I am planning to participate in ZA but only doing the 8 workouts and 4 rides. Between the workouts from here, two 50 milers and a bunch of travel, ZA isn’t my top priority. I almost feel sorry for the people that think just doing ZA will change their cycling and raise their FTP.
I’m also planning to do the ZA workouts. Not sure if I’ll have time for all of them but doing so for group rides and to collect the unlocks. Always fun! - Becky
Would it be ok to do a workout earlier on Thursday and then do the group ride with you? Some of the ZA group rides end up being races, but I know that won’t be the case when you are the leader. I remember that from last year!
Noted @NUGirl, @PaleGail and @bjrittner! @NUGirl yes, that would be fine and I would recommend adjusting your w/kg so that the social ride is an easy spin for you. The way to do that is to enter an FTP that equals your weight in kg*4. That way you are setting up your w/kg FTP to 4.0, and the 2.0 w/kg ride will therefore be at 50% of FTP for you.
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@Coach_Theia me too. I did the first ZA workout this morning!
I’m a bit behind on the plan though because I had a week of IRL rides. So on my plan for this week is Plan B week 2. Sorry for being awkward
I signed up for ZA, just for the ride-ons! 
-Angie
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I think one of the reasons zwift group workouts and rides become a race is due to how zwiftpower ranks the finish. A trophy finish is a trophy finish 
Who doesn’t like to see their name near the top! 
After 3 years of leading weekly rides in Zwift, I noticed that there will always be riders who ride off the front on every ride. Some do it without realizing it (sometimes because they because they are in a “grupetto” off the front), while others join rides but just do their own thing. That is why Zwift implemented the “fence” feature, which forces riders to slow down and get back to the leader or otherwise be ejected from the event.
I do not use the fence. My approach is to let them do what they want - we are all grown-ups after all. I find that having a leader who is constantly trying to regroup everyone and sending messages to that effect can take away from the whole experience and even be annoying. Similarly, if riders are off the back, I tell them to not stress out about sprinting to get to the beacon, I encourage them to ride with others around them as we can all communicate just the same. It is very hard to keep everyone together at all times.
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Hi everyone! For those of you doing Zwift Academy, what are your thoughts on the workouts this year? What about the races? Please share them! Thank you.
I agree! I think the balance this year definitely tipped too far towards “testing” rather than training. If you look in the group forums the coach who designed the workouts says that they are meant to test and find the finalists, and to give a small taste of structured coaching. I think I did benefit from the workouts but I agree that it’s hard to say if it was the best use of my training time. Granted, I’m currently working on the 4 group rides for extra credit so it wasn’t all bad, but if it wasn’t 110+ here in Phoenix I think I’d be more inclined to go outside instead.
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So I can’t compare to anything but your workouts @Coach_Theia since I only started Zwifting in January. Since you guided us in swapping out for planned workouts, I don’t feel like I lost anything except your workouts (I keep moving them forward so I don’t lose them in case I want to fit them in). I feel like I still learn more from you and your videos than I do from the ZA Coach commentary. I get that they are trying to motivate a very wide swath of cyclists, from those of us that just want to graduate to say we did to those that are trying to get the contract. Your videos give me things to focus on and think about during the ride, which has helped me learn more about my strengths and weaknesses as a cyclist. All the info about muscles etc that are on the ZA WOs are interesting but not when I am focused on cadence and watts.
I can only compare to last year’s ZA. That was really my first experience with structured workouts, and I really enjoyed them. I liked the experience of completing them in a group, and I thought most of them were right on target for my abilities.
This year I have found all of the workouts to be much more challenging. Even the warmup is at a higher intensity- you are doing a block at 95% of FTP by about 7 minutes into the workout! Do I agree with the assessment that it is more focused on testing than on training. I have found scheduling of group rides to be difficult. I wanted to do one on Wednesday and the only one available was at noon. Were they struggling to find ride leaders this year? Haven’t done any races, but I might try one and see how I do.
I find I’m “ticking” the ZA workouts off by riding them at 90-95% bias and try to limit the degree that they put me in my “hurt box”! It’s like each workout contributes in some degree to a power curve and it isn’t overly meaningful to me as I’m not going ever be a candidate for a pro contract!
ZA#7 hammered the crap outta me for a couple of days. I have to do ZA#6 & 8 to finish the thing off.
I think ZA workouts have always been designed to be “tests” but the coaches probably realized that by doing targeted workouts designed specifically with the objective to extract the precise data (such as the elements of the power curve)- like they did this year- would save them a lot more time. I am glad they were transparent in stating that objective, though, so participants know what to expect.
Thanks so much for that feedback @PaleGail!
Sorry about Za WO #7 @franklim 
it’s not an ideal workout if it requires extra recovery like that. I am glad you are honouring the need to take it easy.
@NUGirl the group ride schedule depends exclusively on the volunteers’ availability and willingness to lead rides. So it’s not that Zwift provides time slots and asks leaders to sign up… that’s why you see holes on the schedule.
Oh dear, I seem to have graduated Zwift Academy instead of doing the planned workouts this week eek!!
I guess I got carried away.
Sorry, I will get back on plan after We get back from Revolve24 next week, promise 
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Congrats @Tracyligemagreen!! Easy for any of us to do 
Just make it up to Coach with how hard you work on her WOs next week and I’m sure it will be okay 
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Thanks @PaleGail
It didn’t seem too hard! I think @Coach_Theia works us harder and I’m definitely looking forward to getting back into the proper plan next week. Plus I’m less than 3,000 metres away from the Tron bike so that’s my next week’s goal!
Congrats on graduating @Tracyligemagreen!! As usual, please make sure you are getting enough recovery. Isn’t the Revolve24 this weekend? Which event are you participating in?
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It is this weekend @Coach_Theia, we are starting the trip down south tomorrow. We have a team of 7 (was 8) riding the 24 hour ride.
Super excited!