[Closed] Tour of Sufferlandria 2015 - up for it?

I'm in. I did it in 2013 but missed* last year.

* Didn't miss.

As a side issue Strava Premium does not have "most" films but the same three for the last nine months, one of the reasons Ill be cancelling.

😥

but have just signed up for trainerroad 😯

I quite fancy this too but does anyone know how much the videos will cost?

As a side issue Strava Premium does not have "most" films but the same three for the last nine months, one of the reasons Ill be cancelling.

OK, odd, I thought that more were available after reading the FAQ here:

I’ve subscribed to the App. Can I use that for the Tour? Yes. Sort of. If you subscribe to our app, then you’ll have access to nearly all the videos – only Nine Hammers and Elements of Style won’t be available and you’ll need to purchase those.

I assumed that the App was Strava Premium.

know how much the videos will cost?

Love the idea of it but clashes with other stuff, maybe next time...

You could do it without the videos I guess. I don't know about TR but I use GoldenCheetah - you can import Sufferfest workouts from the spreadsheet [url= http://viewsoftheroad.com/sufferfest-erg-spreadsheet/ ]here[/url], so by using your FTP, the target watts of the intervals are synced with the video. I suppose they'd work with TR too.

I have a few SF videos but sometimes just do the workout without the video as an alternative to the usual under overs, pyramids and whatnot.

TR has all the Sufferfest sessions in so you can just select the one you want and off you go, with YouTube or whatever streaming the latest CX race/film of choice. So there is no actual need to purchase the films.

Like the idea of it but too brutal for me for the time of year.

It is brutal, especially getting up early to get one in, straight out of bed and onto the turbo is horrible 🙁

Didn't realize you could do Sufferfest workouts on Trainerroad without the videos, I wasn't going to bother as I'm missing roughly half of the ones I'd need but now I might give it a go.

I'm still a relative novice to all this turbo malarkey but been doing the base training plan on trainerroad so will have a look at how the sufferfest stuff compares (I.e. How hard it's going to be) but I kinda fancy a challenge and I'm off on hols at the time so timing works for me.

Im in it for the first time, using trainer road without the videos, probably watching emmerdale or something 😀

probably watching emmerdale

Hmmm motivational! 😯

That looks f'in hard, the last two days in particular. Might have to reduce the intensity a little for those. Definitely harder than last year.

A handy tip I found out last year is that you can 'time shift' yourself - I had a couple of work trips a couple of days apart, which meant that I couldn't be at home for any of the 50 hour period which you get to complete the workout, however if you take your PC off the internet, change the clock to the time needed to start the workout, do the workout and then boot up a few hours later change the clock back to the correct time (make sure it's not before your start time), then go back on line and upload your workout. I had a couple of extra hard days by having to do two in a day, but I got my badge!

I'm in.. haven't been on the road bike for ages so not expecting much, but a good motivator to get back on it! And excuse to buy another video or two..

Just gotten into the whole TR thing so liked the look of this - but if named men are saying it's brutal then might be a bit much at this point in time for me. Also would like to do it with the vids, but only have the strava premium stuff.
I read you could stream them from sufferfest for not too much - like subscribe for a month or something like that.

You can stream them from sufferfest but you won't be able to use them with trainerroad that way

but you won't be able to use them with trainerroad that way

meaning that they won't be perfectly in sync? then yes that seems logical, but you should be able to just watching them and use TR at the same time.

Hadn't quite realised how tough the penultimate day will be.

Everyone's doing the multi-vid stages back to back, right?

Yeah back to back, might need to change shorts though to a dry pair!

Brutal, the rest of it seems doable, albeit, hard. From Thursday onwards is going to be real fun.

Going to give this a go, just signed up to stream the videos as not got them all and can't afford to buy them all now so streaming seems a brilliant idea. Looks tough!

GO GO GO!

First stage down.. that hurt!

Well done sir!

The beauty of a 50 hour day window!

I'll kick it off tomorrow morning.

I am strongly considering this but am not sure I can cope with two and a half hours on the turbo in one day...

Try it, if you get as far as next Saturday then you'll already have done well!

Well I've done elements of style...

Looked at Elements of Style having never done it before and thought that and The Long Scream would be a piece of cake. Turns out it wasn't and I'm now dreading Stage 8 which I think might actually kill me to death.

I'd not done The Long Scream before.. was feeling ok after Elements Of Style and then.. boom!

