Love what you have done with workouts in such a short time, but as I am (and most people in North America, I guess) starting my base training, I am wondering about whether to put my marbles in with Zwift as a training platform - or use Zwift with another tool (like Trainer Road) for this season as you get everything together.
A couple of easy things that I think can be improved with Zwift Workout mode are the following:
- Description of the workout program - what it tries to address, what are the goals, who is it good for
Today, there is just the one liner 12wk FTP advanced, or 12 wk Winter advanced - but actually no description of each of the workout programs. So what’s the difference between the 12 wk winter advanced, and the 12 week FTP ? No clue. Is the goal endurance, strength, efficiency ? No clue. Adding a description of what it does, and who it’s good for, would be great.
- No FTP update during the workout program
I am reading “Base Building for Cyclists - Thomas Chapple” - great book, from one of the great coaches who worked with Joe Friel, and they talk about base building : Prebase, early base, mid base, late base etc… These are all 3 - 6 week segments, and at the end of each segment you do your FTP test again to see where you are at. That’s like 4 FTP tests during a 16 - 18 week period, and then adjusting the workouts to where your fitness is.
Zwift has 12 wk training programs, and I did not see any FTP rides in the programs. Being a beginner - intermediate, I expect that my FTP is going to improve a lot during the weeks - but your plans would not take this into account and provide workouts based on ONLY on my initial fitness level. Is this supposed to be this way ? Any thoughts of building in FTP updates along the way ?
- Do you have a list of workouts you are working on ?
Again, I need to pick my program, and if I know you will be targeting releasing new programs in the next few weeks, then I will wait. But I have no clue what new workout programs you are planning to release, and when. Not looking for a commit date, just an idea.
Finally, just wanted to say that if your program wasn’t so amazingly good, that I would not spend this much time writing feedback on it to see if we can make it better. Keep up the good work.