All,
I have been training for a while now Prox 1 year, came ff zwith training program and hopped on TR currently holding an FTP of 237 with 190 pounds and I’m still horrible on races.
Please note, I have been on TrainerRoad for 12 weeks, just finished SSBII entering Build on Tuesday.
any advice?!
What kind of races and what build plan? What makes you “horrible” in races? Volume? How do the intervals feel? Are you completing them successfully or failing workouts consistently? If so, which workouts?
Training: Currently on General Build, yes, I have been completing the workouts with no issues.
Races: I literally can’t hold more, I can’t keep pedaling
Workouts as for now have been mostly the SweetSpot workouts…
Can you post some log from your bad races? You probably go too hard in short efforts and are unable to recover after that.
Do you mean that you feel bad in Zwift races, and/or that you’ve not been very successful?
Not able to finish races due to fitness i assume…
Dont worry about it we’ve all being there there is not one cyclist that has never been dropped in a race no matter how good they are when they start off. Just at the moment you dont have race craft and it takes time as long as you don’t give up when dropped and keep trying its all you can do and will get there. Every race starts off flat out and attacking and you just have to try and absorb it for about 30 to 40 minutes then it calms down then kicks off again with about 30 minutes to go. Just remember nobody can ride or when you’re doing over 600 plus watts for ever and it will ease. What is your max 1 minute and 5 minute power like its them efforts that count not the ftp. Generally speaking in a race you are either recovery in the wheels then when it’s on it’s on attacking you never ever go and and do a constant 20 minute efforts.
This was today, i Blew up and had to quit… - I started a warmup and zwift entered me into the race, please disregard title…
Today I did a TT flat race and i had to quit a few mins in…
Horrible: not able to complete them, i think i am going too hard. Please note that bike racing is new for me.
Looks to me like you are going out too hard. I’m not sure how long of a race it was supposed to be but your average power is 10w above your claimed FTP so you can only do that for so long before it needs to drop so you can recover.
I have another race tomorrow, what would you suggest?
Not gonna lie, i get hyped when i pass others, also hyped when they pass me… NO LIKE!
Guidance please!!
Just keep at it. Sounds like you’re new-ish to structured training which means you’ll see good progress. Zwift races are definitely hard and you are riding above your limits to hang on - as said previously you can’t do that for very long.
Keep training, keep racing, don’t confuse ambition with ability 
You will improve quickly!
Don’t forget to recover, especially important when races take a big toll.
Definitely pacing. And let’s be honest, it’s Zwift. Everyone all around you could be using their high school weight and you never really know.
Genera build is great. I personally stick to a low volume plan even though I usually end up riding 8-9 hours a week. I add in easy rides when I can. I feel like I am more able to stick to a 3 day plan where anything more is bonus.
As said above, zwift races are notorious for sand bagging so who knows if the field your against is fair for your capabilities at the moment. So I would manage my expectations accordingly. Treat these races as lessons. It’s possible that your fitness isn’t at a point where you can be competing for a win…yet. So pace yourself to your fitness as opposed to the fitness of the eventual winner.
First lesson you have learned is I can’t ride over threshold indefinitely.
I would first look at how long do I expect the race to last. From there you can figure out what kind of pacing you can attempt.
