Back at it...finally

A week after the Tour of Sufferlandria, I got back on the horse. I didn't intend to take a whole week off, but that's what happened. It was mostly mental, but there was also a physical aspect.

I took Monday and Tuesday off 100% as planned.

Wednesday I ran four miles. A nice and easy workout. I hadn't ran in two months or so, and I paid for it unexpectedly. I thought I might have a bit of soreness the next day. But for the next four days, I had trouble walking without a limp....after only a four mile run!

So that took out any aspect of workouts til yesterday, Monday. Yes, I know that a nice recovery ride or run would have solved the problem, but I had some sort of mental block going on.

Yesterday I wanted to do a little trainer ride in the morning. Alarm set for 5:10. Kid cries from 5:05 to 5:09, so that's a perfect setup to get out of bed and go at 5:10. I didn't. I reset the alarm for 5:40, then 6:10, then 6:40, then 7:00. Aaarggghh!!!

But I did run four miles at lunch. Actually a bit more because I had to do a short detour past my house to let the dog out. 37 minutes overall. And I'm not sore today at all!

As a side note, I think it is truly AWESOME that I can start a lunch run at work and always have the option of a detour past my house for whatever reason, to let the dog out, turn on the slowcooker, or get somthing I forgot, whatever. That is a part of the small town life that I won't ever give up.

Anyway....back on track here after a week off. Looking forward to a few days of consistency, then a few days of skiing, and then a month or mor

Race Report: Tour of Sufferlandria

Race Report: Tour of Sufferlandria

I’m putting this under race reports even though it’s not technically a race. But it felt like one. And it worked my body more than any other race.

After nine days of suffering, I’m left with just enough energy on my first day off to review the tour. My oxygen debt has cleared for the most part, and the screams from legs are at least somewhat muted.

For starters, a review of what the Tour of Sufferlandia was supposed to be, in the words of the tour organizer, the Honorable Mr Sufferfest Himself, Dave@thesufferfest.com.

“According to Grunter von Agony, race director, “The course is carefully balanced between agony, misery and despair. So, yes, the Tour of Sufferlandria is a worthwhile target for anybody looking for an early season goal. You really ought to have some solid training behind you before you start it, and you’ll surely go through a roasting in hell during the race. When you come out the other side? With a solid 9 days of effort behind you, you will be able to take an ox, tie him to your bike, drag him up and over Mt. Sufferlandria while he tries to run the other way, and drink a flagon of ale made from the bikes of all those you crushed on your way to a glorious victory. Or the Minions will eat you for lunch. But, whatever.”

To Participate:
To join the ToS, you must simply commit to following the schedule above and ride yourself into the ground each day. Join the community on our Facebook page for inspiration in those dark moments between stages to hear stories of HONOR GLORY AND VICTORY. Those who complete and register their 9 days with our partner, TrainerRoad.com, will be be eligible for daily prizes and thrown into a pool of prizes from the ‘fest, TrainerRoad and others at the end of the event.

Aahhh, yes. The expectations were SO HIGH.  I actually got really excited for this thing. My wife thought I was going crazy, probably from too much inside time with the kids and not enough outside time in the backcountry skiing. Anywho.. I NEEDED a good consistent stretch to get me to the next level on the bike, which currently sits at about 50% of the standard triathlon racers, amongst a 10% swim and a 30% run. So, you can see that my bike leg SUCKS. I need to learn how to suffer. I need to get faster, and….like immersion training for languages, the only way to get truly faster is to go to Sufferlandria and spend some time there…suffering.

The Tour beat all my expectations in much the same manner that it beat the heck out my legs over the  nine days. Truly, on the last day…a Sunday….I stood in my church during prayers, and I think everyone could hear my legs begging for mercy as they knew what was coming up on the last day of the tour…after the crushing effort put forth on the “Revolver.”   Yeah.

I had about 5-6 weeks of mostly consistent, relatively low volume and medium intensity bike riding in me, this after a two month break from the bike but with a 24-mile-per-week run average. When I started biking again in mid-December, I quite the running but added weight lifting. I hadn’t done any really hard efforts to prepare for the tour.

