Category: Zwift

Type A “Control Freak” Rolling with the Punches. . .

At the start of the year, when I sat down with my coach, and we carefully reviewed all of the 2018 races that I could feasibly get to and race, while still working my 45-50 hr/week job, we decided to prioritize large UCI/PRT Stage and Road Races over Crits. . . my ultimate goal this year is to gain experience at the UCI/PRT level, and perform well enough to “get noticed”, and potentially picked up by a Pro Team for 2019 (ideally, a WWT team, or a team that races a lot of road/stage races, as my current strengths make me much more of an asset in long/hard road/stage races over multiple days than 60 minute crits).

Well, the best laid plans. . . Haaaa!!

For an itemized, brief summary of my revised Race/Travel Plans, you can check out the 2018 Schedule & Results Page, or read below for all of the details!

The First Punch

The first punch this year was my inability to find a Guest Ride Spot at Tour of the Gila. I was admittedly bummed, but was fortunate enough to find a spot with the Amy D Foundation at Joe Martin Stage Race (Race Report Here), and with JL Velo Cycling at Redlands Classic, so I made the best of it, and headed out to CA early after JMSR to race The Sea Otter Classic in place of Gila 🙂

The Second Punch

Initially, we had chosen to forgo OKC Pro-AM, Tulsa Tough, and defending my 2017 TT Title at the USAC Masters National Championship, in favor of racing Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, OR & North Star Grand Prix in St. Paul, MN – both of which would help to build my resume and help me to “get noticed” with solid racing/placements. . . . but unfortunately, both of these iconic races ended up being cancelled for 2018, with plans to return in 2019 . . . I was also hoping to race the UCI Winston Salem Cycling Classic Road Race, but unfortunately was not able to find a Composite Team or Guest Ride Spot.

Sad puppy
Sad Puppy

Detour Not Dead End

But, you know what I keep saying. . . “Detour, Not Dead End“, right?!? So when I had a couple of teams offer me guest ride spots at Bike the Bricks Crit, the OKC ProAm Classic Crits, and Tulsa Tough, I threw all of those carefully laid plans out the window, and jumped at the opportunity!

Will racing these Crits showcase my strengths in the way that a solid GC Placement at Cascades or NSGP would have? Probably not (but possibly in a different way?!). If I’ve learned nothing else from the last several years of racing though, it’s that sometimes forcing yourself well outside of your “comfort zone” is just as important and necessary as working on continuing to improve your strengths. It’s sure as heck not comfortable most of the time, but it’s the fastest way I’ve personally found to grow, develop, and improve as a well-rounded bike racer, hopefully making me an even more valuable asset to a team down the road.

And the other bright side to all this?!? With NSGP being cancelled, my schedule opened up so that I’ll have the opportunity to try to defend my 2017 Masters Time Trial National Championship Title! Yipee!!!

Revised May/June Race Plans!

So, without further ado, here are my revised race/travel plans for Late May/June!

Revised June Race Schedule

Looking Forward – What’s Next?

Kristin Armstrong Chrono TT (ASWB Twilight Crit, Chicken Dinner RR) Jul 13-15

After returning from this month-long trip, I’m REALLY (really, really!!) hoping to find some way to get an invite to race the Kristin Armstrong Chrono Time Trial (along with the ASWB Twilight Crit and Chicken Dinner Road Race) in Boise, ID July 13-15. . . . however, I know that this is an Elite, Invite Only TT, and the chances of me acquiring a guest ride spot as pretty much an “unknown” are slim to none. . .

Since when do I back down when the odds are against me, though? LOL!

I’m going to throw my hat into the Lottery with the Zwift Competition on May 30th . . .getting up at 5am to knock that out before hitting the road to meet up with the Pickle Juice Ladies in OKC! Time Trials & Crits go together, right?!? hehehe 1 lucky woman who completes the 10 mile TT in under 27 minutes will be given a spot in the “real” TT on July 13th. . so it’s a long shot, and based more on luck than anything (random drawing of qualifiers), but I’ve got to at least ante up! (#All-In, right!?!? )

I’m making the Pro Nats TT on June 21st my “A” Race, and my coach and I are tailoring my training between now and then (around Crits! lol) in order to peak my performance at Pro Nats TT. In a perfect world, I’d post a Top 10 time, turn some heads, and possibly earn a last minute invite to the Chrono TT that way. . . .