Hopefully 7 consecutive days of training will stand me in good stead for Stage 8! 😆

First day complete, both stages at FTP, not sure long how long I'll be able to keep up that intensity though.

Even got round to buying a fan, hmmm marginal gains 😀

having not done the long scream before I was looking forward to being eased into the tour. Oh how wrong I was! I'm not looking forward to Tuesday, downloaded 9 Hammers and had a flick through to see what it was like, I'm a bit scared now! Stage 8 is giving me nightmares already!

Yeah the Long Scream is very aptly named.

Not done, or even seen Nine Hammers or The Rookie, so they'll be fun doing then blind as it were.

Thinking it will be manageable up to end of play Wednesday, then Local Hero onwards will take some serious suffering to complete

Last time I finished revolver I was total spent with nothing left, violator actually broke me and I couldn't finish it and I haven't tried half is easy yet, next Saturday isn't looking good for me! It won't help that I will have to Friday's stage in the evening as Im going to be on a work trip.

The long scream was a bit of a bugger, I hadn't expected it to be so tough and was really considering sacking it off!

I've not done Blender before and I'm really not sure I have the mental capacity for nearly 2 hours on the turbo...

Does Trainer road work on an android phone? I'd be interested in getting it but my turbo is set up in the cellar, well away from computers.

Think its just iOS at the moment

Blender - done. It's quite a long session when you've not got the video so it's just you and your power readouts!

Blender done as well, after the long scream it wasn't so bad. Fight club tomorrow!

Nice work guys, Blender completed for breakfast too.

How did the pain shakes go down?

Playing catch up. Just completed Saturdays session before deadline this morning. Wondering whether to do Blender now or this evening.

Blender tick
Last 4 mins was a bit unpleasant

Nice work, that's quite a day's training!

Couldn't get it done yesterday so have just done Blender.. there goes my day in hand! Just means I'll be doing the final stage Sunday evening when I get back from the Circus Of Dirt..

[quote=djflexure]Last 4 mins was a bit unpleasant

Anyone else shout "bastards!" when they stopped the clock with 24 seconds to go!? 👿

Nice work, that's quite a day's training!

Anyone else shout "bastards!" when they stopped the clock with 24 seconds to go!?

Fight Club done now as well. Still at 100% FTP but it was grim at the end!

I thought it was another video which I didn't own so was surprised to find it in my library, I briefly wondered why I didn't do this workout more often but the constant attacks refreshed my memory...

I need to build a buffer for stage 8, I want to be able to have a rest day before doing the 3 videos back to back.

ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!! I feel like my legs are going to fall off now! I think I have woken ou the whole street with the groaning and a trainer that sounds like a jet fighter.

OOh that was tough!

Fight club for breakfast.

And a huge thanks to TR helpdesk for sorting out my "lost in sync" training data, wouldn't have wanted to repeat that session!

Wow, over 750 riders have been dropped from the peloton already!

Wow, over 750 riders have been dropped from the peloton already!

Including me as it happens. I got half way through Blender and thought screw this, I'm going climbing instead. No commitment me! I'm going to do a few more of the days just because they're a target.

for a total of around 12.5 hours of training and a TSS of just over a 1000!

I think the reality of doing this ^^^ on a turbo kicks in pretty quickly. Attrition much the same the past couple of years.

Yeah its hard, first time attempting here. I have Thursday as a goal to get to then we'll see.

It helps that the weather over here is so so bad that nothing outside seems particularly better than nailing myself on the rollers.

How people do it in places where its summer is beyond me 😯

Trainer road was hanging for me whilst doing Blender. The timer would stop for about a minute each time with stats frozen too. This happened about 10 times. Anyone else ever had this? It was really irritating and I don't want a repeat doing fight club tonight.

Just in from work and off to the garage for Fight Club
See you in an hour

Just finished 9 Hammers, the workout itself was ok (for a given value of ok obviously!) but I was really struggling to hold a cadence. I was constantly drifting down so ended up accelerating way past the target output and then "managing" the decline back down to where I was supposed to be.

Just done Fight Club. Not too tough a workout on its own but really quite tough tonight. After the second raised section I was tempted to give up, but felt a bit better by the end. Definitely heavy legs though. Should be able to last till the weekend but Saturday and Sunday will be brutal.

Fight club - felt confident going in, but really hard by the end. At least its done. Can't wait till tomorrow.

You lot are **nutters.