On the tech side, I signed up for TrainerRoad.com, which has turned out to be quite an impressive software; I will do a separate review on that later but for now JUST SIGN UP AND DO IT because it is pretty cool. 

I also bought the ANT+ Garmin cadence/speed sensor and then near the end of the Tour got the heart rate monitor after I saw how cool the data presentation is inside TrainerRoad software.  And I just now, before sitting to write this review, bought Timex Global Trainer to read the ANT+ devices when off the trainer. The ANT+ stuff is pretty easy to work with, so any non-techie can certainly figure this stuff out.

The TrainerRoad.com software was easy to install and all that, but the numbers looked really weird on the first day. I thought it was a data smoothing problem. In reality, it was a USB wireless mouse causing the problem. I’m also learning now that the i7 quad-core laptop I bought in August to make the MountainCruises bike videos in Yellowstone National Park is good for this sort of thing; I’ve seen some references to an i5 processor having some issues.

So, let’s get to the Tour stuff!  Each day already has its own write-up on the AmphibOps.com blog.   I’m  just going to write out my basic thoughts in no particular order.

1.  The idea of this Tour of Sufferlandria is pretty darn cool.  I owned all but two videos before the tour and never thought of a daily workout for that many days in a row.  The timing was perfect; right in the middle of the winter for me in southeast Idaho without much snow on the ground right now to lure me away for skiing.

2. I applaud anyone who did all the videos at 100%. I did them at 90%, and it really took all I had to finish the Local Hero on the last day (but I did finish! And I WON! IN GLORIOUS FASHION!). 

3. The Slowtwitch.com forum for the tour has 12,137 views and 322 comments on Monday afternoon. That’s A LOT! A few years ago I had to cut out my slowtwitch.com reading because it was a huge yet incredibly useful addiction that I needed to step away from (and that was just reading with very little posting). But I checked it out to see what the word on the street was.

4.  Plan out your schedule and nutrition and clothes BEFORE the tour starts. Nothing sucks more than letting bad organization ruin your chances of finishing the tour.  You WILL have to change your shirts because they will stink from all the sweat, tears, snot, and yes maybe some blood (if you had a slight sinus infection like I did, but that’s another story).  Don’t run out of nutrition, especially Recoverite because you will need it if you are doing the workouts correctly and you have a good FTP set.  

I recommend you set a nighttime or solid afternoon time to do the workouts each day. If you plan morning workouts and oversleep just once, you’re probably screwed. However, if you do evening workouts after all the kids are in bed and such and you can force yourself to just get on the bike, you’ll do well with consistency….except now you have to deal with how to get to sleep quickly after the workouts and your body is flush with endorphins and such. Have all the videos inside one single folder on your computer before you start, or already loaded into the TrainerRoad software. They take a while to download, so it’s something you have to think about before-hand.

  - Have that beer and chips or whatever already on-hand in your house BEFORE you start Local Hero. You won't feel like going anywhere when it's done.

5. Commit to this as if it was really a race that you paid big bucks to enter. You WILL come out of it a better bicyclist. I am fairly certain my FTP has gone for 230 to 240 at least.

6. Have fun with it. Laugh at the screen prompts. Dig into the story line. That’s the beauty of the Sufferfest videos; you can really put yourself into the race with just a little bit of imagination.

7. Think about ditching all your other workouts during this week. You’ll need the energy.

8. I wonder how this might have helped me in my running? I haven’t ran in two months, and I have 20 mile trail run race in early June. I guess it can’t have hurt it.

9. At some point in the future, I’m going to do this on my own again using the same schedule.

10. At some point in the future, I’m going to do a double-version that includes 2 – 2.5 hours of video time spread across probably 4-5 days (Thursday – Sunday) to prep for the 70.3 triathlon I want to do in September.  The easiest way to do this is to be ready whenever there is 4-5 days of rain in the forecast and then just hit that whenever the weather looks crappy.

11. I think I’m going to buy the poster that’s available. It’s just too cool. And…hey Dave!....where’s my finisher shirt?

12. 1024 registered riders. 519 finished. 505 dropped. That’s almost 50% attrition. WOW!