Colorado Classic (Aug 16-19)

This is another Elite, Invite Only, UCI Stage Race that I’ll need to secure either a Guest Ride or Composite Team spot for. . . I haven’t really put out many feelers yet because I was focusing on finding a spot for Winston Salem, but hope to be able to secure a spot at the Colorado Classic Stage Race this year!

Green Mountain Stage Race (Aug 31 – Sep 3)

A Stage Race in the Green Mountains of Vermont! This one overlaps with The Gateway Cup, but I think I will have had my fill of Crit Racing after Tulsa and OKC, and look forward to racing this challenging Stage Race in the mountains instead! This one isn’t UCI, so I’ll be able to register for it without hunting for a Guest/Composite Spot 🙂

September/October – Ultra Time!

After returning home from Vermont, I hope to defend my TX State Champion Road Race Titles in Mid-September, and then will switch my focus back to Ultra Racing through the end of October. I’m planning to race the 12 Hour Time Trial at the Texas Time Trials in Glen Rose, TX in late September, am considering the NCOM 383 Mile Anton Chigurh Ultra Race on Oct 13th in Alpine, TX, and will be returning to defend my 12 Hour World Time Trial Championship Title in Borrego Springs, CA on October 27th!

2018 Zwift Academy?

And who knows. . . I may even try to juggle the Zwift Academy again as I take on these late-season races. . . I really enjoyed the workouts last year, and the camaraderie built with other ZA Participants!

Zwift Academy Logo

#2017BestNine (+ a few!)

I’d like to preface my 2017 Best Nine by mentioning that, while this year was a dream come true, and better than I could have ever imagined that it would be, it most definitely did NOT start out that way, and it was not ALL puppy dogs, rainbows, and sunshine . . My year got off to a crap start when I was diagnosed with SEVERE Anemia a few days before leaving for Valley of the Sun Stage Race in AZ – my first big race of the year. I’d been feeling run down and tired for quite a while, but trained through it until I just couldn’t anymore, and went to the Dr. . . (Pro Tip: DON’T DO THIS, KIDS!!). . . Anyway, long story short, my performance at VOS and the early season local TX Road Races was pretty dang crappy. Anemia for me is like pouring diluted gas into a high performance engine. . . I’m used to being able to just motor my ass off, and with Anemia this severe, my engine was barely sputtering along, and would unexpectedly just cut out on me with little to no warning. I followed my Dr’s orders though, and worked with my coach to train my way through it without running me further into the ground. I refused to throw in the towel for the year, and was positive that I could salvage some good performances by mid to late season. . . Let’s just say that I’m glad I’m a stubborn, hard-headed cuss that isn’t deterred that easily, because boy, did my year turn around once we had my health squared away! That leads me to my 2017 Best Nine. . 
#2017bestnine: I customized mine a bit because it was SUCH an incredible year, that 9 just wouldn’t do it justice… :
  • Winning the USAC Master’s Nats TT claims the #1 spot because of the long multi-year journey behind it 😊
  • Winning the 12 Hr World TT Championship in a US National Champ San Remo Speedsuit rushed through production by Castelli Cycling , coupled with the hands on support of my Hubby & Coach, & everything that my friends, sponsors, & the Austin, TX Cycling community did to help me realize that dream is #2
  • FINALLY claiming a TX State Championship Jersey in Saturday’s WP12 RR, and then having the opportunity to race with so many of my ATC Racing Teammates in Sunday’s AG RR Championship & celebrating teamwork & success together!
  • The Zwift Academy: the camaraderie, community, and support of so many women from around the world, and watching/cheering as so many within this community met and exceeded their goals was definitely a high point of my year!
  • The Driveway Series … ALWAYS a highlight of my year! From meeting & greeting so many within the TX Cycling community at registration to throwing down w some of the strongest ladies in the country, “playing with the boys”, and rounding out Thursday nights w a celebratory Austin Eastciders … The DW Series will ALWAYS have a spot near the top of my highlight list!
  • LOTOJA..traveling cross country w my #1 supporter, crew chief, & Hubby Extraordinaire (who hates cameras…) bridging solo to the break, & then working over so many miles w Lindsey Stevenson to build our gap, all the while soaking in the beauty that surrounded us throughout the UT mountains. . . Definitely an experience that I will cherish for a lifetime!
  • Letting Elyse at Frenchy’s Beauty Parlor use my head as her canvas for a beautiful work of art! I’m very analytical and not creative AT ALL, but I had seen some pics of colorful undercuts and mentioned to my hairstylist, Becca, at Frenchy’s that it would be fun to cut a few lines into it, or have some fun w/ color one of these days. .  . .she introduced me to Elyse, an artist and hairstylist, who I have “free reign” to create whatever art she wanted to on my head. She broke out the paint brushes, razor blades, shears, and hair color, and the end result was more fun and beautiful than anything I could ever have thought up in a million years 🙂 
  • Sponsor LOVE 💚!! The support that Cryo Wellness provided throughout the year, culminating in the awesome “Send Christie to Worlds “ Party that they threw for me … I burned matches at both ends this year, juggling Ultra Racing, USAC Racing, & the Zwift Academy. By the end of the year, I should have been falling apart, but regular Cryo, Compression, & Hyperbaric Chamber Sessions kept me at the top of my game ALL YEAR LONG
  • Continued Sponsor LOVE!: Christopher Bean Coffee Company kept me caffeinated all year, which DEFINITELY helped w alertness during some of those 15+ Hour Road Trips, and also helped get my rear in gear for early morning races and training rides!
Y’all. . . with a year like THIS behind me, I can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store!!
SO, SO MUCH THANKS to Jamie Tracy, Austin Tri-Cyclist, Matt Seagrave, Andrew Willis, Cryo Wellness, Christopher Bean Coffee Company, ATC Racing & Austin Tri-Cyclist, Castelli Cycling, nuun hydration, CANYON//SRAM Racing | Zwift Academy, ALL of my friends, family, and the ATX Cycling Community, and ALL of the awesome and supportive Zwift Academy Ladies for everything that you did to help Push, Drive, and Support me in chasing dreams in 2017!

