Sufferfest - Your "favourites" and have you ever....
Discussion
Must admit I've been using trainerroad a LOT recently and having done some rides of my usual routes in the last couple of weeks I must admit it appears to have brought my fitness levels on MASSIVELY. I've already done the "general build" and "rolling road race" plans (admittedly, altered slightly to tailor working life, and I've done my own long rides etc!) and I've come across the sufferfest videos.
Now....I have managed to, come across, quite a few of the videos (14, in fact) and last week I did ISLAGIATT and must admit I properly enjoyed it.
So....which are your favourites, and why? Some of them, I'm not sure are physically possible (I'll soon see!!) but theres one (Angels) which has a section which is 8 minutes long, but that section has an intensity factor of 1.16....is that even possible for 8 mins!?
Also - have any of you ever "doubled up"? I tend to make my sessions quite high on the TSS front and usually aim for around 160TSS or so....or are these simply too tough to do that!? I must admit I didn't find ISLAGIATT THAT hard, it was tough but I did a few mins at just above threshold after....as I was still asking for a little more.
Many thanks
Ross
Now....I have managed to, come across, quite a few of the videos (14, in fact) and last week I did ISLAGIATT and must admit I properly enjoyed it.
So....which are your favourites, and why? Some of them, I'm not sure are physically possible (I'll soon see!!) but theres one (Angels) which has a section which is 8 minutes long, but that section has an intensity factor of 1.16....is that even possible for 8 mins!?
Also - have any of you ever "doubled up"? I tend to make my sessions quite high on the TSS front and usually aim for around 160TSS or so....or are these simply too tough to do that!? I must admit I didn't find ISLAGIATT THAT hard, it was tough but I did a few mins at just above threshold after....as I was still asking for a little more.
Many thanks
Ross
Well I've been recovering from a minor cold and felt OK so before jumping back in at 160+ TSS sessions I decided to do a sufferfest session, so very intense, but not THAT high a TSS and hope it doesn't make the cold come back...
I just did The Hunted. Bugger me the last 5mins of that 1st 20min "climb" are seriously tough! Legs were screaming at the end. The 2nd set of tempo/attacks were tough but not as bad as that long climb.
Did a warm up beforehand plus that so totalled 100 TSS. Properly enjoyed it, though the music was somewhat irritating in places! Half of me would rather put my mp3 player on, but on the video having the various noises for slowing up etc are handy (although with trainerroad not strictly necessary).
Very much enjoyed it, will give those others a shot over the coming weeks.
ANy further favourites/recommendations very welcome. Must admit revolver looks somewhat impossible....16x1min at 135% off 1min recovery..... that's just evil.
Also - looking at trainerroad The Hunted just gave me 5, 10 15 and 30min personal records. The fact I (JUST!) topped my 20min PR during a 15min session quite possibly suggests my FTP needs raising, because that 15mins where I got that PR weren't a steady effort and thus a little harder. That said, the way my legs felt at the last few mins of that climb I'm not sure I want to raise my FTP just yet
edit - in fact, looking at training peaks that 20min climb had an IF of 1.06 and was 1W higher than my 20 minute test I did....the slightly higher IF accounting for a higher variability index than the 20minute test..... This surely suggests my FTP has gone up? I'll do another test after a few more weeks training.
I just did The Hunted. Bugger me the last 5mins of that 1st 20min "climb" are seriously tough! Legs were screaming at the end. The 2nd set of tempo/attacks were tough but not as bad as that long climb.
Did a warm up beforehand plus that so totalled 100 TSS. Properly enjoyed it, though the music was somewhat irritating in places! Half of me would rather put my mp3 player on, but on the video having the various noises for slowing up etc are handy (although with trainerroad not strictly necessary).
Very much enjoyed it, will give those others a shot over the coming weeks.
ANy further favourites/recommendations very welcome. Must admit revolver looks somewhat impossible....16x1min at 135% off 1min recovery..... that's just evil.
Also - looking at trainerroad The Hunted just gave me 5, 10 15 and 30min personal records. The fact I (JUST!) topped my 20min PR during a 15min session quite possibly suggests my FTP needs raising, because that 15mins where I got that PR weren't a steady effort and thus a little harder. That said, the way my legs felt at the last few mins of that climb I'm not sure I want to raise my FTP just yet
edit - in fact, looking at training peaks that 20min climb had an IF of 1.06 and was 1W higher than my 20 minute test I did....the slightly higher IF accounting for a higher variability index than the 20minute test..... This surely suggests my FTP has gone up? I'll do another test after a few more weeks training.
Edited by E65Ross on Sunday 20th March 12:15
w1ntermut3 said:
Does anyone else get really f
king raged out when the sufferfest timing are out?
