Build a Custom Zwift Workout for SweatFest Course Demands

SweatFest racing turns a Zwift route into a test of timing, power and judgement rather than a simple effort at maximum pace. The league’s two 10-week seasons, weekly Tuesday events, category-based fields, points, prime segments and overall standings reward riders who can repeat a demanding plan across many weeks. A useful custom workout should therefore resemble the race’s sequence of efforts, not merely burn calories on a flat road.

The best place to start is the official course profile, not a guess based on the event name. Record total distance, elevation, longest climb, steepest gradient, corner density and likely wind direction, then identify where each prime segment sits within those features. From that map, choose two or three physiological demands worth rehearsing. That keeps the session specific while leaving room for a genuine race effort on Tuesday.

Read the race profile before choosing intensity

Open the race listing and study the course profile before opening Zwift’s workout editor. Note whether the route is mostly flat, rolling, mountainous or a mixture, and mark the first third, middle third and final kilometre. Record the longest sustained climb and any short, sharp rise that could decide a prime segment. A route that looks moderate in a thumbnail can still contain a brutal finishing ramp.

Build a simple demand map with four labels: long effort, threshold effort, high-intensity repeat and sprint. Add a short note about terrain under each label, including the gradient, expected crosswind and technical cornering. These details help you select the right tool: a long steady block for prolonged climbing, a threshold climb for a drag, repeated surges for rolling terrain, or fresh legs for a sprint finish.

Check which category you will enter and whether the category has a distinct start time or shortened route. Category rules can change how hard a section feels, while points and overall standings can reward conservative riding early in the season. Australian riders should convert the listed Tuesday start into local time: Sydney and Melbourne shift with daylight saving, Brisbane does not, and Perth runs on Western Australian time. An evening race in one city can be an early session in another.

Build the workout around repeatable efforts

Create a 60- to 75-minute custom workout with a clear warm-up, one or two main race-specific blocks and a cooldown. A 10- to 15-minute warm-up can progress from easy spinning to three short accelerations at 100–110% of FTP. Use these to raise cadence, settle breathing and prepare the legs without spending the effort you want to practise later. Finish with 5–10 minutes of easy riding rather than abruptly stopping the heart rate.

In the workout editor, name the session after the course and set its targets as watts or FTP percentages. Build the main block around the hardest repeatable demand, not every hard thing the route contains. For a long climb, try 10–12 minutes progressing from 90% to 105% of FTP, with a short recovery before repeating it once. For a fast rolling section, use three- to five-minute efforts around threshold with brief recoveries. For a sprint course, pair a controlled 20–30-second acceleration with full recovery, then add another later when fatigue is greater.

Keep the duration realistic for race pace. A workout can be physically harder than the event, yet still be poor preparation if it leaves you unable to race at the intended effort the next day. Most riders gain more from one well-executed, moderately difficult session than from a brutal test followed by several poor nights of sleep. Save the all-out effort for a short event or the final sprint sequence.

Match climbs, corners and wind

Flat terrain is useful for repeatable power, but it cannot reproduce every demand of a technical course. Zwift’s handling model rewards smooth steering, braking before the turn and holding a line through descents. A rider who has only done steady efforts on a flat route may arrive at a narrow, twisty descent with overactive legs. If the editor offers route selection, choose the closest available profile; otherwise treat the workout as preparation for pacing and power rather than a perfect simulation.

Read the wind direction and course direction together. A headwind turns an ordinary 20-minute effort into a grinding one, while a tailwind can make an early surge look easier than it will be over the following 60 minutes. Begin power blocks below their target when the exposure is headwind, then progress into the prescribed zone as the route turns. On a tailwind, hold back briefly so the block does not finish with empty legs.

Break long climbs into realistic segments rather than setting every interval to the same power. A five-minute ramp at 108% of FTP, three minutes at 95%, then another climb can mirror a race where the pace rises and falls across rollers. Keep cadence comfortable on steep ramps and avoid a low, laboured grind that cannot be sustained. Practice shifting, holding a line and relaxing the upper body between efforts; technical savings count as performance.

Set zone targets for Australian conditions

Use FTP as the anchor, then translate the route into percentages rather than chasing generic zone names. A broad endurance range of 65–75% can cover recovery and steady climbing; threshold work sits around 95–105%; VO₂ max efforts usually fall around 105–120%; and sprint work goes above that ceiling. These ranges are guides, not laws. A recent 20-minute test or race effort can establish your current number, and a hard week may justify a small reduction rather than an attempt to prove fitness.

Heart rate is useful feedback, but it should not replace power targets. Humidity, heat, dehydration and excitement can push heart rate upward while the legs still have capacity, particularly for riders in Brisbane during a humid summer or in Melbourne when a warm indoor room follows a cool morning. Zwift fans cool the rider, yet some people still sweat heavily; lower the displayed fan setting, keep fluids nearby and treat a rising heart rate as information about conditions, not a command to abandon the power target.

Race chat in Australia is often direct: a rider may say their legs are ‘cooked’, call a session an ‘arvo’ ride or complain they have ‘no gears’ left in the legs. Those phrases describe the same sensations seen elsewhere. Metric habits also help: course distance is in kilometres, elevation in metres and weather in degrees Celsius. Read those numbers directly instead of converting them while trying to hold an interval.

Pace the session like race day

Design the order to rehearse race decisions. Start easy enough to settle into the group, move through the first climb without panicking when the pace lifts, and reserve enough speed for the late surge. If the course offers prime segments, practise delaying a bonus effort until it has value rather than attacking every marker. Prime points can influence the day, but an early acceleration can cost more later than it gains.

Control intensity with both an upper and lower limit. For a long threshold block, begin near 90–95% of FTP and build only if breathing remains controlled. For repeated surges, target the prescribed watts but also assign an RPE from one to ten; around eight should feel hard without becoming frantic. Stop a repetition when form breaks down, not merely when the timer ends. A clean 90% effort is more useful than a completed 105% effort made with a shaky cadence.

Research the session as carefully as the route. Useful race information should be checked against the original source, just as a reader would open a Dutch winnings guide rather than infer its meaning from a cropped headline. A full course description and an accurate power target are more valuable than an impressive-looking screenshot. If two sources disagree, use the official race information and record the assumption in your workout notes.

Test, adjust and race with confidence

Test the first version with easy pedalling or in a low-pressure event, not in the race you are trying to win. Check whether the warm-up reaches the intended heart rate, whether power intervals feel sustainable and whether the final effort changes technique. Keep notes on watts, heart rate, cadence and perceived exertion. After the session, compare what happened with what the course demanded; that comparison is more valuable than a generic feeling that the workout was hard.

Adjust one variable at a time. If the workout was too long, shorten recovery before lowering the quality of the key effort. If heart rate ran unusually high, check room temperature, hydration and recent training load before changing watts. If the rider faded in the final block, reduce the repetition count or move the hardest effort earlier. Keep the original file, then save a revised version with a clear note such as ‘shorter climb block’ so the change has purpose.

Race week should use the workout as support, not as a test. Finish the hardest work roughly 48 to 72 hours before the Tuesday race, add an easy spin or short openers, and protect sleep. If the route, start time or category assignment is unclear, contact the organizers rather than relying on an old race listing. Their answer can prevent a session built around the wrong course demand.

Across the season, keep the race demands stable and the execution precise. The strongest rider is not necessarily the one with the biggest FTP, but the one whose threshold efforts last, whose surges arrive when needed and whose weekly points survive both 10-week blocks. A custom workout becomes valuable when it removes guesswork, builds repeatable handling under pressure and leaves enough energy to race the actual course on Tuesday.