I turned the heating off last night so I wouldn’t overheat on the turbo.. then forgot to turn it back on – cue a chilly start this morning!

God knows how we’ll cope when we have to venture into the real world again!

This has been a good exercise for me so far. After being on the edge with Fight Club I have since felt steadily better. Angels was fine tonight. Hope everybody else getting on OK.

along with my commute i’m not ashamed to say it broke me!

Not surprised. I’m not even thinking of venturing out until this is over. In a delicate balance at present.

Angels completed and with the added surprise of adding two new power records into the bargain.

Still worried about tomorrow though.

Stomped my way through Angels.. pushed quite hard.

I’m going to have to squeeze Local Hero and The Rookie in tomorrow (day off so should be doable), then stage 8 on Friday and stage 9 very late on Sunday if I can.

Wow. Some hard chaps on here – particularly if you’re working to TR power-based targets. Having done both Local Hero and The Rookie, I wish you well doing them back to back. The Rookie is shorter but more intense I think.

Well, that was an exercise in survival but… Local Hero done!

I’m only doing them against the videos so maybe not as hard-core. I did do the heart-rate FTP Rubber Glove test which came out at 150 but I think it reacts to slow to use zones, so I just aim to make sure I’m above my threshold for the bits that count:

Over all I’m just using it as a bit of a fitness kickstart after the Christmas period! 😆

Top effort there! Going for The Rookie today as well?

If everything goes to plan then I’ll do Local Hero tonight and Rookie tomorrow morning to give me the max recovery time before Saturday’s chaos.

Yeah, I think I’m going to have to do it tonight if I’m going to squeeze them all in within the allotted timescales..

Stage 8 tomorrow then Saturday / Sunday for recovery (er, at the Race Face Circus Of Dirt Enduro) and then Stage 9 for Sunday evening’s warm down.. 😯

If everything goes to plan then I’ll do Local Hero tonight and Rookie tomorrow morning to give me the max recovery time before Saturday’s chaos.

Hmmm… that is a very good idea.

Local Hero done.

That was easily the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been on my rollers.

Shoes felt a size too small, saddle felt like a knife edge, legs felt like I’d mashed a hard run session beforehand.

Now to set the alarm for 05:15 and get the Rookie done……

That’s The Rookie done, bloody hell that was a difficult one! Nowhere to get into any kind of rhythm, every few seconds your accelerating then easing off again. The profile looked ok but the reality was totally different.

Day off tomorrow so I’ve 2 choices, do the stage 8 videos tomorrow during the day which I think would work best or have tomorrow off and hope to recover more for saturday evening.

Local hero – tick.

That’s The Rookie ticked off. Not sure I did justice after this morning’s exertions (struggled with the high tempo bits) but still managed to hammer the sprint at the end! 😈

Good work guys! 8)

Local Hero was horrid. Nearly didn’t bother. Nearly got off after each of the pyramids but hung on.

Kept to the profile on 100% FTP setting.

I think its become more a mental challenge now. I really just want to ride in the fresh air and with people to talk to 🙁 😉

just noticed this thread.
Just finished the Rookie. They’re all hard but that felt easy after Local hero. The next 2 days are going to be painful.
Been fairly pleased to aim for my ftp throughout.
Confident of finishing this year. Crashed and burned on the Angels/Hunted session last year.

Off to bed now too. it does beat the shit out of you

And that’s The Rookie done.

As was said, after Local Hero that was a comparative walk in the park.

Good effort – mine will have to wait till tonight. Looked at tomorrow for the first time while taking the train this morning. Looks quite intense. Not come this far to fail though.

Looks quite intense

😆

I’m looking forward to The Rookie after reading the above – well, I’m looking forward to a slightly easier stage. Local Hero was tough and again about a third of the way in I didn’t think I would make it. Finished quite strongly.

I’m having a slice of malt loaf halfway through as an incentive! Having to sit with a fan blowing on me at ‘outdoors’ temperatures though, takes me ages to warm up again!

My plan is to get up early tomorrow and do Violator (1h:08) and then the other two tomorrow night (that’s not cheating is it?!). Leaving Sunday evening for the 2hr ride into Paris 🙂

My plan is to get up early tomorrow and do Violator (1h:08) and then the other two tomorrow night (that’s not cheating is it?!

Technically yes, sorry, they are meant to be done back to back. 😯

“NOTE: Stages with multiple videos must have videos done back to back. You wouldn’t take a break halfway through a Tour de France stage, would you? So don’t even think of taking one here in Sufferlandria.”
http://www.thesufferfest.com/tour-sufferlandria-2015/

That is a blow… OK, then Saturday night just got a lot worse, but at least I get a lie-in on Saturday morning now. No point being dishonorable, what would the minions say?