"15 SECONDS LEFT"
Yes, it is annoying. I actually edited the hunted a little as the TR workout was 3 seconds out from the video so I adjusted it ever so slightly to make it match.....but yes some times coming to the end of an interval it'd say 1:00 remaining and you'd have 1:10 or something.king raged out when the sufferfest timing are out? "15 SECONDS LEFT"
- 25 seconds later*
Great when it was a recovery, but you were cursing it when you're legs are screaming
Either way, properly enjoyed it and glad I did it!
Luckily the cold appears to be OK. I'm going to do 1 or 2 sufferfest sessions per week now. In theory, doubling up should be possible, but that was properly intense earlier, not sure I could have managed doing another similar session over again
Might try a very dark place next doubled up with the rookie, and see how that goes
ALawson said:
Sod that m444ttb said:
I absolutely LOVE the Sufferfest videos. Did the Tour of Sufferlandria this year and that was a proper killer particularly on the three back to back days. Revolver + Revolver was probably the worst as I just couldn't get back on it for the second set of '15'. Nine Hammers is my bogey video though. I don't think I've ever got through the warm up without wanting to get off the bike! I find Powerstation the easiest. Definitely the only video I can complete above 100%.
The somewhat approximate timings on some count downs aren't all accidental. They are evil bds after all.
Once my ironman is done I'm going to use that fitness to crack the Knights of Sufferlandria challenge... Hopefully!
Brave man! Do you mean you did revolver twice in a day? TR has each rep at 135%....sod doing that twice! The somewhat approximate timings on some count downs aren't all accidental. They are evil b
ds after all.Once my ironman is done I'm going to use that fitness to crack the Knights of Sufferlandria challenge... Hopefully!
I'll see how I fare tomorrow with the rookie and then a very dark place!
m444ttb said:
Yep twice over back to back. The second running was a disaster. Didn't get near the power targets.
Oof, I'm not surprised you couldn't match the target power! 135% is very hard going! I have a feeling the last 2 or 3 reps on a very dark place are going to hurt a lot tomorrow after doing the rookie.
Have you done most of the Sufferfest videos then? I found islagiatt very enjoyable and tough, but not THAT hard.... I found the hunted harder, that section of 20mins was just really tough going!
Have you tried the rookie? Like the look of it, and the wretched which is another I look forward to trying!
Cheers
Well that was fun 
Did a little warm up first (I find the Sufferfest sessions have quite short warm ups for my liking), then did the Rookie, less than 1 minute later I started A Very Dark Place, then did a little warm down as well.
Both videos were really enjoyable, you can see that they've come on a long way with video quality and on-screen instructions/targets etc since the older days!!
Both workouts were tough, but I'm going to say I found A Very Dark Place Harder, although having done this after The Rookie that may skew my judgement!
I do think it's time I adjusted my FTP as, whilst I was cursing at times, I wasn't absolutely done for. Including my warm up/down I did 172 TSS, and a total of JUST shy of 8mins anaerobic, 28:30 VO2 max, 13:45 threshold and 10:30 sweetspot.....not bad to cram that into 2 hours!
I had planned on doing 2 TT sessions per week and 3 or 4 rides outside per week, and I was going to make 1 of those TT days "double" sufferfest days and the other day doing the harder sessions of the 40k TT plan on trainerroad....but I'm loving the sufferfest ones so much I may end up doing all of those!
Perhaps they aren't quite as structured as the other TR sessions but they're really enjoyable and I've NO doubt that they'll get me quicker!!!
Did a little warm up first (I find the Sufferfest sessions have quite short warm ups for my liking), then did the Rookie, less than 1 minute later I started A Very Dark Place, then did a little warm down as well.
Both videos were really enjoyable, you can see that they've come on a long way with video quality and on-screen instructions/targets etc since the older days!!
Both workouts were tough, but I'm going to say I found A Very Dark Place Harder, although having done this after The Rookie that may skew my judgement!
I do think it's time I adjusted my FTP as, whilst I was cursing at times, I wasn't absolutely done for. Including my warm up/down I did 172 TSS, and a total of JUST shy of 8mins anaerobic, 28:30 VO2 max, 13:45 threshold and 10:30 sweetspot.....not bad to cram that into 2 hours!
I had planned on doing 2 TT sessions per week and 3 or 4 rides outside per week, and I was going to make 1 of those TT days "double" sufferfest days and the other day doing the harder sessions of the 40k TT plan on trainerroad....but I'm loving the sufferfest ones so much I may end up doing all of those!
Perhaps they aren't quite as structured as the other TR sessions but they're really enjoyable and I've NO doubt that they'll get me quicker!!!
Still loving these!
