Zwift Invitational League // Qualifying Race #2 Post-Race Thoughts

I ended up in 57th out 88 racers and all I could think after the race was, “What the fuck was that?” Both in part because of my lackluster placing as well as how the race unfolded. This felt way harder than Monday.

Let’s look at the numbers

TrainingPeaks gave Monday’s race a training stress score (TSS) of 107 and an Intensity Factor (IF) of 1. Thursday’s race TrainingPeaks gave it a TSS of 98 and an IF of .98. So for all intents and purposes, the data says Thursday’s race wasn’t actually more difficult than Monday’s.

Based on my body, my average heart rate during Monday’s 26.3-mile race was 172 with a max of 182. I averaged 212 watts, hitting 447 watts. Also, when I look at my PW:HR (power to heart rate, aka: aerobic decoupling), it shows 5.96%. According to Joe Friel, “fit endurance athletes experience a decoupling rate of less than 5%.” All aerobic decoupling means is how far away my heart rate drifts from my power output. The more drift, the higher the percent goes. The higher the percentage, the less aerobically fit someone is. So in Monday’s race, I was a little less than “aerobically fit” according to Friel

Thursday’s 27.4-mile race, I averaged a 173 heart rate and maxed out at 186. I averaged 214 watts and my max watts were 523. My…