Official Tour Of Sufferlandria Thread 2014 (Page 10)

Just set up my feed station and put hydration in the fridge. Thinking hard about having a bucket near by just in case. Launch 4:30 am eastern.

Just finished seven. I had to split it into morning\night because I ran out of time before work this morning. The Hunted absolutely shelled me. My calf muscles are visibly twitching out of control right now, it's really pretty gross.
Woke up at 4 to knock the whole stage out and was crushed to see I couldn't start until 5am. Ate some breakfast that almost came back out. I can't say enough how hard the Hunted was, it's simply not possible to follow that one to a T if your ftp is actually on spot, which mine is. How the heck are you supposed to hold your ftp for 11 minutes with a couple of one minute 125% efforts, and then go another 10 minutes at 110 to 130% ftp? It's called a threshold for a reason, you don't spend 10 minutes up there at once....

The thing sufferfest\trainerroad get wrong is that they equate RPE 8 to FTP. It's not, and their own charts mapping to Coggan's RPE says as much. http://www.scribd.com/doc/192620539/TheSufferfest-com-FTP-HRZ-RPE-z... Hunted is an hour+, and Coggan even says time spent above 105% FTP should be limited to a max of 3 minutes at a time. If I were able to actually complete the Hunted as it's prescribed, I wouldn't be able to do anything resembling Blender the next day. Which by the way, I might not. This year's tour is SOOOO much harder than last year, it's not funny at all.

Stage 7. Ok. What the hell. That might have been beyond suffering. Angels I was good for the first 3 intervals/climbs. The 4th though I knew I had to hold back a bit because if I went all out I would have been beyond spent for The Hunted. I got off the bike for about 2 and a half minutes, had a bar, downed some extra fluids and more or less just tried to talk myself into getting back on the bike. First 15 minutes of Hunted was great. That 20 minute climb though. I pretty much just relegated myself to sticking to my FTP, which I was still under. Last 10 minutes was gross. I managed to attempt a sprint at the last 5 minutes and the 5 before that was just kind of a mess. I don't even know what I'm typing. What just happened?

After stage 6, I am toast. I struggled more than ever today and really not sure how I am going to make it through tomorrow. But I am going to try, Ben took a vacation day to give myself plenty of time.

Up to this point I have reached 581 out of 625 (92.9%) for TSS and 6.47 out of 6.72 (96.3%) for IF.

stage 7 was HORRIFIC... Had them both set at 100%

Angels was okayish, calves were threatening to cramp, in the cool down I had a gel and did some 1 legged peddling while I stretched out the other leg, also got off and quickly foam rolled for a minute or two then got back on for The Hunted. I was kind of okay at my FTP and low cadence, just plodding along, but the increases nearly killed me, couldn't make the last couple of minutes in the last two intervals, it was BRUTAL. Trainerroad.com looks like it's down but I think my IF was around 0.94 and 0.92 for these two.

My legs are pretty much done now and my arse feels like I've been sat on a cheese grater.

How can I manage Blender tomorrow?? ARRRRGH

Angels went okay for me but i fell apart on the hunted. The last interval had me just cruising through the peaks not even trying to pick up the pace, my legs were jello and I was unable to even maintain the base line let alone sprint. finished at 80/93. 2 Days left, and they dont look easy

There is something wrong with me. I feel great right now. Don't misunderstand, my legs are sore as heck, but I feel really good.

Stage 7 Complete. Total time 2:09 including break between videos to switch and ensure upload to trainerroad.com

Angles 85/93 - 91.3%
Hunted 90/93 - 96.7%

Total 95.6%

Angles was low because my legs did not want to get moving during the over/unders. Once I got into the climbs they came alive and really started spinning well. Hunted was fairly steady. Killed the end of the climb, and destroyed the final sprints.

I think something I have going for me is that I had a really(and I mean really) bad end of 2013. Between injuries and family issues my training was nearly non-existent. So I'm guessing this tour has helped my body get back into rhythm. I can already see a difference in how quickly my heart rate drops back down after doing an interval compared to before it started.

Someone was asking about TSB: after tonight's workout mine is projected to be -57.5 tomorrow. Though I will note that I came into the tour at -36.9, and over the last seven days done 792.9 TSS.