This morning I did a warm up and then did revolver.....definitely one of the harder ones (for me, at least) so far. Did it all at 100% intensity though and whilst I was tiring quite a bit I could have done a bit more.....but then I did Nine Hammers straight after and, to be honest....After 10mins I was wondering whether revolver had taken its toll and I wouldn't be able to do it, but I settled in and completed it without too many issues. Nine Hammers definitely easier than Revolver I think. I was pretty tired by the end, but again, not absolutely done for, I even increased the last "hammer" to 104% and hung in there. I'm going to take it easy tomorrow (after a warm up and cool down I did 179TSS today!), off Friday and then probably hard session Saturday and long ride outdoors Sunday before a recovery week and I'll do another FTP test.
So far I think the hardest Sufferfest I've done was The Hunted....Absolutely destroyed me, that one!
This morning I did a warm up and then did revolver.....definitely one of the harder ones (for me, at least) so far. Did it all at 100% intensity though and whilst I was tiring quite a bit I could have done a bit more.....but then I did Nine Hammers straight after and, to be honest....After 10mins I was wondering whether revolver had taken its toll and I wouldn't be able to do it, but I settled in and completed it without too many issues. Nine Hammers definitely easier than Revolver I think. I was pretty tired by the end, but again, not absolutely done for, I even increased the last "hammer" to 104% and hung in there. I'm going to take it easy tomorrow (after a warm up and cool down I did 179TSS today!), off Friday and then probably hard session Saturday and long ride outdoors Sunday before a recovery week and I'll do another FTP test.
So far I think the hardest Sufferfest I've done was The Hunted....Absolutely destroyed me, that one!
m444ttb said:
Sounds like someone needs to do an FTP test again 
Quite likely! I've improved considerably since starting to use trainerroad. My FTP has already gone up by 17% or so and I was already cycling a lot! I know okgo said it's likely because I'm pushing harder, but looking at my heart rate graph and the power graph from my 2nd FTP test, done last year, I actually started out with less power and gradually began to fade (nothing huge, but it did drop), as opposed to last FTP test where I actually started out putting put more power, and got stronger as I went along. I think I could probably see another 2-3% on that.
Did you get my email a while ago BTW? No worries if you decided against it
Oh.... How harsh was it on revolver they made the 7th effort around 1min15secs.... bds! They also made almost every effort 61-62 secs, and each recovery was 59-60secs. Was a really good, but simple workout. Barely looked at the screen though as I was working hard!
Don't get me wrong.... When I say I could have done more.... I mean perhaps another 2 maybe 3 at the absolute most..... And I was working HARD! It wasn't easy!
ds! They also made almost every effort 61-62 secs, and each recovery was 59-60secs. Was a really good, but simple workout. Barely looked at the screen though as I was working hard! Don't get me wrong.... When I say I could have done more.... I mean perhaps another 2 maybe 3 at the absolute most..... And I was working HARD! It wasn't easy!
m444ttb said:
What was I going to email you about? Pretty sure I didn't!
I find I could do a few more intervals on Revolver providing I've hit the figures on the 16. You just get into the groove. I think it would fall apart big time by 20 though. I certainly couldn't do Revolver all over again as per this years' tour. The cool down + warm up let my legs seize up I think.
The warm up in particular is very short on revolver, and as I had time I made sure I did something decent before starting the workout "proper". I find I could do a few more intervals on Revolver providing I've hit the figures on the 16. You just get into the groove. I think it would fall apart big time by 20 though. I certainly couldn't do Revolver all over again as per this years' tour. The cool down + warm up let my legs seize up I think.
I've just copied and forwarded another PM (same as last time), if you don't get it let me know on here and will if there's another way.
Cheers
Edited by E65Ross on Thursday 7th April 12:46
m444ttb said:
E65Ross said:
The warm up in particular is very short on revolver, and as I had time I made sure I did something decent before starting the workout "proper".
I've just copied and forwarded another PM (same as last time), if you don't get it let me know on here and will if there's another way.
Cheers
Strange! Was it an email via PH? I haven't received anything either way. Just send me an email to my user name on here @hotmail.comI've just copied and forwarded another PM (same as last time), if you don't get it let me know on here and will if there's another way.
Cheers
Edited by E65Ross on Thursday 7th April 12:46
Cheers
m444ttb said:
Sounds like someone needs to do an FTP test again
Well, as per the wattage thread...you weren't wrong. My last FTP test gave an FTP of 219W, which I manually increased to 221W...but on Monday I did Rubber Glove and changed my FTP to 229W....now that doesn't sound like much (3-4%) but as I'm sure you're aware this has actually made quite a significant difference.Workouts feel noticeably harder and, to get the same TSS score outdoors I'm having to ride that little bit harder....which, in reality, is what I want!
