Conor: I'm about to embark on eight weeks of intense training on Zwift designed by legendary
X Pro and current WorldTour coach Greg Henderson. I want to see how much I can improve my fitness
by adding some real structure to my riding again. I'm challenging you all to join me.
Every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30 AM GMT, I'll be leading an exclusive live workout on Zwift.
Plus, I'll be getting involved in races and group rides in Wartopia and beyond.
Why not join me for this challenge. Four hours a week, four hours of training to push ourselves
and see where we can get our form to. Before I start though I need to find out the real state
of my current fitness. [music]
Life has been different somewhat since I stopped racing as a full-time professional. It's not
always been plain sailing if I'm honest. I've had to learn new skills which I didn't have before.
I think I'm doing a video now but I meant to take a selfie, sorry about that. I love my job
here at GCN and I feel so lucky to have a chance to experience cycling in a totally different way
and share that with you all. It's been quite a journey, if I'm honest, stopping that routine
of a lifetime and restarting a totally new one. A journey, that if I'm honest, I still feel I'm on.
Speaker 2: You all right, my friend? [laughs] Conor: Yes, I'm okay. I'm all good,
yes. Thank you. Fitness is one aspect though which I've had to get used to having, well,
less of. I used to train around 25 to 30 hours per week. However these days, well, I'm lucky if I get
any structured training in at all. I'm lucky if I manage to get on my bike for two or three hours
even. Isn't that right, Jessie? When you retire from racing for good, you have to learn to accept
the fact you'll never quite have that same level of physical fitness that you did in the past.
Oh, I feel really sick. How much fitness have I lost since I retired and is it as much
as I really imagine? Most importantly, how easy is it to get it all back? Well,
together with the folks at Zwift, I'm about to find out and I'm challenging you all to join me.
Speaker 3: Mr. Zwift training is ready. Conor:
Now, back in 2018, I was fortunate enough to race at the World Championships in Innsbruck,
Austria. Now, that race had 700 meters of climbing over 260 kilometers.
I actually found myself in a strange position in the build-up to that race. My then team had folded
so I decided to go bike packing with my good friend Larry Warburt. We actually
completed 42 hours on the bike in the build-up to that world championships, which is, well,
a fair bit more than I have available to train and ride these days so I was
in good shape relative to my own abilities. Interestingly, that world's course is now
available to ride over on Zwift and it includes the main climb on the route, a 7.4 kilometer brute
of a mountain with a 6% average gradient, all the way up to Igls. That climb was tackled seven times
in our Elite Men's Road Race. My best time up it during that year's race was 18 minutes 23 seconds.
My peak performance in terms of power was around 450 to 470 watts with my weight been around 87
kilos. Now, I've decided to take those values as a benchmark and repeat my effort up that Innsbruck
KOM to see how I'd fare today over in Zwift. To help get a better comparison, I've actually
invited my old friend Ryan Mullen along to join me in a kind of KOM battle. Now, Ryan was my teammate
at that year as well. We found ourselves in the breakaway together. I actually think I lasted in
the breakaway longer. I think he got dropped 30 seconds before me. Who better to get a comparison
of my fitness both then and now than Ryan? Out of interest, do you fancy a race on Zwift,
see if you can finally beat me up the Innsbruck KOM now I'm retired? When is rest day? Rest day?
I guess my form has dropped somewhat though. No, I still got a bit of life in the old dog yet.
Getting ready for my test up the Innsbruck KOM, I was a little apprehensive. It was time to put
myself to the test once more. Ryan on the other hand, well, he wasn't too nervous about our little
race in the slightest. In fact, he'd gone out the previous day with Vincenzo Nibali, Mads Pedersen,
and Jasper Stuyven, ridden 210 kilometers to absolute exhaustion
so he obviously felt pretty confident. Today we've got about 210k, six hours
at about two 20-minute blocks of team race, but Jasper and I decided to race from the
start. Feeling good? Jasper: Amazing.
Connor: I don't feel amazing. Now, as I said, my time up Innsbruck KOM was 18 minutes, 23 seconds,
in the world championship. Now, I'm not looking to solely compare my time from then to now,
but I am curious. Mainly, I want to see how my power has changed over the years, and
how much power I've lost, or maybe not lost. I also want to see how much of it I can get
back. I'm going to embark on eight weeks of structured training over on Zwift, and
really get a routine going. I get this training done, and see how much I can improve
my power and my time up that Innsbruck KOM, but first, I've got to put myself to the
test. All right, mate, tell me about it. Ryan: [unintelligible 00:05:46] I
couldn't go back up this lane again. Connor: I hope you're not too nervous.
Ryan: It's always the what if. What if you actually beat me?
Connor: Here it is. Start the KOM. Right, here we go. Climbed there, up the top of Innsbruck KOM.
See what I've got left in the legs. See if
I can stay with Ryan for at least a bit. Right, we're off. Concentration face.
I'm going to aside Ryan on on this bit. Staying out the wind. Give myself a bit of a chance.
You're pulling away from me already. I'm suffering already. We haven't even started the steep bit.
Ryan: Yes, me too.
Come on, Connor, you can get it. You can get it done.
Connor: 500 watts.
Oh, no. He used the power-up. He used a power-up
on me. When we get to the steep bit, I'm going to suffer. Starting to struggle to talk now.
He's putting the hammer down. I'm hanging in there. I'm three meters off his wheel,
hanging in there. Come on, Connor. Hold it. Oh,
no. He's dropping me. Come on. Oh, no. He's pedaling away. He's going,
he's out of saddle. Ryan: If it makes you feel any better,
this is still uncomfortable. Connor: He's absolutely putting the power.