2017 Zwift Academy Finalist Announcement (Thoughts)

I filmed this video the day after finding out that I was not selected as a Zwift Academy Finalist (after being nearly 100% certain that I would be, given what I found by stalking of other Semi-Finalists on Strava 😈, and my race schedule/results over the Semi-Final Period).

This was really hard for me, after pouring so much of myself into the competition. The video is raw, and my emotions are clear, but it gives an honest portrayal of the thoughts/feelings/emotions that I had bouncing around in my head at the time.

Zwift Academy Semi-Final Workout #7 Recap – Over/Unders. . . AND THAT’S A WRAP!

You see that look on my face right there? That is the look of accomplishment, success, confidence, and RELIEF!!

I think I was about 1 minute or so into my cool down after completing the last hard effort of my final Zwift Academy workout, and had so many thoughts & emotions swirling through my head…

“Holy Crap, I DID IT. I FRIGGIN NAILED THAT WORKOUT. HECK YEAH!!!”

“Wow, that’s it! The SemiFinals are over, and I successfully completed every single workout … yay!!”

“That hurt, but dang it, I did it! Why was I sooo scared of this one?!?”

“OMG OFFSEASON!!! YAAASSSS!!! “😁(Or at least a little break before training camp? 😂🤣)

“Oh man, the 21st is a week away… that’s a loooonnngg time… better find something to keep my mind occupied this week so I don’t lose my mind! 🙃”

#ReflectionsOfAZwiftAcademySemiFinalist #OMG#ISurvived #ThatWasFun #Grateful

World’s best Cheering Squad!
Aaaannnndddd… that’s a wrap!!

Up with the roosters at 5:15am to knock out the final Zwift Academy SemiFinal Workout: Over/Unders (OOMPH!)

I had quite the cheering squad this morning, as my hubby AND my dogs got up early as well to help push me through this final tough session .

I want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone involved with putting together & running this year’s Zwift Academy: Zwift, CANYON//SRAM Racing TrainSharp Cycling Wahoo Fitness Today’s Plan Rapha, and the AMAZING Group of supportive & inspiring women in the Zwift Academy FB Group…. It was such a great experience, and no matter the outcome as far as Finals go, I’m coming out of it a stronger, more well-rounded Rider with more confidence & an amazing support group!

