Well, I didn’t make the Zwift Academy Finals and I didn’t qualify for the 2023 UCI eSport World Championships. And both were my own fault. It’s been a disappointing month, to say the least.
I forgot to send my paperwork in time for Zwift Academy – how dumb is that? After making the cut for the final 15, I just needed to fill out three forms in order to be considered for the Final 5. I filled out two of the forms but forgot to send in the third.
I’ll never know if I would have made it or not, but I’m already thinking about next year…
The past month hasn’t been filled with the results I was hoping for. I’m not burned out like I had feared when I was hitting power PRs in August. Rather, I’ve had a string of technical failures, poor timing, and life stress.
But it wasn’t all bad, and I had one of my best-ever performances in the Zwift Racing League on October 18th. Up against a slew of Zwift Grand Prix riders in Wahoo Le Col, I finished 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in four out of five primes, plus two FTS primes, and 2nd in the final sprint, only beaten by my teammate, James Barnes.
Within that race was one of the longest segments in ZRL history: Fuego Flats (long). At nearly 8km, the pan-flat segment was perfect for breakaway tactics or starting off the back. If you could close the gap to the front, you’d have a multi-second advantage on the peloton at the end of the segment. But if you drifted too far back, you were dropped for good.
I timed the segment perfectly, starting about six seconds off the back of the main peloton and sitting on a few WLC riders who pulled me back. It took over 4km to catch back on, but once we were there, I knew I had the FTS locked up.
My confidence was high coming into Round 3 of the Zwift Grand Prix three days later. But my legs didn’t feel great, I kept messing up the timing, and I contributed a lot less to the team than I had hoped. But my NeXT pb Enshored teammates are fighters, and every rider finished in the points to earn us second place on the day. After three rounds, we have a narrow lead in the Zwift Grand Prix heading into Round 4 this Friday.
The following day, I started a race earlier than I ever had before. It was the DBR SufferLeague VII, and it started at 3:30am. My alarm was set for 2:55am, with just enough time to waddle out of bed, get changed, and hop on the bike.
Maybe I should race at 3:30am more often because I went and won the dang thing. Well, I was second in the points, but first at the finish line. My numbers from the race were fascinating, too. At that time in the morning, my heart rate was incredibly low. I spent most of the race at 110-120bpm, whereas I would normally be at 130-145bpm during the easy parts of a Zwift race.
In terms of nutrition, I had a solid dinner the night before, but nothing crazy. And I didn’t eat between 3-3:30am in the morning. My first calories came about 30 minutes into the race, and it was liquid form all race. I had put ~350 calories of Skratch mix into two bottles, and I had a gel on standby.
I finished the bottles during the race but was surprised that I didn’t need any more calories. According to my power meter, I burned 2300 calories during the race and ingested 700. That’s certainly on the low end for workout fueling, but I also spent the majority of the race riding under 200w. That means I was burning mostly fat during the race, with very little time burning carbohydrates in Zones 4-5.
For the number nerds, here is a quick power breakdown from DBR SufferLeague VII on the Richmond UCI Worlds Course:
Time in Zones:
- Zone 1: 1 hour 54 minutes
- Zones 2 and 3: 31 minutes
- Zones 4 and 5: 9 minutes
You can find all of my Zwift race live streams on my YouTube channel.
After the 115km race finished (at 6 in the morning!) I headed out of town for a 3-day rest block with zero training. The following week, I did three days easy followed by the Zwift Tiny Race series on Saturday, and I felt awesome.
I started setting power PRs the following week with a few signature attacks in the BL13 Race Series and OH MY CRIT!! In both races, I attacked at 1km to go on Fan Flats, hitting 1-minute power PRs on back-to-back days: 753w on Wednesday and 766w on Thursday.
And then I got sick.
Five days before the UCI eSports Worlds Qualifiers, I was sick for the first time in months. I tried a few recovery rides, but my heart rate was 30bpm higher than normal, and I was getting nervous. But I trusted my plan and thought that the extra rest might actually help.
Fast forward to Sunday, two minutes before the Worlds Qualifiers, I was warmed up and ready to go. Then my heart rate monitor signal cut out…and then my trainer lost its Bluetooth signal. And the next thing I know, there’s one minute until the start and I’m resetting my Bluetooth connections. My heart rate monitor didn’t connect in time, and I knew that was an instant disqualification. I wouldn’t have trusted my trainer to hold the signal anyway.
My race was over before it began. And now it’s back to the drawing board (and the nomination forms) to try and earn my spot at the UCI eSport World Championships.
I had a lot of help that weekend, getting through the immense disappointment, and I’m grateful that I was surrounded by such wonderful people.
I’m still not at 100% physically, but I’m feeling better every day. Tomorrow is the next round of the Zwift Grand Prix, a Points Elimination Reverse that has a wild format. Our team – NeXT pb Enshored – has a plan, but so does everyone else. It should be a fun one.
After that, the winter virtual racing season is officially underway with the addition of the Echelon Racing League starting this Saturday. Between Zwift Racing League on Tuesdays, the Zwift Grand Prix on some Fridays, the Echelon Racing League every few weekends, and MyWhoosh on Sundays, my training plan for the next three months is basically: openers → race → recovery → repeat.
Coaching by Alex Coh at Endurance Sport
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Zwift Grand Prix – Round 4: November 18th
Echelon Racing League – Round 1: November 19th
Zwift Racing League Season 2 – continues, November 22nd – December 13th
Echelon Racing League – Round 2: November 27th
Zwift Grand Prix – Round 5: December 2nd