I just did "hell hath no fury" and found it really rather tough!! Was struggling a little in the last few minutes of that 2nd 20minute set. The final TT was tough but not horrendous. Finished that off with a few miles outdoors....in summer gear, which felt absolutely amazing (if a bit too cold, really!).
Can see why that last 20mins felt tough....It had an average of 238W, when my 20minute test gave 241W, and it wasn't a dead smooth effort....! After having done the previous 20mins as well....pretty tough that one.
Edited by E65Ross on Saturday 23 April 14:08
Sufferfest are great, having never done spin classes I couldn't comment on whether they're more difficult than those or not. But I'd suggest she at least give them a go, what's the worst that could happen?
I have done some very tough sessions on trainerroad (I'm using a smart electronic trainer which, in my opinion, really makes TT sessions SO, SO much better) and I'd say some of the "normal" intense sessions on TR are every bit as hard as the sufferfest ones. I enjoy Sufferfest because the videos offer better encouragement, they're more varied (not just in terms of the effort, but they specifically ask for cadence targets, whether to sit/stand on the pedals etc) so offer a little more in that sense.
I've done quite a few now and I'm not sure which I've found the hardest so far. Probably a mixture between The Hunted, Hell Hath No Fury (these 2 are quite similar workouts) or Revolver....possibly A Very Dark Place in there too. Only a couple are "easy".
I have done some very tough sessions on trainerroad (I'm using a smart electronic trainer which, in my opinion, really makes TT sessions SO, SO much better) and I'd say some of the "normal" intense sessions on TR are every bit as hard as the sufferfest ones. I enjoy Sufferfest because the videos offer better encouragement, they're more varied (not just in terms of the effort, but they specifically ask for cadence targets, whether to sit/stand on the pedals etc) so offer a little more in that sense.
I've done quite a few now and I'm not sure which I've found the hardest so far. Probably a mixture between The Hunted, Hell Hath No Fury (these 2 are quite similar workouts) or Revolver....possibly A Very Dark Place in there too. Only a couple are "easy".
Bugger me fight club is hard as! Simply couldn't do it today and had to bail through the 3rd set. I wanted a high TSS today and managed to perk myself up and did The Wretched which was very tough.... Then did another short session after. Legs just didn't feel up to fight club today..... I just couldn't turn the cranks when it was asking for 130% efforts on that 3rd set, I tried bloody hard too! Hardest one yet, that one.
I've done all of the videos now bar about 6 (2 of them are the way out and elements of style).....today, before going out for a ride, I did TBTITW and then extra shot.....TBTITW was utterly, utterly brutal....the last 5mins of the end was torture. I will say it's seriously helped my pace on the road, I'm sure.
Also.....last year I did a sportive for charity "close to home" as it were, and raised a little over £10k....this year, am I absolutely, ridiculously stupidly insane to even be remotely considering trying to become a "knight of sufferlandria"? It would be over 10 hours on the bike.....I've never done more than 6 hours before.....but I'm a lot fitter now than I was then (that was 103 miles at a 17.7mph average in a group....I'm averaging quicker than that doing 70 miles, with more hills, all by myself AND without working too hard at all at the moment) but there's a massive difference between 5-6 hours and 10-12!
I wouldn't know how to begin to start training for something so long.....I'm tempted to enter for the same sportive I did last year (Mega Meon) but as opposed to the 74 mile route, do the 102 mile route....I'd probably rather the 74 in the sense it's a distance you can work reasonably hard at and if you blow up it's not THAT far, but 102 miles would obviously be better training if I were to attempt the Knight of Sufferlandria.....
Thoughts? I'd also be unsure RE doing it for charity....in case I fail miserably
Also.....last year I did a sportive for charity "close to home" as it were, and raised a little over £10k....this year, am I absolutely, ridiculously stupidly insane to even be remotely considering trying to become a "knight of sufferlandria"? It would be over 10 hours on the bike.....I've never done more than 6 hours before.....but I'm a lot fitter now than I was then (that was 103 miles at a 17.7mph average in a group....I'm averaging quicker than that doing 70 miles, with more hills, all by myself AND without working too hard at all at the moment) but there's a massive difference between 5-6 hours and 10-12!
I wouldn't know how to begin to start training for something so long.....I'm tempted to enter for the same sportive I did last year (Mega Meon) but as opposed to the 74 mile route, do the 102 mile route....I'd probably rather the 74 in the sense it's a distance you can work reasonably hard at and if you blow up it's not THAT far, but 102 miles would obviously be better training if I were to attempt the Knight of Sufferlandria.....
Thoughts? I'd also be unsure RE doing it for charity....in case I fail miserably
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