Now let the waiting game begin! 😬 #HowWillIMakeItThroughThisWeek?#ZwiftAcademy #SemiFinals #NICETOP

Zwift on Tour at Mellow Johnny’s in Austin, TX

QOM Challenge at Mellow Johnny’s during the Austin, TX Zwift on Tour Event
Chicken Dinner!
I got to meet THE Rachel Ruby Zambrano at last! 🙂

Zwift On Tour at Mellow Johnny’s in Austin was so much fun tonight! I got to meet some of the really awesome Zwift Staff, some local Zwifters that I’d been riding & chatting with online, but hadn’t met IRL yet, and had the chance to catch up w some friends that I hadn’t seen in a while!

The Wahoo Fitness Demo stations were really cool and Dave Towle even twisted my arm to compete in the KOM / QOM competition 😜

Now off to bed! My last SemiFinal Workout is going down at 6am tomorrow 😳

QOM Challenge!

Zwift Academy Semi-Final Workout #6 (Outside!) – Low Cadence Hill Reapeats

Temporary Tattoos & Tanlines 🙂
RECOVERY at CryoWellness! 
Zwift Academy SemiFinal Road Ride 3 is in the books!
Started the day out with some Premium Fuel for my engine (Curried Coconut Butternut Squash Soup made with Bone Broth + Kale + Poached eggs), planned my route, & then drove over to the starting point. It’s a little weird for me to be doing my weekend rides so late in the day, but because Friday’s SF Road Ride had to be done after work, I’ve done my Sat & Sunday workouts in the afternoons to allow as much recovery as possible in between 😁.
The forecast called for a 20% chance of rain all day, & it started drizzling just as I parked my car… it didn’t rain hard… just enough to coat the streets in a slick sheen & bring all of the oil to the surface… lol… oh well. I have never minded riding in the rain, and today’s workout didn’t call for anything high torque like sprints that may cause wheel slippage, so I just made a mental note to be a bit cautious on the descents.

The 40 minute warmup was great, & then I started into my 5x 5 min seated hill climbs at 50-60 rpm. I’ve never really trained low cadence seated climbing before, so I wasn’t sure what my body would think of it, but turns out it REALLY liked it! The hill I chose (Big View) is super steep, but like most Austin climbs, it climbs for a short period, then levels out for a bit, then kicks up again. I knew this going in & feel like I managed it really well! After the first Kick, I just shifted into my big ring & maintained a steady cadence & power output until the next kick, where I shifted back into my small ring. The climbing felt comfortable, and, dare I say it?… Easy! Who knew ? Low cadence FTW!
My 5th climb was supposed to be max effort, but maintening the same 50-60rpm cadence. I was a little over ambitious at the start & WAY over geared, sending my cadence plummeting to 40 😳… Kickr spiral of death IRL! I gradually shifted down until my cadence was in the appropriate range, which took about a minute, and then continued to hammer my way up the hill. Despite my little goof-up, I still managed to snag the QOM from my good friend & the best climber in Austin, hands down, so SUPER STOKED on that! (It’s the little things… lol).
After my max effort climb, I recovered 5 min, and then held a comfortable 185-190W through the first 50 min of my hour long warm down, dropping it to an easy spin for the final 10 min to clear the lactic acid from my legs.
I finished with a huge grin on my face & feeling good about my effort!

Went straight from there to a CryoTherapy & Normatech Compression Therapy Session from my amazing sponsor CryoWellness… gotta get these Gams ready for my last workout on Tue (Over/Unders)! 😜

Zwift Academy Semi-Final Workout #5 (Outside!) Recap – 5 min max effort + sprints post 2 hour Tempo

Fail to Plan or Plan to Fail! Good think I’m a Type A Planner! 