Holy crap almighty....I'm done with stage 7, but it was truly an awful thing. first, I got up at 3:15 AM today so I could fit it in, and I'm finally done, but need to get ready and head to the office. I'm feeling like I was beaten by a gang of minions with large sticks. The last set in angels was a hold-on-and-just-make-it-to-the-Hunted 10 minutes of misery. The Hunted last few minutes of the big climb were tough. Glad its over. Oy.

Did both with TR set at 100, but I'm quite sure I didn't quite measure up. The fatigue was obvious toward the end of Angels, and I really just hung on for dear life for both rides.

See everyone tomorrow in the Blender!!

4:00 am wake up, got Angels / Hunted done. I fell apart at the very end of Hunted, but ended up at an IF of .95 for both. I'm pretty sure I had a lousy FTP test at the beginning of the Tour and am probably below that. Anyway, this was very intimidating and I got it done. Best of luck to the rest of you, today!

Angels + Hunted in the books. In the saddle at 4:30 am. Angels was rough as expected so I knew I had to hold back. TSS 95.6% and IF 97.8%, but kept it at 100% target FTP. 3 minute break - rolled my feet as they were cramping. Hunted was rough. I failed in the last surge during that 20' climb and just had to let it go. Somehow, I managed to keep up during the final 10' and kept up during all of the final surges. TSS at 92.5% and IF at 96.8% of target. Just have to make it through work now. What a day.

Yup. I said it before, but last year just seemed like a bunch of rides back to back and it sucked, but this year it seems like they put some serious planning into our suffering and they apparently know how to plan.

Phew, Stage 7 was tough. I managed to hit all my numbers, but that 20' climb in The Hunted just about did me in! I want to say that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I know these next two days aren't going to be easy!

the light may be an oncoming train.....

Stage 7 is done! Wow......

Angels went OK, but The Hunted was rough. I was very glad Angels had that nice long cool down at the end. Like the rest of the Tour, I kept it at 100%, and like Stage 5, kept the time between the two parts to about 5-6 minutes. I had to change jerseys because of sweat accumulation (it's about 95% humidity this morning and my torture chamber doesn't have climate control).

Surprisingly, I managed 105% TSS for Angels and 101% for Hunted, but I feel worked over in a big way right now.

Blender tomorrow!!! Yay.........

Who's got two thumbs and is spending his Friday night doing Stage 7? This guy. Real party animal over here. This is gonna suck.

why wear a jersey in the 1st place? I would be a mess if I wore a jersey indoors.

Mainly because I sweat A LOT and the jersey keeps at least some of the sweat off my bike. I have a CycleOps sweat guard, but anything I can do to keep from trashing my components (esp the bb) helps.

Where is everyone? They all drop dead during the 20 minute climb in the Hunted?

feeling the leg soreness/pain today. Worse than yesterday. Not fun.

I am so tired and my legs do not feel happy. Blender when I get home from work, then violator tomorrow morning, then I am going to have a few well deserved beers!!!

Getting ready to start Blender...not excited, but I'm not giving up now! That 20-minute interval from Stage 6 might stay with me the rest of my life...

Going to give the kid a bath then head down to the pain cave to have my butt handed to me via Blender. I came down with something today too, just feel like crap so this ride is going to SUUUCK hard. I need to make a killer playlist.

Yep stage 7 was a epic fail, I made it through angels alright but started to struggle towards the end, which turned out to be an omen! During the hunted I had nothing left and as much as i tried I just couldn't reach the targets. I think I was about 20% below the entire time and a few times even further. Ultimately finished with a TSS of 70 compared to the target of 93. Hopefully I can recover before tomorrow's stage.

Stage 7 is in the books. My last 8 min of the 20 min interval on The Hunted looks like a freaking EKG. Time for food then bed. Crazy Friday night alright.

All set up for Stage 8 early tomorrow AM. Up about 5, hit the trainer at 5:15 and get moving.

This ToS is the hardest thing I've ever done on a bike. I'm going to bed now (been up since 3:15 when I did stage 7)

congrats to all who have come this far. Can't wait to taste the champagne at the finish (yes, I actually bought a bottle I will open during the 'cool down' of Violator sometime Sunday AM).