Tour de Zwift – Stage 3 down! That hill though…

• 0 • Bike

Still enjoying riding my bike on the indoor trainer and using the Zwift app to bike in a virtual world with other riders. I completed stage 3 of the “Tour de Zwift” challenge today (9 scheduled rides in January covering all their different settings).

I missed Greg today, but our schedules didn’t work to do this one together so he’ll be completing it tomorrow night. While I definitely have more fun with him in the room, there were still virtual riders there typing exclamatory things about the hills, adding a feeling of camaraderie even though I was alone in the gym.

The best and worst thing about Zwift rides is that I don’t know what to expect for elevation. My trainer duplicates hills by making it harder to petal, and Zwift slows down your miles per hour based on what your wattage (pedaling effort) would get you on the percent grade hill you’re on in their virtual world.

That means you could be putting in a solid effort and going over 20 mph:

Or you could be putting in a solid effort and going 6 mph:

Today’s ride finished with the most ridiculous hill I have ever climbed in reality or virtual reality. The overall ride had 1,168 feet of virtual elevation gain, and if you can see from the above screenshot, with only 1.8 miles left I’d done about half the elevation gain.

The last few miles of the ride were intense effort for 3-6 mile per hour returns. I had gotten to about 3.2 miles left thinking there was a chance I’d finish in under an hour, and then it ended up taking me 1 hour and 21 minutes to finish because I was biking slower than I run due to the giant hill.

Mentally, this was really tough, and I struggled to maintain my above 100 watt average which is usually my goal for rides (unless I rode the day before).

But like any challenge, maybe especially the ones you don’t see coming, I felt all that much more accomplished when I finished it.

And VERY ready for lunch.

I’ve been using our InstantPot to make batches of grains to keep in the fridge and then using the “beans, greens and grain bowl with dressing” formula to make easy lunches. (And the grains, berries, spices and a hint of molasses formula for breakfast).

Today’s lunch is teff (which is a tiny, sticky grain that I am a bit neutral on because it clumps) with black beans, chopped kale, green onions and the “best cheeze dip I ever ate” recipe from the No Meat Athlete book (not online but here are five simple sauces and a primer on using them to make fast and healthy meals).

It’s filling, flavorful and full of good stuff that will hopefully make my legs feel better because wow is it going to take more than a tumeric ginger shot to get ready for my interval run tomorrow!

I’m on Zwift!

• 0 • Bike

It all happened kind of fast. Greg was telling me about this online challenge to complete 9 rides in January on Zwift, an online cycling platform that connects to your indoor trainer and allows you to ride in a virtual world with other real people who are in their basements or living rooms on their indoor trainers. It’s a pretty neat concept, and when doing races or events you can see your placement change when you pass people, feel the resistance on your wheel when you hit a hill (depending on your indoor trainer set-up) and explore virtual landscapes.

So Greg decided to do the Tour de Zwift this January as a way to kickstart the year with some indoor cycling… and then he casually offered to get me an indoor trainer to hook my road bike into if I wanted to join him. We’d originally only purchased one trainer, which meant switching bikes and never riding together. I’d never even considered getting two.

But it was kind of a stroke of genius because now we can ride together, which makes it much more fun. Now we can get our workouts done more efficiently by completing them simultaneously instead of staggering them on the weekends and taking up the entire morning.

The kids are old enough so we can ride while they’re home and awake and puttering around the house doing their own things (including popping in to check out our progress and watch us bike through a futuristic NYC).

With two indoor bikes we could even decide to do an easy ride while watching our favorite television show together instead of sitting on the couch. (Who knows if that will ever happen, but we could.)

We’re in the honeymoon phase now, but I’ve absolutely loved the two rides we’ve done together so far this January.

Zwift can connect to other online platforms and automatically upload your rides, so I don’t have to manually enter my biking mileage into Garmin or Strava in order to track it for my goal of 500 miles in 2019. A goal that I’m awkwardly ahead on thanks to this “Tour de Zwift” challenge – I’ve already biked 55 miles and it’s only January 5th!

I’m excited to have indoor cycling at my disposal right at home all winter so that come snow, sleet, hail and school cancellations I can still get either a treadmill or a cycling workout in without having to face the icy roads or find a babysitter.

Anyone else on Zwift?

 

A Beautiful, Beautiful Bike Ride

• 8 • Bike, Uncategorized


We’re making the most of the last full week of summer before school starts!

The boys are in sailing camp every day this week from 1-4 pm.

They’re sailing tiny little sailboats around the dock area and loving every second.

There’s not really enough time for me to go back home in between, so Monday I had lunch and watched the eclipse in Portland with Greg, Tuesday I went Freeport outlet shopping with my mom, and Wednesday I went for a gorgeous bike ride.

Two islands, 22 miles, and one shower at the yacht club when I got back. (Thanks guys, hope those aren’t members only. At least we’re patronizing sailing camp?)

Check out the views!

Makes me think about where I could bike at home in Massachusetts if I drove a short distance first.

Grabbed a morning bike ride

• 0 • Bike

This morning I woke up before Greg and the kids (thank you, jet lag!) so I sneaked out for a beautiful morning bike ride. The cat tried to alert everyone of my departure, but I made it out the door before anyone awakened and was rewarded with some gorgeous views.

morningride811

In summer, the key to my workouts is opportunity, not consistency.