Yesterday’s SF workout consisted of a warmup followed by 2 x 1 minute all out efforts with a strict 7 minutes recovery after each, Then 2.5 hours of Z2, pushing into Z3 on hills, followed immediately by 5 min max effort. Then a 20 min warm down, & finishing w 3 x all-out 15 sec sprints on the minute.
I LOVED this workout!! It both gave me the opportunity to showcase my strengths, AND forced me to work on my weakness… at the very end of the ride… ouchie! Ha!
My WU period was ~18 min bc it took me this long to get out of town & onto the farm roads. My 2x 1 minute efforts felt great! The 1st was up a slight hill, & I put out my 2nd best 1 min effort ever at 460W. (I would have been shocked to PR at this point given the level of fatigue from last w/e’s race that I’m currently training through, so was STOKED w this result!). My 2nd 1 min effort was slightly lower, but on flat terrain, & I was also pleased with it!
I started into the 2.5 hour block conservatively at ~170W, & gradually built to 185W over the first 10 minutes. I settled in & held a steady 185W for the next hour (pushing a bit harder into hills). After an hour, I upped it to ~190W and held this over the final hour+ through the end of the block.
Straight into the 5 min Max Effort, & it felt really great! I held a fairly steady 270-275 W for the duration, and feel that this was a good level, as I finished the 5 min completely & totally spent ☺️.
At the end of my 20 min warm down, I was in a less than ideal spot for the sprints (20+ mph winds out on the open farm roads all day had slowed my pace a bit from my projection), but I made the best of it! I totally messed up the 1st one… I launched strong and felt great, but when my Garmin started beeping the 5 second countdown to mark the end of the interval, my sprint fogged brain interpreted the first beep as the end of the interval & I shut it down at 10 seconds…. CRAP! Oh well, regroup & on to the next! The other two sprints were ok…. my #s weren’t stellar, but they WERE really good, & an improvement for me, so I was happy with them 😁. One step closer to bringing those fast twitch muscles out of hiding!! 🤣.
I finished the ZA portion of my ride at a gas station with an Icee, and then spun easy for another ~25 minutes back to my car.
This was my favorite TrainSharp Cycling workout yet! Hill repeats on deck for today 

😜

Planning/Prepping for a Zwift Academy Semi-Final Outdoor Workout . . . Type A Much?

Type A much? 🤣

In all seriousness though, a LOT of thought and preparation goes into making sure that the Outdoor Semi-Final workouts go off as close to prescribed as possible . . here’s just a little glimpse!

Here’s a quick glimpse into what goes into planning my Outdoor SemiFinal workouts 😜

Not included in the video is checking my tires thoroughly, planning & packing my nutrition (including PWO), programming the workout into my Garmin Connect so that it will auto-lap off my intervals & provide direction, mapping & downloading the route to my Garmin, & setting up a playlist where the timing will play high tempo/energy songs during any hard efforts… Type A Much?!?! Naaahhhh… #planforsuccess

Zwift Academy Semi-Final Workout #4 Recap – OUTSIDE! 15 Min Test. . w TX Cobbles!

  

I finally got to knock out my 1st Outdoor Zwift Academy Semifinal workout tonight! I’ve been looking forward to this since Nov 1st when they were announced 😁. Lots of careful planning went into preparing for this one, and it still didn’t go quite perfectly, but I’m super happy with the results, all things considered 😜.

Of course I couldn’t resist wearing my Rapha Canyon/SRAM Racing Kit, bc I’m convinced that looking & feeling #sopro gives me at least an extra 2 Watts!

I tried to time it so that I’d finish my 15 minute “test” interval before dark, but didn’t get out of work quite early enough, so full dark hit just as I started it. The world’s best hubby/crew chief offered to SAG for me, & I was SO THANKFUL to have him behind me when I hit the unexpected mile of “TX Cobbles” over the final several minutes of my TT effort in the dark! He managed to play paparazzi too, & snapped a few pics during my ride .

I have another 2 Outdoor SemiFinal workouts lined up for Sat & Sun, and if they’re half as fun as this one, I’m in for a treat! 😁