13. Given the above numbers, I honestly feel like I accomplished something with this. I don’t have a huge sense of pride about it, but I have the same sense of accomplishment as I did when I finished my first Olympic triathlon.

14. I didn’t win any of the daily prizes, but I’m in the running for some of the overall prizes, all of which are pretty cool. The ROCKR trainer looks pretty neat, and a year of TrainerRoad will be nice.  Of course, any of them would be really nice addition to my pain cave.

15. For anyone wondering what videos might be a good recovery, checkout MountainCruises.com to cruise through Yellowstone National Park for an hour and twenty minutes on your bike trainer.

Tour of Sufferlandia D.U.N! Day 9 recap

** I'll write an overall review of the tour when I have a bit more energy and have fully recovered from oxygen debt. Here is today's review. ***

As my legs cried out for mercy simply by standing in church this morning, I knew Revolver had really crushed my legs yesterday. Seriously, they hurt just standing there. And then I started hurting all over thinking about the hurt that was yet to come on this final stage of the Tour.

As Noah climbed into his toddler bed that he had climbed out of at 6:15am this morning (c'mon! It's SUNDAY, KID!), I dashed to finish this tour during his nap. It was going to be close. Local Hero is 1 hour 20 minutes, but I needed 1:45 or so to change over, get going, and then shower afterwards before Noah woke up.

This was going to be an anti-climatic BIG FINISH! I was too tired to really hit it. I just wanted to finish. And I had a sleeping toddler and a four-year old upstairs I was trying to pay attention to on the baby monitor.

Then I had trouble getting the video to roll inside TrainerRoad program. Plan B! Just sync it up with my media player. That worked!

Today, even the warm-up hurt!

I got into mentally during the TT section, which is probably my overall favorite section of workout in all of the Sufferfests, except maybe the climb in The Hunted.

The 3 minute laps were brutal! Nearly as brutal as intervals 8-13 yesterday. Mentally challenging for sure, on top of the physical challenge.

The final sprints were doable, but with not-so-great power numbers because there just wasn't any power left in my legs. I did them far above the FTP, but nowhere near the 600 watt sprint from the other day.

I really feel like I accomplished something in this tour. I honestly think my FTP has improved by at least 10%, judging from the perceived effort at 230 watts today versus last weekend at the start. I'll write more about my overall thoughts on the tour.

Before I get to the data file, it looks like the tour had a nearly 50% attrition rate. Wow! Almost as high as my Marine Corps Officer Candidate Class back in the day!

Here is the roll-up of all my tour rides.

And here is today's ride file.

Tour of Sufferlandria Day 8 done

This hurt as expected. There Is No Try wasn't so painful really, but it took alot out of me, considering what Revolver needs from you. I actually enjoyed There Is No Try, mostly because of the TT section in the middle.

There is a reason I hadn't purchased Revolver prior to today's tour requirements. I know what 15x1 can do to a person because we used to do wrestling matches like that in practice back in the day. Go at it really hard for a minute or two, then take that same time off. Repeat 10-15 times, whatever time is left of practice. Keep score. It works out to be about a half hour of pure pain. No, I didn't need that type of workout sitting in my house/computer making fun of me all the time because I was scared of it.

But I survived. I didn't even half-ass or skip any of the intervals. Every one of them done at 90% FTP or better for the full minute. 

Seems like the worst day was ABSOLUTELY TODAY. 

I know tomorrow will be ABSOLUTELY THE BEST DAY! I will even have some celebratory beverage awaiting for me. I didn't realize until tonight that I haven't had any alcohol since this tour started because there simply has been no time for it. I don't want to drink a beer or wine at 7pm and then workout at 9pm...what if the Tour Officials asked for a blood sample right before the race?  

Anyway, it certainly contributed to the current weight-loss of about 6.4 pounds on this tour; there must be some sort of synergistic affect happening between the timing of this being week six of a great cycle, no weight lifting since Monday, and getting average sleep.....where was I?

Oh yes, as I write this only 30 short minutes after getting off the bike, a bit of residual oxygen-debt lingers.

I'm excited about tomorrow. It's my favorite Sufferfest video for sure. I know I can get excited about it and hammer it out. And then I'll take two days off and start this running thing I've been neglecting for the past 60 days. 

