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| 10 rides. Back to back to back to back... |
I've always enjoyed trying out new ways to challenge my indoor workouts. Erg Real course videos are great, then came Zwift and was my favorite in 2015-16, but now Sufferfest has taken over top spot for the pain cave bike workouts. I had looked at the videos in the past, wondering how they worked with the trainers. The pricing was confusing and expensive; each video was about $10-15, but there were 3-4 paks for $60 or sometimes certain videos would go on sale. I just didn't want to fork out money for something I didn't know if Id like or not. Even worse, if I did like the videos, they looked to be way too pricey to try them all out. That all changed last fall when they had a free 7-day trial for all videos, AND, if you liked them, simple $10/month or $100/yr to ride ALL videos. And they added running, Yoga, and even a run/bike video workout. Super cool. So I tried it and was hooked after first video. Fresh, entertaining, and, most importantly, challenging. The Sufferefest guys have more than just videos. Training plans, events such as "Tour of Sufferlandria", and they add new videos or runs every few months.
After a few months of riding these videos, I noticed "Knights of Sufferlandria" link. Whoa. 10 videos. In. A. Row. Are they crazy? I guess not since over 300 bad-ass people in the world are now knighted as such. You are allowed to pick any 10, except for the shorter or easier ones. So I mustered courage and made time for a day. Feb 28. That's my day. I set the FTP % to 100 the first couple videos, but then realized I wouldn't last all the way to #10, so I took it down to 90%. By video #9, I was toast. Stopped midway through "There is No Try" and puked into a bucket. FAILURE!
Two weeks later I made time again, did "There is No Try" for video #1, and set all videos at 90%. Video #9 rolled around again and I was seriously faltering, but somehow I pushed through and cruised home on #10 which I saved for last, "Do as You're Told." This is one of my favourite videos since it is a quick 45min and has some breaks between the hard bits. Anyway, I'm proud of the 9hrs of bike time, 10.5 hour day (9am-7:30pm). Sweated and faltered, but prevailed. Here are the stats:
SSS = Strava Suffer Score cal= Calories
Video 1: There is No Try 9:03 am SSS: 27 Cal: 770
Totals: 9hrs, SSS = 248, Cal: 6585
Perspectives:
Tahoe 200: ~61hrs, SSS ~1670, Cal 28,390
Run Across Michigan (150miles) : ~35hrs, SSS ~960, Cal 25,000
Ironman Kentucky bike: 5h, SSS 148, cal 4,339
Ironman Lake Placid bike: 5h23m, SSS 132, cal 5,466
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| Before... |
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| ...During, close to the end... |
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