When winter began, I committed myself to getting more involved with Zwift racing to keep my training more consistent – and, frankly, more interesting! My plan was relatively simple: find a team to race with once per week for the Zwift Racing League (ZRL). What I didn’t expect was just how much variety exists within the Zwift racing ecosystem. In addition to ZRL, I found myself exposed to all sorts of racing, including the Thursday night TTT’s and specifically Ladder Racing.
Ladder Racing
Back in November, I joined a small Ladder Racing team at the suggestion of one of my teammates – and it quickly became a weekly highlight of my training!
If you’re unfamiliar with Ladder Racing, the concept is quite simple. It’s a team-based league operating in a continuous “Ladder” format. Teams can challenge other squads above them (up to 7 places higher). Races are run in a 5-versus-5 format, with points awarded based on finishing position. The team with the most points at the end of the race wins the match.
If the challenging team wins, they “leapfrog” into the opponent’s position in the standings and everyone below shifts down. The league runs indefinitely, creating constant action and motivation.
Unlike traditional ZwiftPower categories, Ladder Racing uses the Zwift Racing App rankings, which blends riders of all abilities into a unified, continuous league structure. This allows strong teams at the top of one level to gradually challenge those above them, promoting a very organic progression as teams get stronger.
Figure 1. TheZwift Racing App provides detailed performance data, including a “vElo” score that factors in finishing position and opponent strength – adding another layer of competitive insight.
What I’ve really enjoyed is how tactical these races feel. Every position matters. Every point matters. Every rider matters, even those who may be dropped from the lead group! Unlike some ZRL races which gave an impression of a “survival of the fittest”, Ladder matches require coordination, communication, strategy, & teamwork.
The challenging team also selects the course & powerups – usually balanced circuits or rolling point to point courses that typically last 30-40 minutes. That choice alone can dramatically influence race dynamics & strategy, depending on each team’s relative strengths.
More than anything, these races have continued to push me in ways that structured workouts really haven’t in winters past. I’ve already recorded eight Breakthrough (or near-breakthrough) efforts in ladder events alone – from sustained climbs to punchy attacks and all-out sprint finishes. And this doesn’t even include efforts from my ZRL races or my weekly 3Dapt test sessions.
Racing has forced me to improve aspects of my performance that I might otherwise neglect – especially my sprinting!
Did Racing Alone Improve My Fitness?
With 2-3 races per week – most producing maximal/breakthrough efforts – plus my weekly performance tests as part of the 3Dapt research study, I simply didn’t have any room for additional structured high-intensity workouts.
Instead, racing became my intensity.
I paired these events with my Forecast AI training plan, using these races to achieve my high intensity targets. Occasionally, I’d add a few short efforts afterward, if needed, but most times, the race itself was more than enough.
The results have been surprising to me so far:
Figure 2. Performance Management Chart showing steady training load progression (solid black line), FTP increases (dashed yellow line), and breakthrough performances (gold/silver/bronze markers). Daily training strain accumulation is represented by colored vertical bars.
Since early November, my estimated threshold has increased from ~250 W to ~270 W – averaging an increase of roughly 1.2 Watts per week. Not dramatic, but steady, sustainable, & encouraging to me!
More importantly, I feel that my durability has improved significantly. I find that I can attack, recover, and attack again several times within a single race – something that didn’t feel achievable earlier this winter. For me, these races aren’t just about one deciding make or break effort anymore; they’re about repeating hard efforts to break my opponents without completely detonating my own race.
Figure 3. Maximum Power Available (MPA) chart from a Ladder race on Zwift’s Downtown Titans course. In this race, I launched several hard attacks in an attempt to drop my opponents, yet still produced one of my strongest 15s sprint finishes of the season. The repeated dips in my MPA highlight my ability to surge, regroup, and surge again – a practical sign of my improved durability, even without a dramatic jump in my FTP.
Interestingly, I’ve achieved this without any traditional “recovery” weeks, aside from a holiday break. The progress has been gradual and consistent – exactly what I hoped for as I continue to adjust to life in full dad mode!
Racing as Training
Perhaps my biggest lesson this winter has been that racing is training.
While it can be unpredictable and even frustrating at times, it’s very specific to building your capacity to push hard. It forces you to respond, adapt, & frequently push beyond your comfort zone. I’ve made mistakes, been caught on breaks, mistimed sprints. But once in a while, everything clicks… the strategy, teamwork, & execution come together beautifully and the team pulls out a great win!
In my experience, this unpredictability has helped me build physical and mental resilience that doing structured workouts in ERG mode simply can’t!
What’s Next?
With spring around the corner, I am excited to carry this momentum forward. My focus now shifts towards further increasing my High & Peak training loads as part of the 3Dapt study, including experimenting with Dr. Stephen Cheung’s “front-loaded” periodization and how it benefited his fitness.
Winter racing has given me a strong foundation. Now it’s time to see how much further I can build on it!
That’s all for this time – stay safe, ride fast, and I’ll see you next time!
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