Let’s face it, we all want to get fitter. And for many of us, January is the time for setting new goals. But while many of us start the year with great intentions, the demands of life often manage to disrupt our resolutions.
Back in November, I found myself in a similar situation of wanting to improve my fitness, and give myself something to aim for, so I set myself the goal of competing in my first-ever cyclocross race. It had been well over a year since my last competition and a year of very disrupted training had taken its toll. My goal was to train sustainably around a much busier work and social life, to get my body to a place where I could at least enjoy giving my friends a good run for their money - that’s where Zwift came in.
Indoor training may not be synonymous with cyclocross, but delve a little deeper, and you’ll see just how much a platform like Zwift has to offer when training for real-life goals.
After consulting with cyclocross expert Nick Craig, I had all the knowledge I needed to tailor my next four weeks of training to get the most out of my body with the few hours I could spare each week.
My training was split into four main focuses: building the engine, building intensity, technical riding, and finally, fine-tuning my legs ahead of race day.
With a maximum of three or four short training sessions per week, I needed to make every session count, and nothing is as efficient as training using erg mode. The Zwift Hub One, in conjunction with structured workouts on Zwift, allows for quick setup, and trouble-free training. Erg mode means the turbo trainer communicates directly with Zwift, allowing the resistance to be automatically controlled requiring minimal thinking and allowing you to focus entirely on performing your efforts well - particularly useful after a long day at wor
My setup consisted of the Zwift Hub One (compatible with almost any bike, including my Giant TCX), the Zwift Play Controllers as well as Zwift itself set up through my laptop. Setup, thanks to easy Bluetooth pairing, was super quick allowing me to waste no time starting my sessions.
What made my life even easier was the multitude of pre-planned training sessions that Zwift has to offer. Among my favourites, were the Zwift City Downtown Dolphin Crit workouts, as well as ‘The Pidcock’ (for those wondering, yes, Tom Pidcock does know how to suffer!), both of which helped me to replicate the intense demands of cyclocross racing.
I did, of course, practise my skills too. Mounting, dismounting, and tackling slippery off-camber corners is an essential part of racing off-road, and good legs will only get you so far. Even after all this practice though, as I found out, sometimes the mud can still catch you off guard!
When race day finally rolled around, I was in a far better physical state than one month previous. The project reminded me of just how far a few hours a week of structured training can go. No, I wasn’t at my full-time riding best, but I regained some of the threshold and explosive power that meant I was able to really enjoy racing one of the fastest courses the Wessex Cyclocross League has to offer.
After a mechanical and a little get down, my result may have been nothing to write home about - but lessons learnt: indoor training really can work for outdoor racing!