I turned 540 watts. [unintelligible 00:07:56] Ryan: I
got the gap. Connor: He's got the gap.
Ryan's put the hammer down already. We're only 1.4 kilometers into this climb,
and he's made it up easy. He's got out of the saddle, danced on the pedals,
and put 30 seconds into me already. I was doing over 500 watts. Now, I'm just hanging on.
Trying to get to the top and not embarrass myself, and see what time I can put down
in my unfit state. Also, what power you're expecting to average these days with this effort?
Ryan: 20 minutes, around the 470. Connor:
Wow. I'm suffering now. I think I've got a stich. How far have you got to the top?
Ryan: 3.1. Connor: 3.4K for me. 300 meters behind Ryan.
Coming into the last 3K. He has one minute on me. Over a minute now.
Ryan: I'm sweating this now. Connor:
Right. Coming onto the top now. 1.5K to go. My last squeeze of any effort I've got left.
I am hurting though. I'm regretting putting hair spray. It's all going into my eyes.
Ryan has 600 meters to go. I'm struggling to talk now
and keep my breakfast in. Ryan: I'm going to stay with this
moment. [unintelligible 00:10:03] to do. Conor:
I've been beaten, I've been beaten well and truly. Ryan has got 20 meters to go.
All right, he's kissing the sky. Ryan: [unintelligible 00:10:15]
Conor: Oh, Christ, he was taking it easy as well. Oh, it's going to be a holiday weeks.
I can see the line. Come on Connor, last push. 300 meters to go.
Ryan: [unintelligible 00:10:42] get it done. Conor: Oh, I'm finished.
Ryan: Got through. Conor: Oh, mate,
imagine back in 2018, we still had six laps to go.
I'm gonna go and dissect hard times a bit now, and see where the difference was made.
I'm going to recover. Ryan: On the [unintelligible 00:11:09]
Speaker: Oh, this, my chain is ruined, that's for sure. Bike's destroyed of the sweat.
Connor: Is Hank here? Do you reckon he can get me a milkshake or something? Oh, my head.
Oh, that was harder than I remember. Right, better get up. Oh, Christ almighty, oh,
God. I've towed off, got my clothes back on and I've recovered. Well, kind of recovered anyway. I
have been looking through the results and the data from today's ride, to myself and Ryan. It's pretty
obvious Ryan beat me by a considerable margin. He managed to complete the Innsbruck KOM in 18
minutes and 54 seconds, averaged 382 watts. His weight at the moment, he told me he's around 79
kilos. His watts per kilo was around 4.8 watts. Compared that to my effort, I made Innsbruck KOM
in 20 minutes and 57 seconds, two minutes three seconds slower. My watts was comparable
to Ryan's actually, I was 381 watts. I am a fair bit heavier than Ryan, unfortunately,
I'm 90 kilos. My watts per kilo was 4.2 watts, that's 0.6 watts per kilo less than Ryan.
He did put quite a bit more power down than me, comparable to his weight.
Compared to my past efforts, my previous performances, my best power over 20 minutes was
470 watts, that was my best ever. I wouldn't have been able to do that every single day, that was
when I was fresh, and really at the top of my game. My watts per kilo for that was 5.4 watts,
I went about 87 kilos for that. Compared to today's effort, I was 19% down in terms of power,
19% less fitness in retirement compared to when I was a pro. Around 20%
less fitness than years past. The benchmark has been set. Now though comes the exciting bit,
getting stuck into the training, I loved this part when I was racing. In all honesty, I think
I enjoyed the training more than the racing. If you're following along with me on this plan
and this challenge, I'm gonna do my best to encourage and support you so you get
the most out of it too. Don't worry about how fit you are now, focus on enjoying each
session pushing yourself to your limit. Seeing where you may end up, you might just surprise
yourself. I do have less time available to train now than when I was a pro. I'm gonna have to be
a little clever with how I manage things. Luckily, I have Greg Henderson on the case to track
my progress and also plan out all my training Greg has designed some really intense sessions
for me to complete on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm just going through them and I tell you what.
Well, in Greg's own words, he said I had to give them a real task and go full gas almost
to exhaustion in them, which sounds ominous. Now, I am going to be leading these sessions,
live on Zwift at 9:30 AM GMT. If you are available and you'd like to join me, please, please do.
I'm going to need the support, these are going to be tough. I think we're
going to need each other, to get through them. The rest of the week is going to be a little
easier. Greg's told me to get involved in a race on Zwift or maybe a group ride, push myself a bit,
mix things up a bit as the weeks progress. Then on Sunday, he's told me to get out on the road
for a couple of hours. I'm going to do this with my son Jesse, enjoy a bit of a pedal and
pull Jesse along in a trailer. Starting next week it's time to get fit. I'm gonna be leading some
live workouts every Tuesday and Thursday over on Zwift. You're welcome to join me, I'd love
to see you there. I'm also going to be getting involved in some races and some group rides.
Stay tuned to this channel for which ones I'm going to be taking part in.
I'm also going to be updating you all on my progress over on the GCN show each week.
Before I go, I'd love to hear from you guys. What did you reckon? Did you think I lost as
much fitness as you expected? Most importantly, do you think I'm going to be able to get some of it
back? Let me know in the comments section below. It's time to get to work, isn't it? Thanks for
watching everyone, let's get fit. [00:15:27] [END OF AUDIO]