The 2015 Tour of Sufferlandria starts on Saturday 24th Jan.
The stages haven't been announced yet but it is guaranteed to be nasty, painful and to smell of wee/vomit. Last year's was brilliant: it became a total obsession to get my rides in. I was planning my days around when I could ride and even worked from home one day with two stages so I could do one at lunchtime instead of back-to-back in the eve. Total duration was around 12 hours over 9 days.
In the space of nine days my technique improved massively - for instance my max cadence went from about 120 rpm up to a massive 150rpm sprint across the finish line. It also had a very sudden and marked effect on my running. During the ToS I got Power PBs for 5s, 10s, 20s, 30s, 1min, 2min, 5min, 10min, 15min, 20min, 30min, 90min... I got PBs several times during the tour for some durations. Nice.
Oh, I don't have all the 'fest videos required, so some days I just stuck the radio on and watched the graphs on the screen. You don't need to spend a fortune on vids to be able to do this. You DO need to be a TrainerRoad member, which is about £6 a month but you can stop and restart your membership on a month by month basis.
Highly recommended as a motivator to give your winter training a lift.
For your enjoyment, my Endo comments for each workout:
Saturday: Rubber Glove - 1h
FTP test. Reset FTP from 227W to 200W before-hand, held 230W average for 20min test so FTP now at 218W. Not bad with a half marathon in my legs from a few hours earlier. Will have to see how this goes for the rest of ToS.
Sunday: ISLAGIATT - 2h
FTP at 218W (set yesterday), 100% difficulty. Very, VERY tough. My legs are killing me.
Monday: Revolver - 50min
I hate Revolver at the best of times. Also, just sitting on the bike is hurting my arse now. However, in the spirit of the Tour I left it at 100% . Ooh, bugger.
Legs stinging in the last 30s of each interval from the halfway mark. It wasn't until rep 15 that I started dribbling and making funny noises. Still managed to smash rep 16, though. Feeling comfy at 100rpm, too.
Easier than I expected. Although still fecking difficult.
Tuesday: Hell Hath No Fury - 1h12
Painful from the start, mainly due to my bruised sit-bones.
I enjoyed the workout, despite not having the video to watch. I made it up in some bits, swapping gear/cadence while maintaining power. In the fiddly bits where the power pops up and down I kept the same gear and just varied cadence. This was good training. I went for it a couple of time and was OK at 120rpm. This is good for me. Love it.
Wednesday: The Wretched - 50min
First time I've done this. I don't have the vid so just TR and the radio.
Wasn't as bad as I expected: Lots of sweet spot, tempo, endurance pace etc; some VO2 max and sprint stuff. Not total agony, just a steady burn into oblivion.
...followed by: Extra Shot - 22min
After The Wretched this felt like cruel and unusual punishment for the first few minutes. I think if TrainerRoad hadn't insisted I complete the cool down at the end of The Wretched (otherwise no ToS points) I'd have finished the last interval and jumped straight into this. Took a few minutes to get going... then I started enjoying it. Oh, the misery. Mind you, the last five minutes were a descent into hell via Satan's bowels after an ungodly vindaloo.
Thursday: A Very Dark Place. - 50min
First time I've done this little horror... forgot I had the video until it suddenly loaded up in TR. Enjoyed following the cadence notes. Very happy at the higher cadences, UNLESS I've just been doing a lower cadence set - it then seems to take my legs a little while to get back up to speed. Second interval was tough. Last interval was the worst. TR + 'fest teaches you to just suck up pain. Last set HRave was 146, breathing moderate/heavy... but fuck my old boots, my thighs felt like they were on fire.
I really enjoyed it. #weirdo
Friday (lunchtime): Angels - 1h 05min
Starting to hurt, now. Tough getting out of bed this morning. Couldn't face doing today's two back-to-back so did Angels as a lunch break - the last interval stung quite a lot.
Now I'm really not looking forwards to getting on the bloody thing again later on. The chimp is really quite insistent that I quit.
Friday (pm): The Hunted - 1h
Holy shit. Why would anybody even MAKE this workout, let alone expect people to do it? The 20min interval 2 uses your FTP as the 'rest' bits, ffs. Interval 3 was just one big, long scream. Got average power records for 10, 15, 20 and 30 mins. I got a 5min record during 'Angels' at lunchtime. A good day... glad it's over.
Saturday: Blender - 1h 45min
I knew this would hurt. And it did. Struggling to hit power targets on the sprints, mainly because I couldn't jump quick enough. Had to start anticipating the interval and winding up before the segment started. Hit 140rpm at the end of the last sprint! The 3x4min ftp efforts at the end were hard. Legs are getting very tired now, but 5, 10, 20 and 30s power PBs so I'm still smashing it.
Sunday: Violator - 1h 08min
...and ACROSS THE LINE!!!
ToS completed, badge earned. Nasty little workout, couldn't respond quickly enough to the jumps in the final set, but then Sufferfest is RPE-based so won't match TrainerRoad on short sprint efforts.
Couldn't resist ruining the final cool down with a glorious 500W sprint for the line: 5, 10, 20s power PBs. Glad I completed it.