Zwift 6-Week FTP Builder - Week 1 Update

A couple of weeks back, I’ve officially started my 2023/2024 indoor cycling season. It was also my first time using the Tacx Neo 2T smart turbo trainer (review coming soon), and I have to say - it’s miles ahead of my old Elite Suito.

This season, I want to take a different approach. Instead of riding whichever route I felt like riding that day, I want to try a structured training program. I stumbled upon Zwift’s 6-week Beginner FTP Builder, and it seems like a good fit.

I’ve only tested my FTP once and it was months ago on my old turbo trainer. I got a score of 254W or around 2.5 watts per kilo. Not great, to say at least.

My hope with this structured training plan is to increase my FTP to 300W region. It’s quite ambitious, but who knows - maybe I end up surprising myself.

I’ll do a final review of the 6-week training plan after completing it, but in the meantime, I’ll post a weekly update so you can know what to expect if you want to try this workout plan for yourself.

Here are the grand total stats for Week 1:

Let’s dig into the impressions!

Workout #1 - Ramp Test

Oh, boy, these are never pleasant. It doesn’t help that I’ve done pretty much an all-out training the day before, but it is what it is.

In case you don’t know, a Ramp test is an all-out seated FTP test. The idea is to ramp the power up by 20W every minute, which the trainer does for you automatically.

Your task is to pedal at a steady pace (85 RPM for me) until you physically can’t turn the pedals.

The test started easily, but really got me sweating after the 320W mark.

I managed to last for almost 31 minutes, getting my heart rate up to 192 beats per minute!

Workout #2 - Foundation

This is by far the type of workout I like the least. The goal is to ride in intervals below 75% of your FTP but with a high cadence - up to 100 RPM.

I typically ride at 80-85 RPM, and increasing the cadence did a number on my heart rate.

As you can see, I’m above 150 BPM on a power that feels almost effortless to me:

I hope that high-cadence sessions will become easier on my cardiovascular system throughout the next couple of weeks.

Workout #3 - Strength

It doesn’t make sense, but this one required less effort than a Foundation workout the day before.

The idea is to ride in 2-minute intervals, in which you ride at around 53% of your FTP for 01:50 minutes, and the remaining 10 seconds are somewhat of an all-out seated effort - targeted around 160% of your FTP.

This workout was fun for me since the cadence was moderate the entire time, and I generally have no trouble cranking up the wattage for short bursts of time.

Workout #4 - Foundation

Another high-cadence workout. Great.

There must be something wrong with my form or technique because riding at 100 RPM feels extra hard and unnatural at times.

The good part - it was over in 48 minutes.

Workout #5 - Tempo

Now, this is the type of workout I love.

The goal is to spend a good amount of time riding around 88% of your FTP, or in Zone 3, followed by recovery intervals.

The cadence was moderate, and the whole session felt like it was focusing on my legs and muscle power, rather than my cardiovascular system.

At the end of the day - it’s just personal preference. You might prefer high-cadence workouts, which means this one will feel like hard work.

Week 1 Conclusion

I probably shouldn’t have decided to enroll in this workout plan on Tuesday, the day after already completing a high-intensity one-hour cycling session. Or I should at least give myself a couple of days of rest before taking an FTP test.

But it is what it is - real-life conditions are never perfect.

Week 1 was fun, and I ended up with 6 workout sessions in 7 days. I’m accustomed to 2-3 sessions per week, and doubling the volume wasn’t easy, especially during those high-cadence intervals.

Still, I have zero regrets and hope I’ll increase my FTP by 5-10% at the end of the 6-week training plan.

Read my Week 2 update next.