If the title of this post gets you excited, please read on. If, however, it makes you a little weary, maybe you should skip this one.
So, we all know how much indoor training sucks. You get home from work, and it's already dark out. There's no chance of getting in a good ride since it's cold and riding in the dark is just dangerous anyway. Especially if you want to put in any type of quality effort. In comes the indoor trainer. Which I touched upon in my last post. It's easy enough just to hop on, throw on a good show or movie and just cruise along and put in your time. That is, if you don't care about getting any better over the winter. However, if you're like me, you want something that will punish you, and keep you motivated. Here is where 'The Sufferfest' comes in.
The Sufferfest is a collection of videos that range from 45min - 85min in duration, and are meant to make you, well, suffer. You have different types of suffering, which depend on what you're looking for in your training. Each video has different techniques to push your limits and get you to grovel. You want it to stop, but it just keeps going! They range from short bursts of maximal effort with short recovery, to long grueling hill climbs chasing the best climbers in the world up some of the most epic hills known to man.
The above picture is what they open you up to, and you'll usually spend a few minutes warming up with low resistance and a fairly high cadence. Depending on the video, you'll next move into a more intense section that gears you up for the main set of work.
Then they decide to feed you things like this. You're chasing down Contador, and he's pulling away. I like the sound ques, though. When an attack happens, in the video Angels lets say, a gun fires so you know to push it. During the hard sections, you'll find yourself with your head buried, waiting for it to end. The end comes with the sound of squealing breaks.
Now, I will say that you will only get out of these videos, what you put into them. Remember, you're on a bike, on a trainer... there's no reason you can't be putting every last ounce of effort into the full session. That is, if you want to get any better. It's only an hour, and it's only really 35-40min of 'actual suffering'.
If you want to take you're training to the next level this coming year, give these videos a try. Download one, see how you like it, then get more as you go along. And don't worry, if you're smiling when you're done because you like to suffer... you're not alone.
-Dave
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