will there be make-up races for anyone who missed the scheduling for race 1 but wants to complete ZA?
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Make up events/races due to be scheduled between the 28th of Oct and 3rd of November.
This still is a training program - just that you have blocks in the workouts where you have to push yourself flat out, rather than ERG mode setting power for you.
It is useful training for when you get on to a real bike.
After the 2024 ZA workouts I’m on a new higher FTP.
Testing max is not the road of training. unless you are doing an all out hour.
Since its inception, ZA has gradually declined in quality. In my opinion, it was never a particularly well-structured training program, but it was useful up until around 2019/2020. After that, it became little more than a collection of workouts occasionally punctuated by events. ZA2024 has been particularly underwhelming, and I’m skeptical it will continue in the coming years. On a positive note, I found the Cardio Crusher workouts much more enjoyable this year
ZA does not qualify as a training program. To be classified as such, it must meet specific criteria:
- Goal-Oriented: A training program is designed with a specific objective in mind (e.g., preparing for a race, building strength, improving endurance).
- Structured: It follows a planned progression over time, with phases like base building, strength, tapering, etc.
- Progressive Overload: It incorporates gradual increases in intensity, volume, or difficulty to ensure consistent progress.
- Balanced: A well-rounded program includes different types of workouts (e.g., endurance, strength, recovery) and adequate rest days for optimal performance and recovery.
- Periodized: A training program is often periodized, meaning it breaks the training into blocks or cycles, each focusing on different aspects of performance (e.g., strength, speed).
- Customizable: Can be adjusted based on the individual’s progress, fatigue levels, or specific needs.
Yeah, Zwift Academy 2024 is more tuned as tests of various power ranges rather than an actual training plan.
There’s just 6 workouts, and the stated purpose of multiple of them are to be tests.
For instance, the first one’s stated purpose as shown here is: “Purpose: Combined effort with free ride to test if participants are candidates to be “pro level””
The 4th one’s stated purpose is: “Purpose: An attack replication to challenge Zwifters’ glycolytic capacity and identify riders with high sprint power who can punch and recover quickly.”
If I am signing up to a training plan and the first workout is to test to see if I’m ‘pro level’ and another is to identify riders with a big sprint then I’m pretty sure it’s not the right training plan for me.
The last one has a stated purpose to identify riders who can ‘still finish strong with a finish line sprint’.
So 3 of the 6 workouts have a stated purpose of identifying riders for zwift academy rather than the purpose of being an actual training plan for folks who are not at all in the running of being a zwift academy pro.
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@manda_F Any chance to increase the tight windows for the races? I already missed Race 1 due ro illness and even with the makeup week it’s hard ro pack in those races. Especially compared to rhe long period given for the workouts 
.
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The problem is that probably fewer than 100 riders fit into that category, while the other 60k participants are primarily focused on the training itself.
As a color note: according to Zwift, the 2023/2024 ZA saw participation of approximately 108k individuals, and this year, the app displayed a total of 62k registered participants. 
I would be interested to see comparative finishing numbers. I did a couple workouts as I wanted to unlock the paint job for the new bike but when the new aeroad was made useless 2 weeks after it was released by the new Dogma I abandoned ZA
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Never buy new bikes on Zwift until about 2-3 months after they are introduced. And particularly don’t buy Italian ones, they don’t have a good history of remaining fast, unlike the ancient outdated S-Works Venge.
Time to #NerfTheTron
I was quite happy with these workouts - just not happy with the ridiculous timing of the races.
@manda_F - see above others are calling for more times of the race events. Please look into that.
I think i missed race 1? Was possible to do it only for a week, correct? Is there’s anyway to catch it?
There are make-up events Oct 28 - Nov 3. These dates depend on your timezone so check availability well in advance so you are not surprised when they go away.
Does anyone have any tips for doing some of the high powered short interval workouts.
I did Power Push and when I got to the 30s free ride and ERG disengaged I was completely mis-geared and spun out on the first sprint.
The second two times I tried changing gear as soon as ERG disengaged but this caused drivetrain crunching and bogged me down.
Normally without ERG mode active I would already be in a gear ratio where I know I can achieve sprint power. But with ERG disengaging its like going from the big ring to the small ring and being asked to sprint.
Do the whole workout in Resistance mode?
I was thinking maybe just the shorter high powered stuff, where it ramps you up from threshold to sprint.
I suppose as long as you hit the power numbers for each section to get the star 
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Incredible how many folks in race two were on 6w/kg then pushed 11w/kg uphill.
I’m locked in A because I’m light, but have no chance against those types unless it’s a HC climb.
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Are there any make ups scheduled for race 1 for Zwift academy 2024? I missed race 1 and don’t want to do race 2 unless I know I can make up race 1. My missing it may have been my problem, but I don’t think Zwift made it clear that the window was so short or even that it was a closed time frame. I have completed all the workouts.
@John_Rice1
Why yes! Per our Zwift Academy FAQ.
Is there a schedule available for Race 1 makeups on west coast time for the 10/28 thru 11/3 period. It would be nice to know if there is a race at a time when I am available to ride. And how many races will be held?