Data files below.  Debating internally if I want to sleep in and go to the late church service after this morning's early rise.

Tour of Sufferlandia: thinking about day 8

Kiddo #2 played early bird this morning. Of course, after having a big intense workout that ended at 10:30pm, I couldn't get to sleep til 1:30am. That's part of what I'm dealing with here....I have to have a late night workout to ensure I can do each day of the Tour of Sufferlandia, but then I can't get to sleep til all the adrenaline and endorphins and NATURAL HIGH type stuff wears off.

Anyway, upon getting to sleep around 1:45am, I was promptly awoke at 6:45 am by Kiddo #2 because he was "all done sleep." Nice.

Day 8 of this Tour is gonna hurt. I have all day to think about it. I just bought the videos for today, the only ones I haven't done. Well, it's kinda scary. I was thinking about doing a double-day with Saturday and Sunday so I could just finish this thing tonight, but that clearly won't happen given today's expectations.

** Day 8 – There is No Try + Revolver – 1hr 45 minutes ***
Revolver. Those who have done it, know what this day brings. Even by itself, it’s one of the most feared videos in the ‘fest collection. To have it this far into the tour, and following the increasing speed intervals of There is No Try is simply diabolical. Which means it’s a perfect fit for the pentultimate day of The Tour. The day starts out with TINT, which asks you to incrementally increase your speed as each interval progresses (these are known as Sufferlandrian Intervals), with several of the intervals finishing in sprints, you’re asked to put out some maximum power early in the day. The longest interval, which is 4×2:00, comes in the middle of the session and can crack even the strongest resolve. We hear that both Wiggins, Jens Voigt and Peter Sagen are all  targeting this day, so watch for them.

And I read TheSufferfest's version of yesterday's events. I wholeheartedly agree about just getting past the long intervals and then bringing it home on the short ones.

Focus on making it to the 5:00 recovery section between intervals. While there, you’ll probably feel quite full of fear that you can’t do the second set of intervals, but we’ve found that if you can get past the 1:30 interval in the second set, then you can finish it off. So just think of getting past that and then you’ll be fine. Sort of.

Yeah. Sumthin' like that. :)

Tour of Sufferlandia Day 7

Day 7. Wow. My legs hurt and were still tired going into this one....32 hours later. And I loaded up with about three servings of Recoverite after that last go because I knew that the 100% section on The Long Scream  was going to hurt for a bit.

I haven't done the Downward Spiral in a while. In fact, I had the names mixed up with Fight Club.  But when we started up, I remembered that the longer sections hurt...ALOT. Tonight was no different. I did these again at 90%, double-checked for accuracy(!).

I had a hard time holding the sets over 1:30 but managed. Never thought two minutes could be so long. The minute and shorter sets seemed much easier to hold on, and I pounded out high-above-FTP wattage on these. Maybe I should do short sprints instead of long cruises.

Data files below. Might double-up the rides tomorrow and finish tomorrow night. But then again...I might have trouble just getting on the bike.

Tour of Sufferlandia Day 6

This one hurt! The first 50 minutes or so went great. Wretched is a cool video but is not my favorite video, and that was the starter today. Nothing special, but I never fail to laugh when I do this video, either....which is a good thing because I'm supposed to be having fun, too,....right?

The Long Scream is one of my favorites. I don't do it alot because it hurts alot. But when I do it, I know I come out a better rider. This one hurt today..ALOT.

I've been doing these workouts set at 90%. Today was no exception, until I wondered why...half-way through The Long Scream...I was about to die with another 15 minutes to do. I had it set at 100%. OUCH. Heart rate pounding. Legs burning. No wonder why. I dialed that back and found some more motivation when the pain dropped back to about 8 of 10. With about 5 minutes left, I had to completely stop for about 10 seconds just to catch my breath. It's amazing how much just a 10 second stop can help...I tore into it after that and finished strong.

Interesting that you can see how uneven my effort level is with these graphs. My output jumps around alot from 205 to 225 to 215 and up and down like that alot, especially towards the end. I suppose that can't be very efficient and it hurts my run if I do that in a race. Just one more thing to think about, I guess.

