Enjoy Zwiftmas to the Fullest 

They don’t call it the most wonderful time of the year for nothing! From enjoying the special events on Zwift to allowing some downtime and treats over the holiday season, we at Zwift HQ want to make sure all our Zwifters have a good one, without any fear.

Zwift Gets Festive

To bring the fun this Zwiftmas we are more than excited to have the Festive 500 now on Zwift! Embrace the challenge of balancing home life with your riding schedule. Need some motivational riding companions after a long year of social distancing? Join thousands of others in group rides and Festive 500 group workouts.

If riding is not your cup of tea then there is a festive run with Mo Farah, Jan Frodeno, and Zwift CEO Eric Min! Join these stars and other social runners for a few festive miles where pace does not matter, the aim is fun+fitness, and costumes are welcome.

Focus on Fun and Family

Outside of fun on Zwift, we believe this time of year should be focused on family, cheer, and enjoyment. Unfortunately, the holidays can feel confusing and contradicting. Conflicting thoughts may abound as we strike the balance between enjoying the holiday period and worrying about losing fitness – often heightened by fears of how many calories we’ll consume and how the possible weight gain may slow our avatars down ahead of January’s Tour de Zwift.

But there’s no reason to stress. While we may eat a bit more than usual for a few days, in reality it’s often that we just eat differently and the “excess” may not actually be anywhere near as much as we are scaremongered into thinking. This is nothing that a few weeks of consistent, enjoyable training cannot help in the new year. There is no need to take extreme measures over this period to “offset” or “earn” those calories. Enjoy them – 2020 definitely owes you that!

Changing from normal eating and training patterns over the holiday period is not something that should be feared or demonized as the media often do. It is a temporary change that is mostly welcomed by your body as it absorbs those training adaptations needed for developing mental and physical fitness in the new year. Who knows, you may soon surprise yourself with a new Alpe du Zwift PB!

From Zwift HQ we wish you a very Merry Zwiftmas and hope you can enjoy this holiday period both in and outside of Watopia.

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Co-written by Eloise du Luart & Renee McGregor

Renee McGregor: Renee is a leading Sports and Eating Disorder specialist dietitian with 20 years of experience working in clinical and performance nutrition with Olympic (London, 2012), Paralympic (Rio, 2016), and Commonwealth (Queensland, 2018) teams.

Eloise du Luart: Eloise is a past amateur World Duathlon and European Triathlon Champion. After working in Zwift’s social media team for three years she is embarking on her next step as a professional triathlete for 2021.