I am not looking forward to the best part of 3 hours today. Back to back.

But I’ve come this far….

That kickr sounds like potentially a good thing training wise but also a very baaaaaad thing too….

well that wasn’t pretty, but its done 😯

FTP targets left at 100%, used the wrong Revolver film, and boy are 5 second sprints hard to do on rollers.

Set three new power records on TrainerRoad, 2 in Violator, and one in Half is Easy.

Is it possible to do all three at 100%, well I think you’d need a Kickr and you’d definitely need good legs

Quick cup of coffee here before the last set. I know I’m cheating. No cramp yet but I’ve had 3 electrolyte tabs (?placebo). The Kickr has problems with the 5 second sprints. Just gets towards the right resistance at the end. Difficult to set records too as you are power limited (in he ergo mode at least).
Still at 100%.

Done – unpleasant – had to go to 75% as legs were failing. Not helped by power signal being intermittently dropped resulting in ramping up of resistance.

Chapeau to everyone who endured (and survived) Stage 8.. Just one more to go and we’re done!

Stage 9 Done
😀
I’m glad I like that session. Really hard since I’ve beaten the shit out of myself getting here but great feeling to finish on that one.

Now where’s that beer!

Well done! I had a couple of hours in bed after 8. Now sitting with sore legs in front of the fire with a well deserved glass of red.
Stage 9 should be fine after a nights rest. Those repeated intervals today were something though.

The intervals were shit! Lets be frank about that.
I’m smiling now but the last set of violator was…well, lets not go there.

Uh oh….the plan now is to do stage 8 before midday tomorrow and then stage 9 early evening.

Five hours in a day.

Nice.

Why are we doing this?

Seriously, someone please remind me 😉 No, really – on Monday morning, will it really make me a better person?? 😉

And I’m done!

Thank god for that, really hard work and I was struggling from the off. Legs felt heavy and I was generally feeling the effects of all the hours on the turbo over the last week.

I was really tempted to drop the FTP but decided I’d rather crack going for 100% – just made the last climb and then the final sprints were a welcome relief.

And tonight there’s no recovery shakes, just Indian and beer so that’s nice…

Good luck to all those still to finish, worth pushing through just for the self-satisfaction.

Feeling really jealous of those who’ve finished, well done all, an epic effort. Chapeau.
Finished Half is Easy and set 6 PRs 😀

Stage 8 done. Nearly broke me, having to get going again for Half is Easy was tough. Did it all in one session and at 100% ftp which I’m pleased about. Can’t wait to finish tomorrow, also coincides with end of Dry January, so I can have something bubbly as I cross the finish line 🙂

All done. Amen.

OMG! Done, but f¤%& me that was hard today. Not a chance of getting anywhere near my target power levels!

Respect to all those that have done this, I expected it to be brutal, but the last few days were another level again.

Well done guys.
Went out for ride in the snow today (had to go get my car). I reminded myself there’s a reason for turbo training.

The questions are … what next after this high intensity binge? What’s the thinking about making the most of this and getting the training back on track?

Side question: I’m doing a bit of turbo Sufferfest due to injury. How do you mount your screens?

Best I’ve got so far is iPad on a tea tray taped to the bars. 15″ laptop on a bunch of chairs, out past the front wheel, comes out as a smaller viewing area.

Any tips?

Thx.

quarter turn garmin adaptor glued to the back of a cheap iPhone case.

My screen is a 32″ flat screen bolted to the wall in the “pain cave”. And sat on the bike 3 feet away, its still not as immersive I hoped when I bought it 😉

Just got stage 8 done before the cut off, ISLAGIATT tonight cos I won’t get chance tomorrow.

I’d be interested to know what next. I think some easier rides OUTSIDE, a few commutes maybe and then the Sufferfest Advanced training plan…..??

I’d be interested to know what next.

what you have done, is essentially this

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/02/crash-training.html

so, what you need to do, is rest, then a 20 minute test to reset your FTP as it should have gone up as a result of a high week of training, before you embark on a new plan

unless a TSS of 1000 over 9 days is normally what you do?

