’s not an acronym)
But I was a bit confused be some of the messages I saw.
“Okay, let's take it out of ERG again if you went back to it after the sprints.”
That one for example - the workout put me back in erg mode (55% of FTP), so of course I’d gone back to it after the sprints.
I did the workout last night, and had the same issues both with the out-of-sync text prompts prior to sprint #4, and also being very confused and having issues with the 30 second windows before and after the “main” sprints. Leaving ERG on for the first 3 sprints, and then letting the workout automatically turn off ERG worked very well. I was already in the gear I wanted, and then just hit it when prompted and ERG turned off. However, the text prompts threw me off for all of the remaining sprints. What were supposed to be my best sprints as a result were subpar. Oh well.
I also expected the in-workout instructions to state that the 10 and 20 sec sprints could be done in or out of the saddle (per the workout description), but it was mute on this.
Another point (maybe I should open a new topic?) is that the 30 seconds pre-sprint at very low watts (<100W for me) at 90 cadence is impossible to do if you’re going in to the gear you plan to use for the sprint. My Kickr wasn’t able to lower the resistance enough.
The main problem for me with this workout were the 30 seconds at very low watts (60-70w) after each sprint. All of those failed since I couldn’t get the trainer to reliably report any useful power until it had spun down the flywheel quite a bit after 10 seconds or so. Looking at Mike Jennic’s recording on youtube from a week ago it seems like there used to be free rides there instead?
I have Wahoo Kickr and use Zwift app on my iPad. This is my first Academy and I just started using Zwift in August.
It was not clear during WO#2 whether I was supposed to turn off “ERG” or not. I think the screen commentary stated that “we will disengage ERG” and use my gears during free ride. I thought that meant Zwift would turn off ERG mode. It wasn’t until after I completed the first 3 sprints that the comments said I should be comfortable with the gear I was in (I wasn’t, I thought I could increase resistance) and told me to remember to toggle off ERG. When I did, the sprints were fine. However, after turning ERG back on I didn’t get credit for any off the recovery sessions because I had to stop spinning or apply the brakes to slow down. By the time I did that, I missed the required watts and cadence. I ended up with 16 of 24 stars which is not 75% of the workout. I don’t know if I got credit for it or not.
Regardless, I am so confused about ERG and when I should/shouldn’t mess with it.
Yeah. I didn’t touch it at all, and apart from me starting one of the sprints early it all seemed to work as I’d expect. Had no problem with doing the sprints, anyway.