Data files below. I did this workout at 11:30am, and I'm not doing the next one til 9pm tomorrow, so I am thankful for the longer rest period. Legs are hurting as I write this 10 hours after the workout.

 

Tour of Sufferlandia Day 5

Did the Angels workout. Felt really good, almost easy until last set nearly killed me. But the adrenaline of surviving the last set allowed me to spike to 600 watts in a heroic last ten second sprint for the VICTORY! 

Tour of Sufferlandia Day 4

Today proved that my effort levels are definitely time dependent, and Friel is absolutely correct in the Triathletes Training Bible that the time of day can have alot of affect on your results, and you should therefore try to train at the same time of day as your A race.

Anywho.... I did this workout at 90% just like the rest. I pushed beyond that a little bit in parts because I felt great at lunch hour instead of 9pm at night. In the morning, I wouldn't be able to bring myself up to 70% intensity level!

The music on the high effort levels is awesome! I don't do this video alot, but I can see that I should.

Right now, I'm thinking about adding this tour into my training calendar to take up every sixth week of training. We'll see how that works out!

Data files below. Busy day.

Tour of Sufferlandia Day 3

Wow! Somewhere deep down below all the pain I can feel mass improvements coming my way, and we're only 1/3 of the way through this tour.  Day three description is here. Data files shown below of Extra Shot and Fight Club.

Funny thing...I bought Extra Shot when it first came out, but I don't remember ever seeing it before. Nice ride. Have to remember this one.

Fight Club. I always get this one mixed up with the other early one, Downward Spiral. This one didn't crush me like I always remember it hurting. But then I  was set at 90%. And..uhh, yeah....I didn't do the attacks on the last set. So I guess I lost this one. Certainly got dropped.

Total of 24 miles in 1:25:00 time.

I'm remembering to get some Recoverite in me right after the workout.  The workout ends, I get off the bike, and within two minutes I have downed a serving or two of Recoverite. I think that immediacy is so incredibly important.

Tour of Sufferlandia Day 2

Completed "The Hunted" tonight at 90% effort level. I'm really liking the trainerroad system, especially that it lets you dial down the intensity level like that and maintain that data.

The power reading problem is gone. I turned off the wireless USB mouse. Problem solved as expected. Everything about this system is pretty easy.

Now looking at getting an ANT+ HRM so I can put the heart rate data in there, too. Kind of costly, though. Looking at the Timex Global Trainer for $150, which is a great deal.

Here's my data file for The Hunted tonight.

Tour of Sufferlandia Day 1

Woohoo! I completed the Tour of Sufferlandia Stage 1...Hell Hath No Fury. I haven't done that video in a long time, and I've probably only done it 4-5 times total. I forgot that it includes 2x20 minute efforts! That's exactly what I need to be working on. This online tour is kind of exciting, and my wife is tired about hearing about it!

So...what about the TrainerRoad? I like it! It's great software with really great feedback. And it can be used with any video?!?! I really like that!

Bottom line: if you're a newbie wondering about the ANT+ and TrainerRoad, go ahead and dive right in. It's awesome!

I got my ANT+ speed/cadence sensor in the mail TODAY at noon! Just in time logistics, I say. It took me about 10 minutes at the very most to get the package from the mail, take it downstairs, open, put it on my bike using an old set of magnets I never took off, install the ANT+ USB stick, download the Garmin drivers, download TrainerRoad, and get a quick read on a basic workout to make sure it will work tonight. This was incredibly so easy to setup!  And..BAM!...all the videos and other workouts end up on your screen. Great stuff!

The only problem I had was that I was getting a very inconsistent reading on the power. Cadence was a good, steady read, though. The entire 75 minutes I told myself that the wireless USB mouse was causing the problem but I never turned it off. Turns out that is probably the cause, according to the support website of the TrainerRoad.com, and it makes sense. I'll get my chance to fix it tomorrow during Stage 2: The Hunted,  my personal favorite Sufferfest video.