Zwift Academy Semi-Final Workout #3 Recap – VO2 Intermittent

I completed my 3rd ZA SF Kickr workout, VO2 Intermittent, Wednesday evening … OOMPH this one was another doozy!
The workout consisted of a WU, 5 min recovery, and then 5 min at just under FTP, immediately into 10x 15sec seated sprints/25sec rest, followed immediately by another 5 min at just under FTP. This was then repeated 2 more times, with 5 minutes of recovery in between.
I rolled into that first interval feeling great, but by the time I hit the seated sprints, my legs were already feeling quite heavy! I gave the sprints everything I had (OUCH!), and then settled back in for the 5 min post-sprint Threshold Interval… hung on for dear life & completed it successfully, but Dear God it nearly killed me! 🤣
It’s workouts like these that make me so very thankful that my body recovers quickly during rest intervals… I was feeling pretty good again by the time the 2nd & 3rd Interval started, but by the end of each sprint section, I was 1/2 second away from passing out & falling off my bike again!
As I’ve said before, sprinting is a weakness of mine that I’m working hard to improve upon… so a workout like this was about as far from my “wheelhouse “ as it gets, & despite my BEST efforts, I didn’t hit the RXd sprint # a single time, BUT I did a really good job with the pre AND post sprint Threshold Intervals (thank you engine! 🚂), and finished the workout feeling accomplished & like I’m one step closer to waking up those fast-twitch muscle fibers that I know are there SOMEWHERE! 😜
Thursday was a much needed rest day, & I have my first SemiFinal Outdoor workout on deck for tonight after work. I have to admit, I’m really looking forward to this one (15 min Test) 😁

Zwift Academy Semi-Final Workout #2 Recap – Threshold Pulling Pyramid

Threshold Pulling SemiFinal (Kickr) workout completed last night after a loooonnnggg work day! (Isn’t it awesome how it typically takes a full week to get caught up after taking 2 days off?!? LOL)
I chose to do the Threshold Pulling workout because, while the intervals were at a higher # than the other remaining Kickr workouts, it also incorporated a lot of rest intervals, and I started this workout 72 hours to the minute after falling off my bike in exhaustion post 12 Hour TT, so I knew that my legs would likely “fill up” and want to stop turning over a bit more quickly than usual due to the fact that they weren’t quite 100% recovered yet. At the same time, I know that my legs recover VERY quickly from hard efforts during rest intervals, so I figured I’d have a better shot at hitting/holding the RXd #s in this workout than one of the others that required holding Threshold for a longer period of time between rest intervals.
This workout consisted of a 15 minute warm-up, a 5 minute recovery period, and then into the intervals:
2 x 4 min @ 112% FTP / 4 min Recovery
3 x 3 min @ 112% FTP / 3 min Recovery
4 x 2 min @ 112% FTP / 2 min Recovery
5 x 1 min @ 112% FTP / 1 min Recovery
The intervals were followed by a 10 minute warm-down.
I’ve never done a workout in ERG mode before, but decided to do this one in ERG because I had trouble during the spin-ups in the previous workout, where I had to spin up, and then drop to 76W immediately after. Without ERG on, and with no brakes on the Kickr, it took a good bit of time for the Kickr to spin down to the point that I could pedal at 76W. I wanted to nail the #s in this workout, so I figured I’d give ERG a shot. (Spoiler Alert: Bad Idea!)
A little more info about my Kickr: it’s reading ~14-15W lower than all of my other Power Meters (PT hubs and C1 Crank Meter) – this normally wouldn’t be all that much of a problem, but when using ERG mode, and holding me at 285W, which is 112% of my FTP, it was ACTUALLY holding me at what my body perceived as ~300-305W (~120%), based on the meters that I usually use, and that my FTP was calculated on. . . . couple that with the fact that my legs weren’t fully recovered. . . yeah, I most certainly “got my money’s worth” out of this workout! lol
My legs felt surprisingly good/nimble during the warmup period, and I was feeling very positive about my ability to nail the #s. About 3 seconds before the start of the 1st 4 min interval, I increased my cadence to ~110 to prepare for the resistance to kick in. ERG kicked in, and I continued to spin at 100+ rpm for the duration of the first 4 minute interval, but my legs were screaming at me by the end of it. . and I was 1 interval into 14 – YIKES!
I recovered quickly from the first interval during the 4 min recovery, and then launched into the 2nd 4 minute interval feeling good. Despite my best efforts to keep my cadence 100+ though, it started to drift about half-way through, and 2:20 in, I hit the “breaking point” where ERG mode threw on so much resistance due to my dropping cadence that I began to really struggle to turn the pedals over. I stood up and mashed for the final minute of this interval, and managed to hit my #s, but my cadence had faded over the final minute of the interval from 100+ to ~50RPM. I knew that I’d have to do a better job of keeping it up, because my legs would not be able to continue mashing that big of a gear for all of the remaining intervals.
I faded a bit ~ 2 min into the 1st 3 minute interval when I went to stand and didn’t stand fast enough, so the ERG brought my pedals to a grinding halt and I couldn’t get my cadence back up over 35 RPM for the final 30 seconds. . .can you say OUCH!!? LOL
After that though, I did a good job of hitting all of my #s for the remaining intervals despite a dropping cadence and lots of “mashing” throughout the final 30-60 sec of each of the 3 & 2 minute intervals.
I felt that my legs recovered quickly during each recovery session, even as the recovery period decreased, so that was a relief!
I actually really enjoyed the final 5 x 1 minute intervals! I found that I could easily keep my cadence up over 100RPM for this amount of time, so I never got “bogged down”, and therefore the 1 minute rest periods allowed me plenty of time to recover/prepare for the next one, and I nailed these flawlessly and felt that I could have done more 
Summary: This was a really great workout, and one that I think I would have enjoyed even more, had I taken it on a little more recovered, and out of ERG mode. I earned 7/7 stars, so THAT was a huge relief!
For those of you out there who, like me, don’t have a lot of experience using ERG mode and/or prefer to generate your high power output through spinning at 95+ RPM rather than standing/mashing, I’d recommend turning ERG off during this one 
VO2 Intermittent SemiFinal Workout (Kickr) on deck for tonight after work! 

