Sufferfest “Local Hero” review

I got the Sufferfest “Local Hero” video the second day it was available. Since then, I’ve watched it twice while just doing a steady state ride and kind of following along with the instructions, so that was more like listening to it than watching it. But today at lunch, I actually did the video and followed the instructions.

http://www.thesufferfest.com/



Bottom Line: Buy it and do it. It hurts when done correctly, and it hurts in a way that should help you improve your 40k TT for triathlons. The pain is fairly consistent throughout the 75 minutes of actual work (plus five minutes warm up and five minutes cool-down). Also, I think the creator should get a “smart ass of the year award” for his continuing story and character development. You’ll find the story line of Local Hero quite interesting and down-right fun(!).

The way I look at it, the workout consists of three main sections: the pyramid, the 3-minute laps, and the sprints.

The pyramids are my favorite because I can understand on a molecular level (if that is even possible) how it is improving my functional threshold. Make no mistake, it hurts! But then if it didn’t hurt, it wouldn’t be the Sufferfest now, would it? My only advice is to take a few tries to set your expected levels of effort appropriately for these pyramids so that it takes max effort to complete them but not so hard that you can’t keep going.

The 3-minute laps are good, too. I like this because it hits a type of effort level that I haven’t been doing but know I need to do. Three minutes at a level above TT-race-pace is needed to push you to that next level, and I just haven’t been doing it. This video now gets me doing it. Again, set an appropriate level so you can actually finish. I wish the breaks were only one minute long because two minutes feels too long, but then I have never been able to actually rest long enough between sets like you’re supposed to to make the next set absolutely as hard as it could be.

The sprints are….well, they are what they are (ha ha!). You get out of them what you put into them. What other clichés can I come up with? Not my favorite thing to do, but when I am mentally prepared, I can crush this section and feel good about it. Somehow, the video gets me to really put out on these even though I don’t like them.

The soundtrack throughout the video is good. There isn’t any Iron Maiden or Judas Priest or AC/DC on it, so it’s not my normal style, but it keeps me interested, for sure. Personally, I wish there wasn’t a political or social message in the “Let’s Go Shopping” song because it kind of ruins the mood, but oh well…I quickly get over it once it’s done.

The Sufferfest videos keep getting better with each new release, and “Local Hero” is no different. And seriously, for $12 it’s a no-brainer to become your own local hero.