Oh yeah, I should say that I didn't do the FTP test. I guess at a 230 based on what I've been seeing on the Kurt Kinetic "power" computer the last two months.  If this workout is a true indication of what I should be doing in terms of watts at given effort levels, I think that I'm spot-on with 230 watts. The data below doesn't show that, but that's because of the inconsistent readings tonight caused by the USB mouse interference....I rode the expected effort level 95% of the time...and it dang near killed me! I don't know if I'll have anything left tomorrow, much less anytime after that.

Below is my data. Looking forward to tomorrow.

 

Get in a groove and go with it.

I had huge plans for a great winter training season beginning in early November. In the first week of December, I finally got going with some sort of consistent training doing weight-lifting and some bike riding....and little to no running.

But sometimes you have to find a groove and go with it to make sure you are having fun while staying fit in the winter.

Now here I am nearing the end of January. I have a good, consistent program going, but it looks nothing like my original plan. In short, I have found a groove, and I'm going with it. 

I am lifting weights and making great gains in true muscular endurance, in terms of moderate weight and several sets of 20 in the midst of a high-tempo routine of supersets.   I do that weight lifting routine and it completely wears me out in about 45 minutes because it is essentially a double of the 206040 triathlon routine.  Then I ride my bike in the evening for about 20 miles in 70 minutes at  a decent moderate tempo (HR of 140 against max HR of 180).

This routine is not going to help me at all for the Pocatello 50 run! And it won't get me first out of the water in any swim.  But I'm happy doing it right now because it's a nice break and I get excited about the opportunity to do my workouts. I don't dread anything about my workouts right now, and I think that is a key to getting a good foundation built.

I do think that my bike leg will benefit from this, and that is my weakest link anyway. I'm really busting it on the leg curls and leg press, and I can see the progress each in week in terms of being able to lift the previous weeks amount of weights and reps. 

And when I'm on the bike trainer, I am really focusing on a good smooth cadence rather than mashing, and I can often get a good, long series of that improved cadence that speeds me up at the same effort level, and I KNOW that if I can do that kind of pedaling for 24 or 56 miles, my bike leg will be much faster this summer.  And priority one for this winter training season was to improve my bike leg.

I guess I won't be getting to the other priorities, at least til it warms up a bit.

The Sufferfest + TrainerRoad = ???

I got the word about the Tour de Sufferlandia.  It sounds like way too much fun, so I wanted to sign up. You have to sign up at TrainerRoad.com, which I had found only about two weeks prior and thought was cool.

At TrainerRoad, you can use VirtualPower to train with power but not spend the big bucks on a powermeter (Hey, some of us have kids that cost LOTSA money!).

Anyway, I'll be signing up here shortly, I guess, because the whole system seems like it will be pretty cool. You get 30 free days with a sign-up, and that will run me through most of February, which is when I need to be very consistent on the bike trainer anyway.

And the TrainerRoad system works with any video that you use. You can also use the MountainCruises at www.mountaincruises.com! Nice how I got to work that in there! Or you can use them for a few days after the tour as a recovery ride.

The beauty of this whole thing is that you get to train with power if you have one of the listed devices, which Kinetic Road Trainer is listed. I'm not sure how it all will work yet, but I did order my ANT+ USB stick, and it shipped already.

Excited about the opportunities, that's for sure.

And remember that the tour starts January 26, and we'll have lotsa fun, I'm sure. :)

********************************************

Need a training challenge? Join the Tour of Sufferlandria 26 Jan - 3 Feb 

They say that the Tour of Qatar isn't hard enough. There are murmurs that the Tour Down Under, even though harder than before, still isn't terribly difficult. Rumor has it that the Tour de San Luis in Argentina is little more than a tourist trip and even Europe's early season races have become simple warm-ups for the rest of the season.

That's all changing thanks to a new race sponsored by the Sufferlandrian Tourist Bureau. Slotting in nicely to the UCI calender of early season races, the Tour of Sufferlandria was created to bring back the drama, agony and misery that the early season peloton deserves. Starting on January 26th, the 9 day event promises to turn even the softest rider into a true Sufferlandrian by the end, on Feb 3rd.

More details to come in the days and weeks ahead, but we wanted to give you a heads-up so you can slot it into your training plans (if you're tough enough, of course).

