Zwift FTP Builder Course (6 week) way too much Z1 and Z2 riding?

First, let me be clear that I really enjoy Zwift and just got my trainer about a month or two ago. That said I’m starting to feel like this course is not benefiting me compared to just doing normal routes in Watopia.

The breakdown of course is around 12 hours of Z1 (warmup / cooldown), 10 hours of Z2 (foundation), 5 hours of Z3 (tempo), and less than 2 hours of Z4.

I completely understand that this course may be for beginning riders, or those who have never trained with power before. I am actually one of the latter, but I’m a relatively experienced rider and once the weather gets warm again will no doubt be buying myself power meter pedals.

A lot of the course relies on being in ERG mode, which is helpful to ensure you maintain the right power output for a given portion of the workout… Problem I’m having is I feel it’s too easy and typically need to do another ride after Foundation rides in particular. Which to be honest I’m not sure you’re actually supposed to do.

Also, though less important as it is not Zwift related specifically, but riding in ERG mode at different cadences really messes with all the metrics I have in other apps (like Garmin Connect). Doing so completely borks their training advice as my wattage is capped and my heart rate fluctuates based on what RPM I’m asked to do. I’ve basically paused my training status on Garmin to make sure I stick to the plan, but it is a bit annoying as I found it to be relatively accurate with respect to my training progression prior to this.

Anyhow I’m about to start week three, but towards the end of week 2 I just skipped the foundation and tempo rides and did a challenging route. Is this acceptable? Should I just do the (light) workouts and nothing else? I understand the goal is to build a base, but I feel like I have some of that already… Would appreciate any advice! 🙏