Thanks for the heads up on the back to back for the 3 vids. Initially I did think you had to but then could not see that bit when I re-read the rules. I was going to ‘play it by ear’ and see how I felt as I went through them.

Thanks again

Not sure about the tactics for tomorrow, theory says your FTP must be too low if you can complete all three sessions all at 100%

Might aim for a negative split and go for 90, 95, then 100%

Yep. I feel I should ‘control’ my sprints and leave the 100%’s to near the end.

Pysching myself up for tonight.. a bit of a go with the foam roller, collecting together all of my drinks bottles, planning some carbs for an early tea.

Tactics-wise, I think I’m just going to go for it and give it death right from the start.. yeah, right! Softly, softly…

Judging from Blender and Fight club unfortunately my FTP is likely to be spot on so I’m drawn to the idea of 90,95,100 split.

If I start out at 100% any difficulty might result in the dreaded DNF. Decisions, decisions.

Right, I’ve put it off long enough.. I’m going in! If I’m not back by 10.. well, it’s been fun – suffer on without me!

P.S. What do I do if I need a pee – behind the sofa!?

Don’t you just lob it to the side whilst freewheeling 😉

When you guys say 100% FTP, I presume you mean the 100% setting bottom left of screen? But that intensity factor is still likely to be less than 1?

I really think its mental difficulty now, I can hit the figures but my brain has less and less desire to do so.

Stage 8 done. Not fun.

Still, done now. Revolver was nails, Violator was OK but for the last set of sprints and Half Is Easy was a massive pain in the arse which never seemed to end.

Did it all at 100% but the last half of Half Is Easy (not the easy half!) I was roughly in the right place but frequently about 5 – 10% down and then I’d get it back on track for a couple of intervals, more due to the acceleration required than anything else.

I won’t be doing it again in a hurry!

The Rookie – tick
Easy tonight in some respects but felt a bit leggy. Long day at work.
Stage 8: Got the vids to try and help. Contemplating a nightcap.

When you guys say 100% FTP, I presume you mean the 100% setting bottom left of screen?

Yes: its the power you can supposedly hold for an hour, but is generally extrapolated from shorter efforts. It is used to generate your target power in Trainerroad. Reducing the % will proportionally drop your target power.

But that intensity factor is still likely to be less than 1?

Not necessarily. IF will depend on you actual power output. Just because you have decreased your target power does not mean that it would be below your FTP (which is what IF relates to). Target power could be 150% FTP for instance.

Clear as mud I expect.

Box ticked.. not fun! Especially liked the 15 minutes of feeling sick through the middle of Violator..

😯

(drop off 1 was turning the fan up between Revolver / Violator, drop off 2 was having a wee behind the sofa between Violator / Half).

Stage 8. Be prepared. That was not nice. The last parts of violator and Half is Easy especially.

I get what FTP is, I just thought the way people were saying they did it at full FTP suggested something slightly different. And doing it at 100% is no measure of what figures you actually managed, just that you’ll be aiming for zones based around your FTP. A little bit of the pedant within and wanting to make sure I was doing it in a similar manner to everyone else 😉

As Intensity Factor is FTP/NP, if you can manage an Intensity factor much above 1 for an hour’s session, it suggests your FTP setting is too low. IF greater than 1 is achieable for much shorter sessions.

Oh and I wasn’t that impressed with the Rookie. Hard enough in the bounds of this challenge. However, whilst there were a few interesting bits of footage in the peleton I thought the rest was pretty boring.

Great effort guys. Still got it all to look forward too.

mtbtomo – yes you’ve mostly got it. Trainers like the Kickr make you do the prescribed wattage, otherwise you will just come to a stop and DNF. Others will allow a little slacking but looking at the STW power curves on Trainerroad I don’t see much evidence of that.

I would love a Kickr. Too many other priorities at the moment.
I am on virtual power but definatley trying to hit the taget power/cadence, Still its so much better than the percieved effort that I used to do before TrainerRoad

Violator just broke me. Started the day at 90% in TR and couldn’t hold it in the constant on off switches. My bodies just not designed (trained) for that sorry of sprint intervals. Gonna break the rules and do halfnhalf later. Sorry.

Not yet tried a sufferfest video, though have bought tomorrow’s. Got by till now on 24 box set & YouTube Hawaii ironman videos.

Feel for you
I reckon the on off intervals are going to play havoc with my poorly trained legs. Expecting a bit of cramp and suffrage. Going to go for it in a bit. Might watch the tennis first.