Full Schedule:

• Saturday, Jan 26th: Hell Hath No Fury
• Sunday, Jan 27th: The Hunted
• Monday, Jan 28th: Extra Shot + Fight Club
• Tuesday, Jan 29th: A Very Dark Place
• Wednesday, Jan 30th: Angels
• Thursday, Jan 31st: The Wretched + The Long Scream
• Friday, Feb 1st: The Downward Spiral
• Saturday, Feb 2nd: There is No Try + Revolver
• Sunday, Feb 3rd: Local Hero

According to Grunter von Agony, race director, "The course is carefully balanced between agony, misery and despair. So, yes, the Tour of Sufferlandria is a worthwhile target for anybody looking for an early season goal. You really ought to have some solid training behind you before you start it, and you'll surely go through a roasting in hell during the race. 

When you come out the other side? With a solid 9 days of effort behind you, you will be able to take an ox, tie him to your bike, drag him up and over Mt. Sufferlandria while he tries to run the other way, and drink a flagon of ale made from the bikes of all t

hose you crushed on your way to a glorious victory. Or the Minions will eat you for lunch. But, whatever."

To Participate:

As we said, we'll send you more details in the near future and also post them on our Facebook page here. But, in short, to join the ToS, you must simply commit to following the schedule above and ride yourself into the ground each day. Join the community on our Facebook page for inspiration in those dark moments between stages to hear and share stories of HONOR GLORY AND VICTORY.

Although you can do it on your own, those who complete and register their 9 days with our partner, TrainerRoad.com, will be be eligible for daily prizes and thrown into a pool of prizes from the 'fest, TrainerRoad and others at the end of the event. (A subscription is necessary for TrainerRoad.com, however they have a 30-day no-questions asked refund policy so if you're not happy after doing the Tour of Sufferlandria with them, you can get your money back.)

Twitter #TourofSufferlandria

IWBMATTKYT,

David McQuillen, Founder
Sufferfest Studios
Official training videos of the Continental OCBC-Singapore Cycling Team
http://www.thesufferfest.com

Video Review: The Sufferfest - The Wretched

Alarm goes off at 5:12am. "I ain't gettin' up this morning."  Pause. "Oh yeah, I got that new Sufferfest vid last night, and it's waiting for me. Can't wait to see it!" Hop up out of bed, down to the pain cave, pour the coffee already-brewed-by-timer, and ready to go!

Yes, that's how my morning went. From that to a good workout out The Sufferfest - The Wretched video to writing this right now.

I have nearly all the Sufferfest videos. My favorites remain The Hunted and Local Hero, mostly because they feature some longer Time-Trial-like sections. And I really like the music.

The Wretched is a change of pace then. It has less formal structure and more of a let's-follow-the-race structure. It really puts you into the race and keeps you mentally engaged.

The timing on this workout is only 35 minutes of work, with 48 minutes overall. That's GREAT if you've become wretched and can't pull a full one-hour workout (like me right now!). It's also great if you're using this for a one-hour lunch workout.  This video fits into my schedule perfectly right now, but I can see that when I get into some longer workouts as my season moves along, I'll be going back to the staples The Hunted and Local Hero.

Certainly nothing is stopping you from doubling or tripling this with some of the other shorter vids to make a three hour workout. That would certainly be alot of suffering.

So what about the video? I'll just leave a few notes for everyone....suffice to say that you should get it; you can't go wrong even if you just pedal along to the music and watch the screen when you pull your head up enough.

1. The format of the workout is really cool. Follow along with what happened in the real race. Simple is good.

2. New graphics greatly enhance the production level. Nicely done!

3. Three climbs in this workout. The final climb has some great instrumental music to keep you pushing along.

4. Video is 48 minutes, with 35 minutes of  a "main set." Perfect for a short morning or one-hour lunch workout.

5. More fun and games with the "plot" of your second-you, the Sufferlandian.  Lotsa Fun!

6. The Wretched is simply another video in the long list of great stuff from Dave.  

I followed the Sufferfest closely for the last few years but got behind on the videos a bit this past summer. I was busy training for my first 70.3 triathlon, and I also put together my own bike trainer videos that put you on the road in Yellowstone National Park. Check them out at www.mountaincruises.com.  I will honestly say they are not as good as the Sufferfest videos, but when you need a break and some easy cruising,  push play for MountainCruises.com and you'll have some nice cruising scenery for the day...just watch out for the buffalo!

