I enjoy Zwift with Workouts when doing it together with friends. Combined with the gummyband it allows you and your friends to stick together but do the workout/tackle a goal together etc.
Beside that, for pure workouts, it doesn’t give me too much.
Group races/rides and Events though push me alot 
Freeride then…
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I’m trying to do a triple day today to see how it feels, maybe looking to increase to a mid volume training plan after Valencia 70.3.
Swim this morning, very easy 1.2km, a 30 min bike HIIT session at lunch and then a threshold HM pace run tonight.
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I accidentally edited today’s VO2 max session when scrolling on iPad. It then said I created the workout and workout wizard disappeared. But I knew it would be 4 intervals under long HIIT. Thus I deleted what was left and went out to do my four hill repeats.
The recumbent I’m currently on isn’t good once the grade goes about about 4%. That’s why it got superceded by the one currently having the frame redone (new colour!).
Thus I went to another local hill I’d been considering using for my VO2 sessions. It’s about 3% and thus more suited. It worked well for the intervals and just as quiet as the hill I’ve been using these past 9 months.
It was very wet and I called the ride Rain Man on Strava. But riding in all weathers during training is good for my events. My events are guaranteed all kinds of wet and windy. Knowing I feel fine in such conditions is good mentally and one less thing to worry about.
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Woooweee! That was a tough short hiit. I decided to ignore my note from last weeks hiit to keep everything the same this week going from 3x7 to 4x7.
What did I learn?
1- Adding 10 watts to the quality intervals and subtracting 10 watts from the recovery ones was a good (bad) idea.
2- Specifically, I did NOT leave extra reps in the tank for 4 x 7. Had it been 3 x 7 intervals, this would have been perfect… because now I know I can do 7 more hahah
3- I really embraced the suck for the final reps. I told myself it was going to be awful, and it was. But I also told myself that I can do that kind of awful. 
mWR -6%, FTI 97%
Rest day tomorrow and I get to sleep in.
@Phil Giving a master class in training like you race. Thank you sensei!
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“Added by you” on the Training Plan. I have seen this on the bottom of some of my upcoming training sessions. But I didn’t add it. 
. For example on the bottom of my next scheduled swim workout. Any thoughts? Thanks, Joe
I’ve seen this at the bottom of my sessions if I modify them (e.g. number of intervals). Did you tweak any upcoming sessions? Maybe @prof has an idea?
I swapped my 30/30 run for quarter mile repeats. 8 x 0.25 with 1 min rest.
Hadn’t done this workout in a while, but felt good. Good to add some speed back into my legs.
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I see this if I accidental edit a session whilst scrolling on iPad
FINIS Tempo Trainer.
Earlier in the week for my swim session, in the header that describes the session. There was a recommendation for swimsmooth.com as a resource for technique and advice. Diving into that resource, they recommend the use of the Finis Tempo Trainer. After watching a half dozen videos. I decided to get one to see how it can help with my training. I have known about the Tempo trainer for years, but finally decided to make the investment into it.
For those swimmers and triathletes in our group here, how are you best using the Tempo Trainer? The pacing parameters that Athletica provides for the swims are great. I am just looking to fine tune my technique even further. Happy Friday and thanks, Joe
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Ice cold hail and sleet today. Temperature 3-4C thus no risk of ice under wheels. As we say in the UK, nice weather for ducks. Below is a painting on one of the underpasses on the local cycleways. A 3 hour aerobic endurance session.
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My events are non competitive. They are hard enough (some have a did not finish (DNF) rate as high as 40%), that just finishing them in good shape is accomplishment enough.
The best thing that mentally I did was to give myself permission to fail. Once you release that pressure to perform, I’ve found you actually perform better. You’ve put the training and preparation in. No matter the outcome, take in your event, and experience the now of it, and realise how lucky you are to be able to do it.
Be content and learn to enjoy your training and racing process, and don’t hinge that enjoyment upon binary outcomes. The outcomes is the cherry / icing, but don’t forget to enjoy the cake.
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Using my HR as a guide this morning I was able to increase the interval power another 10 watts over last week’s race pace session and remain in z3a. The improvements are coming in leaps and bounds this week!
Two nights in a row of 8.5 hours of sleep and my RHR is down to near historical lows. I’m absorbing the training well and I can feel myself returning to pre-2021 form (but with more energy!)
Montreal’s Festival des Lumiers and Nuit Blanche this afternoon evening and another rest day tomorrow. Fun times!
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Pretty happy with my ride today.
Did the 20 min over/under workout and nailed the first 2 sets. Struggled a bit on the 3rd.
One of my overall weaknesses I’ve had is I’m more of a diesel engine than a race car. I can grind for a while, but as I get above my FTP, I burn out quickly.
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Rare opportunity for a long run in the rain today. Seeing the clouds coming in from offshore, I decided to add another 3-ish mile loop to just so I could splash around a bit. Fun!
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A tempo session today. In contrast to yesterday it was dry and even a touch of sun. A morning frost and some ice in the puddles, dew evaporating off the fields as the sun warmed the air. GPS recorded an average of 1C. A nice morning out on my favourite lane for this session.
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Once again, I had a gut feeling that I could increase the power some more during the quality intervals. I was right. I also lowered the recovery power to prioritize recovering between intervals and that’s been a good call once again.
There were a couple of mentally challenging minutes during the final 3 intervals. Working at this threshold level feels heavy on the legs and that second minute is the most difficult. Once I hit halfway, it gets easier mentally.
I’ve started to follow my sessions with a protein shake… seems to be helping my recovery quite a bit!
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The past week or so has been a good confidence builder. Hitting the workouts and then some. I’ve been adding in additional z1/z2 style workouts just to spin the legs more and I think that’s really helping flush my legs out.
Today I swapped by the 7x5 minute and worked out going from z3 to z4 by increasing each interval . Felt great and met the objectives.
I’m not sure I understand the algorithm yet though. Last week I added volume to my week and it responded by reducing rides…This week it has decided to increase intervals.
I’ll take it but it’s interesting.
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VO2 max session today. Damp but mild (6C) and thus didn’t wear my windproof or gloves. Session went well with 4 hill repeats for my long HIIT.
Seems my heart stopped 3 times during the session. I felt remarkably okay considering 
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It’s trying to hit the progressive overload ramp rate in your settings. Imagine a ramp in your training load leading to your A event, it goes up consistently and drops a little during each recovery week. If you go above the ramp, it reduces subsequent workouts, if you are below the ramp it increases subsequent workouts.
As an example I did a 5+ hour aerobic endurance a couple of weekends back. The AI only had me scheduled for 3 hours. As a result my tempo / VO2 sessions were reduced to try and stop me overtraining by doing too much compared to my recent training history.
Least I think that’s what’s happening. If I look at the fitness value for my A event it doesn’t change much even if I’ve done more or less than proscribed.
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This is how I understand it as well.
During the initial plan calculations, Athletica determines the optimal fitness that can be achieved based on ramp rate. Going forward, fatigue is managed to keep it in the optimal range for being consistent.
Decide you’re feeling amazing and really kill a workout? Awesome! But that results in additional fatigue. So, Athletica will reduce the load for some workouts to keep you on track.
As has been said before on this forum: Your fitness number doesn’t really matter. It’s what you can do with your fitness that you’ve developed by being consistent and injury free.
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