Set up:

so, what you need to do, is rest, then a 20 minute test to reset your FTP as it should have gone up as a result of a high week of training, before you embark on a new plan

+1 excellent advice!

Well done to those who have completed so far. Looking at the stats on trainerroad the majority of riders are still to complete stage 9 so you are in good company if yet to finish.
I think I’ll just go for a few light spins this week to avoid seizing up – essentially a week off. Then perhaps venture out next weekend.

I was fearful someone might mention doing another FTP test 😉

Well, at least it would give me chance to get a proper comparison between my Stages and Trainerroad virtual power…..

I’m going to give it a few ays first and maybe experience the outside world too in that time 😉

That was ugly. I had to stop and have a word with myself. And then knock the intensity down. Suppose thats what happens when you try and knock out the best part of 4.5 hours of high intensity turbo training in a day……

Yeah stage 8 and 9 in the same day wouldn’t be my idea of fun! How far did you get before you had to stop? I found the ISLAGIATT climbs nails and that was the day after.

I got off on Stage 8 Revolver about 5 minutes in and a certain person in the house told me to carry on. It was more of a mental thing at that point. A bit “why the F… a I doing this when I could be sat having toast and coffee, reading the papers, chatting with the family”. NORMAL stuff 😉 But a bit of coercion from my “DS” was all I needed so I got back in the saddle and pushed on . The rest of stage 8 was fine, just hard getting up and down between the sprints on violator.

Got about 2/3 the way through stage 9 before everything looked very grey and it seemed like I was in a trance wading through mud with legs full of lead. So I knocked the intensity down a notch. Otherwise I was going to seize on the bike with the frozen look of pain on my face 😉

And… Done. 100% today and it hurt, but 4 more PRs so yes the FTP retest is going to be a goood thing.

Slightly jealous there Chef, I’m in the garage at -1 with gloves and frozen toes. Still dripping really badly after the first step ups. Need a more sensible area. Going to bed now. Cheers all

Done. Finished at 21:30 last night and had a Guinness to celebrate the tour and also ending Dry January.

ISLAGIATT went on forever, 2 hours was really tough, I started it at 19:30ish and even at 17:00 I could barely walk up my stairs, I didn’t think I would be able to do it.

Good little thread – was good to hear other people’s stories. I told my OH to remind me not to do it next year. I did it in 2013 and this was a lot harder. Congrats to all!

Think I will do an FTP on Thurs. night, time for some rest…

Good job that man! Bet that Guinness tasted great.

There wasn’t a single minute of ISLAGIATT that I didn’t begrudge. The previous 8 dyas were fine, if hard, but yesterday I was questioning why I was doing it as the fun had gone out of it.

Rather than hijack your Tour thread gents, I made: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tips-for-sufferfest-newbie

Missing our nightly tour already – had to go out and do Angels ‘for fun’. Seemed nice and easy for a change. I guess trainer sessions will be easier for a while compared to stage 8.

I went for a bit of a spin round Zwift Island, legs still felt a bit heavy!

so, what you need to do, is rest, then a 20 minute test to reset your FTP as it should have gone up as a result of a high week of training, before you embark on a new plan

Interesting to know what results people observe. I’d expect a negative impact on FTP for some period of time (a week or two) before it bounces back.

I felt surprisingly fine tonight. Euphoria I imagine. Agree interesting too see what results people get with FTP retest. People like me probably have quite a bit to gain coming from a fairly unfit state. But might take another month to start seeing results.

It assumes you have some recovery time. They reckon about a week should do it for that length of crash training.

FTP later this week…. 🙁

Well done to everyone who managed to complete The Tour.. I have to come clean and admit I fell at the last hurdle. After a long weekend I just couldn’t face 2 more hours on Sunday night.. was going to do it Monday evening but once the time window had passed my motivation went.

Hey, there’s always next year! 😉