Zwift Races & Training: Physiological Demands
The Physiological Demands of Zwift Racing
Welcome to part 3 of our deep dive on Zwift racing! In this video, Stephen Gallagher at Dig Deep Coaching, and Matt Gardiner from Indoor Specialist give an overview and analysis of 3 race files from different race courses: Whole Lotta Lava, Greatest London Loop, and NYC’s The Highline. Stephen guides you through the raw data of these three Zwift races, giving key insight into their intensity levels and the effort you can expect to put forward in a race depending on the terrain.
The physiological demands of each course on Zwift varies greatly, and shows how that race you signed up for may require Threshold efforts or Anaerobic Capacity efforts — the key is in knowing the course’s terrain so that you’re ready and capable of executing your best race, and getting the most out of the training that races offers.
Have you been training for an upcoming race which features long, sustained climbs? Find a course on Alpe du Zwift, Innsbruck’s KOM, or London’s Leith or Keith hills! Are you a criterium racer on the road? Jump into any race on NYC, which features punchy terrain and often results in a Variability Index greater than 1.20 for races!
Glossary Terms and More Information:
There are many metrics inside TrainingPeaks you can use to analyze your race efforts, but the two most important factors which give key information about the course you raced are Intensity Factor and Variability Index.
Intensity Factor: For any workout or part of a workout, the ratio of the Normalized Power to the rider's functional threshold power, which gives the user a relative intensity in relation to their threshold power. IF is used to calculate TSS.
Variability Index: Metric showing how smooth or evenly paced an athletes power output was during a race or workout. A properly paced time trial should have a VI value of 1.05 or less while a road race or criterium may have a VI as high as 1.10 or more.
An Introduction to TrainingPeaks Metrics: If you’re interested in learning more about the important metrics for analyzing your power data, head over to TrainingPeaks to check out their overview of the metrics you will see for each session you do!
Questions?
Comment below or send us a message on Facebook or Instagram! We’ll happily dive into the demands of other courses, or help explain the metrics on TrainingPeaks which will help you better understand your Zwift Racing.