Another Sufferfest! 30 minute TT effort

I'm downloading another Sufferfest vid released last week.  It's a 30 minute TT effort. Nice add-on to whatever else you are doing.

Sufferfest Video Sale!

Yeehaw!  15% off Sufferfest videos. Got this e-mail today........................

1x/year! 15% off videos.

New Wind & Rain vest pre-order sale!

My Dear Sufferlandrians,

15% off videos
Once a year, in the middle of the northern hemisphere Summer, we do a sale on our videos. This one starts right now. Get 15% off all Sufferfest videos until July 1st. Just use the code IHAVESUFFERED. Remember: Even in Summer, a 'fest a week keeps the pack away. http://www.thesufferfest.com

New Sufferfest Wind & Rain Vest
We're nearly out of our jersey and bibshorts, and now we're introducing our Sufferfest Wind & Rain vest. It's on pre-order sale now - just $59 USD (Regular: $69 USD) if you order before July 1st. It'll ship in September and includes FREE 'fest stickers. You can get it here: http://sufferfest.myshopify.com/products/sufferfest-wind-rain-vest

Today's "Vision Quest" race the train training moment

I wrestled in high school in the late 80's, so the movie "Vision Quest" is big on my list of motivational flicks. There are a few great clips in that movie of Louden Swaine training really hard to beat the animal Brian Shute. It gets me going every time I think about it!

Anyway, one clip that I can't find on YouTube has Swain riding bike really hard in the early morning with a train next to the road, and he's training so hard he's keeping pace with the train. AWESOME, right!?!?

In typical fashion...."so, there I was" during this afternoon's bike ride, cruising down the little hill that takes me parrellel to the railroad tracks. A train blows its whistle and scares the crap out of me, and then blows it again and again because it's passing a cross with the road. I look over as the road become parrellel with the train, and the engine is even with me. GAME ON, BABY!!! I beat the hell out of those pedals for about thirty seconds while I lived in the moment, the moment of the "Vision Quest" bike vs train training scene. Then I rounded another turn in the road and a strong wind smacked me in the face, and I burned out in typical old-man-reliving-his-youth fashion.

BUT THAT 30 SECONDS WAS AWESOME!

Run Progress Test = SUCCESS!

One of my main goals this year was to run consistently at a moderate pace to bring down my run time. I haven’t been 100% consistent, but I’ve hit many of the workouts. My weight is still kind of high, but it seems like I’ve plateaued and the weight will start coming off (we’ll see!).

Anyway….yesterday was a Physical Fitness Test at drill. It’s a standard three-mile course that we’ve been running once every month. This month, I wasn’t expecting to run it really hard, but when we started, I felt good and decided to go with it. There were a couple other Marines running about 20 yards ahead for the first half, and I was just trying to stick with them to see how long they would hold the pace. I didn’t know how fast we were running, but we hit the half-way point at 8:40. Wow! At first, I started thinking that we were slow, running an 8:40 mile, but then I remembered it was 1.5 miles at that point, and I started thinking “Hey, maybe I can hit the holy grail of 18:00 and max this thing!”  Going into the turn-around, I had surged a bit, and then kept up that surge right after the turn and passed the two other Marines.  I held the pace, and put forth a 105% effort to come in at 17:40, holding off a last-100-yard surge from another Marine.

This is a life-time Personal Record. I never ran this fast even in my college days. So, my strategy for run training is working. Yeehaw!

Now I just need to confirm if the bike training is working. The indoor test a couple weeks ago was nice, but I’m not confident it gives me the whole picture.  It might be a while yet til I get a nice afternoon with enough time to do my 40k route. I’m excited about it, but I think I’m going to be a couple minutes shy of the goal. I wanted to double my bike volume from last year, and I’m only about 60% higher than last year; my average run volume has fully doubled, and that successful progress is evident.

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.