Zwift Academy Semi-Final Progress Update

 

This pic is of me attempting to stand up after practically falling off my bike after winning the 12 Hour World Time Trial Championship Race…. let’s just say I’m glad that it wasn’t on video!!

As promised, here’s a quick update on my Zwift Academy SemiFinal progress 😁.

The timing of the SemiFinals wasn’t ideal for me due to some previously scheduled racing commitments, but I sure as heck wasn’t going to let that stop me from participating!

I was signed up to Race the 12 Hour World Time Trial Championships on 11/04, which fell right in the middle of the 2 week Academy time frame. The race was in California, so my husband and I drove straight through (19 hours) on Sat 10/28, and rented a house for the week leading up to the race so that I could adjust to the time change, lack of humidity, and temps prior to race day. I work remotely (accounting) for an East Coast Company, so I was able to work my normal hours M-Th, and on PDT, that was 5am – 2pm. This meant early bed times but allowed a few beautiful afternoons for Taper rides & pre-riding the course. I took my Kickr with me, & knocked out the 2×12 min test SemiFinal workout on 11/01 so that I would only have to squeeze 6 in to the 2nd week. I recover very quickly from that type of effort, and felt fully recovered by race morning after taking it easy 11/02-03.

My coach flew in to help crew for me and we chatted strategy the day before the race. I really didn’t know the caliber of my competition, as I couldn’t just stalk their results on USAC or USAT because there was also a Rider from the UK & from Italy. We decided that I’d start out on the fast end of my 12 Hr effort level, while temps were cool, & he would monitor gaps. IF I built a decent gap over 2nd Place, he would step down my power gradually until I was holding the gap steady. The goal here was to do everything necessary to win, but nothing more, because we didn’t want to burn matches unnecessarily that I would need during my Zwift Academy Semi-Final workouts a few days later!

World’s. Best. Coach. 🙂 

You can read my 12 Hr World Time Trial Championship Race report, posted earlier today, here! (spoiler alert. . . I’m a freaking World Champion!! Still can’t believe it!)

The next morning, Nov 5th, we left CA and drove the 19 hours back home to Austin, TX straight through.

We got home at 5:30am Mon morning, and I slept until noon, & then got up and started prioritizing recovery with a foam roll session, CryoTherapy & Normatech Compression at CryoWellness, and a Sports Massage from Austin Massage Company focusing primarily on Myofacial Release & loosening up My IT bands, glutes, hips, & quads.

 

Best Sports Massages in Austin at Austin Massage Company!
(#FilteredAF Photo b/c I looked like death warmed over after that 18 hour drive. . )

Got a good night’s sleep last night, and I’m back to the grind this morning! Working till 4, then planning to knock out my 2nd Kickr SemiFinal Workout: Threshold Pulling! Wish me luck! I’m also planning to do this one using the Kickr in ERG mode (I usually control the power myself through gearing & cadence), so it will be interesting to see how this goes!