Zwift Session

Wednesday Windtrainer Workout: 2020 Zwift Academy Primed FTP

As the saying goes “there are many ways to skin a cat” *. Instead of doing longer intervals at your Threshold pace, in this workout, you will prime your lactate acid system first by doing an anaerobic effort prior to five minutes of riding at your Threshold intensity. This session will help you develop that and is great for all cyclists including triathletes (especially draft legal athletes) and mountain bikers.

Each Wednesday I’ll post a Windtrainer Workout that you can do in about 60 minutes to enhance your cycling. See a previous post about training intensity (Levels) to know how hard to work. If you are working directly with Coach Ray he will in most cases prescribe either a Power Zone or Heart Rate Zone to work within if you are training with these tools.

The inspiration for this session comes from Watts On Zwift. I’ve modified it a little bit. You can read the full article here.

2020 Zwift Academy Primed FTP

  • 10min WU Level II;
  • 3min Level I;
  • 3min Level Level IV;
  • 3min Level I;
  • 6min Level III;
  • 3min Level I;
  • 3x
    • 30sec Level V;
    • 5min Level IV;
    • 3min Level I;
  • 7min CD Level I;
  • 10min Stretching

Start the workout with a ten-minute Warm-Up (WU) riding at Level II, followed by three minutes at Level I. Keep your cadence above 90Rpm for the warm-up.

First up is a three-minute rep riding at Level IV and a cadence of 95Rpm. Follow this with a three-minute Rest Interval (RI) maintaining a cadence of at least 90Rpm.

Next up is a rep for six minutes at Level III, keep your cadence above 90Rpm. Follow this rep with a three-minute Rest Interval (RI) at Level I but don’t let your cadence drop.

Next up are three reps each made up of three parts. Start with 30 seconds at Level V, followed by five minutes at Level IV with your cadence at 90Rpm. Take a three-minute Rest Interval (RI) keeping your cadence at 90Rpm still.

Conclude the intervals with seven minutes of riding at Level I for your Cool Down (CD).

Finish with ten minutes of stretching to assist with your recovery.

If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.

* No cats were actually skinned for this article, here is what my daughter calls a double cat selfie that I took this morning whilst writing this article.

I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.

I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729. Make sure you sign up for my informative newsletter.

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Download the Garmin (.FIT) and Zwift (.ZWO) files for this workout for FREE

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