** due to injury I'm off the (moving) bike at the mo so will be doing my first turbo sufferfest shortly. So I guess that's me too.

downloaded 9 Hammers and had a flick through to see what it was like, I'm a bit scared now! Stage 8 is giving me nightmares already!

CALM DOWN IT'S NOT REAL!

Fight Club done and dusted! TT sections - bad, climbing sections - slightly less bad!

For intensity jumps (say, 2/10 to 7/10) on the turbo are people shifting gears or adjusting resistance (or both?). Some of the short sprint intervals are a bit tricky to keep up with..

If you're doing it on Trainerroad with virtual power, you can't adjust the resistance during a work out - you have to set the resistance level and which model of turbo in the settings.

Gears shift quick enough to change the intensity in about a second or two, so I wouldn't be too worried.

Fight Club was horrible. I seriously considered giving up twice. Its tough enough without having done two days beforehand!

[quote=mtbtomo]If you're doing it on Trainerroad with virtual power, you can't adjust the resistance during a work out - you have to set the resistance level and which model of turbo in the settings.

Cheers, no TrainerRoad here.. just me against the videos!

what does Trainerroad do? I took a look but it's not clear. is it kind of Garmin/Strava for static training?

what does Trainerroad do?

Its creates a virtual power curve based on your trainer and wheelsize and then uses your FTP to provide you with power targets to hit.

So instead of frogstomp saying 2/10 then 9/10, you get an actual figure like 156 and 424 watts.

Your bike sends live data to your laptop/device and you get your current power and your target power shown to you. So no easing off.

You also get a library of 500 odd training sessions, training plans to follow, and the ability to create your own custom sessions.

Thx, I kinda get it, some roadie terminology in there I think, I'll twig when I try it.

How we doing?
Just downloading the vid for a bit of extra encouragement. Think I'll need it tonight. Sore legs before I start.

Nine Hammers just completed, actually not too bad all things considered.

Great on-board film footage.

Yup, Nine Hammers... err, hammered! Once I'd got used to the choppy nature of the intervals I kind of almost nearly enjoyed it! 😕

Well that's Angels done, the final sprint had me, just managed to hit the target then cracked on the 3, 2, 1 countdown to the warm down. I was surprised how much harder the rest periods were in tonight's video compared to the last couple of videos though.

Local Hero tomorrow which I've never done before - luckily it's a day off so I can do it whenever I feel like it and not as soon as I walk through the door from work.

Angels is hard, the newer version is easier slightly though, IMO.

Local Hero is hard too. hmmmm

Nine Hammers - tick
Finished stomping with a bit left in the tank which was nice for a change.
Looking forward to Angels, its the one I do the most. Just got the new version so I'll slip it in if its a bit easier.

Angels is always tough although I think I should manage it tonight. I used to do Angels and A Very Dark Place over and over when I first found Sufferfest vids.

Not looking forward to Local Hero tomorrow though, 1:26 🙁

Are people doing this to virtual power in trainerroad?

I am and I feel absolutely battered already.

Everyday I get closer to bailing out.

Yep doing it to virtual power, managing to stay at 100% of FTP so far but I can't see that lasting much longer.

It seems to be getting harder to sustain a steady output so I'm hoping that Local Hero's sprints should be a nice change. I doubt it though!

Got a Kickr for Christmas which has been great. Just dial in the prescription and take your medicine.
100% FTP here too but after a couple of years off thats only 240.

i bailed last night, really struggled to reach my FTP in the end, along with my commute i'm not ashamed to say it broke me!

Good to anyone still in there - i cant imagine how Saturday will feel!

Yes, doing it to virtual power in Trainerroad.

Niane hammers broke me yesterday, I'm out. I think I will actually go for a ride outside at the weekend.

Still on track at TR virtual power, Nine Hammers was a little easier than expected, but still hard.

Angles should be doable, but damn hard.

Local Hero, well we'll see what happens Thursday.

edit: luckily the weather is so poor over here that riding outside isn't really an option.

Left the heating on in the bike room so was down to bibs and HRM after 2 minutes - not a great look!

Found the first part of Local Hero fairly hard, again that was down to holding a pace but once the shorter, harder efforts kicked in I was fairly happy, felt like I could easily have done several more intervals. (But didn't, I'm not an idiot.)

Not sure if I'm getting a 2nd wind or whether I'm better off doing afternoon training but I'm a bit more confident about the 3 video stage now.