Given the opportunity to take part in a 30 day cycling challenge with the objective to result in being fitter, faster and stronger on the bike will always have me sold!
I was one of 100 women lucky to take part in the 30-Day Women’s Cycling Challenge. It was 30 days following 3 structured workouts per week and started 4 January. This was perfect timing for me as I had finished my Zwift Gran Fondo training plan the week before. When signing up you are agreeing to complete 80% of the workouts, which is good for me as I am used to structured workouts and actually prefer them.
The challenge is designed to make riders more efficient on the bike. You also got access to a private forum for advice from others taking part in the challenge and previous participants, nutrition advice and exclusive discounts from brands that are used and recommended by the coach.
A Bit About The Coach
During the challenge you also got access to the coach, Theia Friestedt, founder of 360 Velo who is a Certified US Cycling Coach and competitive cyclist, and has decades of experience in a variety of other sports, including ballet, yoga, and TRX.
Theia noted in one of the posts in the forum that one of the main principles of her training programs is to “do the minimum amount of work needed to yield the most results”.
She went on to explain that so many training plans out there drive athletes to the ground, and so many athletes believe they have to be absolutely exhausted to have done a “good workout”. But the key to performance is consistency, and the key to consistency is being able to do workouts week in, week out. If we work too hard and don’t recover well then we won’t be consistent, we will be too tired or worse, injured.
Theia had found from her own training that it was only after finding the perfect balance between intensity and recovery that her performance increased significantly.
In advance of starting I read up on the challenge and the following sentence stuck out to me:
‘bike riding requires skills, not just strength. The strongest rider doesn’t usually win the race. It’s the rider who can combine strength with skills who goes faster.’
Challenge Objectives
The objectives were as follows:
- Fitter – improve your fitness by completing structured workouts with a purpose
- Faster – learn new skills that will result in speed, efficiency, and economy on the bike
- Stronger – develop muscular strength for riding on hills, climbs, and flat roads
My turbo set up at home uses a Wahoo Kickr direct drive smart trainer, which also measures power in the form of watts and this was a requirement to take part in the challenge. In addition to this you needed at least one year of cycling experience and to be currently riding at least four hours a week, categories that were both fine with me.
Zwift is my platform of choice for indoor training on the bike and the sessions for the challenge were loaded to Today’s Plan, which I could access in Zwift also. This was a good continuation from my training beforehand although I had never used Today’s Plan but the instructions were sent in advance of the start and very easy to follow to get set up.
Pre Start Q&A with the Coach
Before the challenge started there was a live Q&A that covered what the challenge was about and for Theia to introduce herself also. Some of the areas covered were as follows:
- There were daily core 15 minute workouts to be done before the bike to engage and activate the muscles fired up and ready.
- 2 full days off per week to allow appropriate recovery is recommended.
- There was flexibility to move workouts around but the challenge is designed to do the workouts within the week they are assigned and not move from week to week.
- It was important to have an up to date FTP in Zwift to ensure the workouts are at the right levels.
- Theia asks people not to use ERG mode on your smart trainer – eek this was not something I was used to. The reason for this is that the biggest principle is to practice what you do outside and one of those things is shifting, alongside cadence. Theia believes that always working out in ERG mode results in inconsistent power output in real life and without it you can build and maintain speed with better gear/cadence use and in return you cycle faster. Cadence ensures you perform better without using more power and that you can sustain that performance for longer. Intervals in the plan are designed to simulate real world experience. This is a skill that is part of the sport of cycling and Theia believes the results will prove this.
- Not to worry about stars in Zwift as it is purely gamification in training, we are human and other factors can impact performance, and that it is important to remember that FTP is not a static number.
My Thoughts
I am a huge fan of structured training and this was just that so a tick in my book. The focus of each week was as follows:
- Week 1 – Strength, aerobic capacity and includes intervals from tempo to sweet spot
- Week 2 – Strength, aerobic capacity, endurance and power from intervals building from tempo to threshold
- Week 3 – Threshold work, aerobic capacity, and muscular endurance
- Week 4 – Recovery and skills
I thought I had a good core but I could really feel the effects of the daily core workout pretty early and it was nice to have that consistency throughout off the bike for on the bike benefits.
I struggled to begin with not using Erg mode. I have always used this in my structured training and like that I don’t have to think about the interval and power targets as the resistance automatically changes. However, I do appreciate the logic behind not using it and hitting power targets off your own steam. I struggled most matching a dictated cadence with required power but actually nowhere near as much as I thought I would. The time also went by quicker as I had to concentrate more on the targets. I was also surprised how many people I knew who didn’t use Erg and are now complete converts to training in this way. I think I am now one of those converts!
I loved the support in the forum you have access to. There was a lot of communication amongst the ladies, loads of support and Theia was also very present in this too, which was lovely.
It was also really nice part way through to have a follow up Q&A with Theia and other ladies in the group too. It was really interesting to hear how other ladies were getting on with the challenge especially as we all have different levels of experience and abilities. There was a really interesting conversation about the correlation of power and cadence that is relative in order to pick up and maintain momentum and also working with terrain to your advantage. I actually joked to my husband that he would love Theia as he is hot on cadence.
Theia did not review the workouts completed, which was a shame not to have feedback. We did have videos per workout for explanation and could see our own completed sessions/performance. Also if you wanted to discuss anything you could post in the forum and as I said Theia was extremely responsive so it actually served the same purpose to a certain extent.
Did My FTP Increase?
It was not a requirement of the plan to complete an FTP test. Personally after I do a block of training I often like to complete an FTP test so I can gauge any increase/decrease from a previous result. I would normally allow myself 3 complete days rest, however, this time I took only 2 days from my final session and then took a ramp test on Zwift (more on the different type of FTP test here) and my result……
Well my result previously was 222W and is now 224W – only a slight increase but a gain is a gain (a friend reminded me of this yesterday) and I will take it!
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