The week the boys were in summer camp, I biked over 60 miles. I’m not training for anything. But I had the opportunity. So bike I did.

sixtymileweek

 

I respect the motto “consistency is everything”, but sometimes when you’re enjoying a summer with your family and not training for a specific event, opportunity is everything.  A stolen bike ride, a few downward facing dogs on the beach while the kids build sand castles, a random week spent pedaling at every opportunity because the kids are at camp.

Consistency would probably be better in terms of maintaining fitness, but the school year is around the corner and there will be plenty of time for consistency then.

I think I’m content crossing my fingers that hauling picnic baskets down to the beach and frolicking in the pool with the kids will keep me fit enough to grab the next opportunity for a bike, run or swim.

Besides. Winter is coming.

Equinox Class Review: The Pursuit (Cycling)

• 6 • Bike, NYR 2017

This post is part of my 2017 New Year’s Resolution to try every group fitness class offered at my gym, The Equinox in Chestnut Hill.

IMG_7437

First of all…

Anyone else having totally one of those days? Those 10 minutes late to drop off, checking into the gym 2 minutes before class when you’re a type A, forgetting a major piece of clothing when you planned to go straight to kindergarten volunteering from the gym kind of days?

Totally one of those days.

But the nice thing about exercise is that it makes you feel capable of handling that kind of day.

Class: The Pursuit: Build (cycling)

Description from the Equinox: Precisely timed high-intensity intervals to maximize your performance, The Pursuit: Burn, is a hardcore cycling experience scientifically designed to push you to a new level of fitness.

Class length: 50 Minutes

What Class Was Like

Ok, they’re missing a major element of the class in that description. What makes The Pursuit different from other indoor cycling classes is that they display your stats on the wall for different games while you’re riding. Motivation.

You can’t always see your individual score, but sometimes you can see your bike number listed in comparison to others, and you can see the first name and last initial of those who make it on the leader board after different portions of class.

This morning’s class had 3 games.

Game One: The first was a 9 minute game split into 3 sections where you tried to match or exceed your mileage from the first sections. (Positive splits.) This requires more pacing than I’m capable of, but I’ve got a better strategy for next time. While we were riding, everyone’s bike number was displayed in a circle with a mileage trail behind it, a little like a lollipop. Each lollipop got longer as you progressed further, and your circle lit up to show when you were on target to beat your previous 3 minute performance. 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place in the class were marked over their circles.

Game Two: We were split into two teams and competed to add mileage rings to our circles. The competition contained sprint segments.

Game Three: We were split into three teams and competed for mileage. There were sprint segments when the visual of team progress was hidden and you tried as hard as you could to be in a better team position when the sprint ended and they re-displayed the leader board. Our team was in the lead for the first several sections and then lost it on a hidden sprint and never made it back to first.

You can see below that I was 31st overall out of 32 for game one. This seems fair given the limited cycling I’ve been doing.

games

Verdict

This was great. I definitely felt motivated to work harder for longer knowing that I was part of a team. I was a little less motivated by the individual effort. It was clear from the beginning that I was going to be one of the stragglers, and pretty clear by the second segment that I’d gone out too hard in the first and wasn’t going to surpass that effort. When you know you’re that far behind, it’s harder to push. Especially with another effort coming up.

The team games were very motivating, though. Knowing I was likely the slowest cyclist on my team meant I felt a real obligation to do my best and not hold everyone back any more than my ability dictated. I felt like my team deserved my best, especially seeing the leader boards and knowing some of my fellow cyclists were putting down amazing mileage. When my team was in the lead for the third exercise, I pushed as hard as I could because I didn’t want to be the reason they lost the lead.

Will I be back?

Oh hell yes. This class is going to make me faster. I would go back tomorrow. (And regret it. And not have ample recovery time. So actually I wouldn’t.)

Know before you go

Cycling shoes really help you get more power for the full foot-stroke when you’re cycling indoors. Bikes at the Equinox are SPD clip compatible and Look/Delta compatible, but they also had cages so you can wear your normal shoes. (Don’t be afraid to do that before investing in cycling shoes.)

Your individual stats will be displayed by bike number for some of the games, and there’s a leader board at the end of each segment. After the class, the full leaderboard is available online with your username and photo if you supplied one. Not ready to go public with your mileage? Use an nick-name and opt out of the photo when you set up your cycling account on Equinox’s site.

On being behind

I’m fine with being one of the slowest people in the class, because I haven’t been cycling much lately. (Something about swimming 3 times a week and trying every new class at the gym. Time consuming.)

I’m also thrilled with my stats because I can look back at some of the class stats I entered a few years ago and see that I’ve made progress.

pursuitstats

Today I averaged 109 watts.

About 2 years ago on a ride I averaged 83 watts.

pastwatts

I actually remember averaging in the 40s or 50s for wattage when I first started indoor cycling. Now I regularly average just over 100, even when indoor cycling hasn’t been a focus.

Tracking progress is helpful when it’s helpful

I could look at that leader board and feel embarrassed at being 27th out of 32, but instead I feel great because I’m much stronger than I was before. I also feel excited to work my way a little higher up the board this spring as I get closer to Tri for a Cure and start doing more cycling.

Know yourself. If it’ll bother you seeing yourself lag behind, pick a regular cycling class where you get your stats at the end… or choose not to track your class and just ignore your stats altogether.

It can be particularly hard if you used to be a stronger cyclist than you are now. I can’t get too smug about feeling peace with where I am as a cyclist when I haven’t been working that frequently at it and I’m the best I’ve ever been.

If you’ve got memories of the leader board that you need to let go of for a while, ride solo.

Focus on other goals like frequency, or your average heart rate.

Competition should be fun. If it’s not fun, change your game 🙂