*Tour of Sufferlandria* - Get on those turbos!

t5nel

Got stage 5 done...

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/185668

Peloton still looking healthy - apparently they had got the SQL query wrong to show who was/was not dropped...

Found that one quite easy (though stiff getting off the saddle at the end ) but the last 8 min interval is a bit of a bugger. I had a few gremlins too

1)Played with the barrel adjusters during one of the rests - big mistake...
2)HR monitor has gone mental - think it may be as it is so salt encrusted so I am going to clean it :oops:
3)Had a brief powercut a few mins from the end and I was praying that the battery in my 7 yr old laptop would hold out!

Stage 8 looks a bugger

Tim

markp80

jotko wrote:

I will set the turbo up behind the sofa and draft the Mrs while she watches come dine with me.

Brilliant!

markp80

Well, there I was, sat up taking my gloves off with 10 seconds of the cooldown of A Very Dark Place to go, and my computer crashed! Just went completely dead, no lights, nothing. I was absolutely gutted. Anyway, after a few mins it restarted and looked as if it had saved a out 40 mins of the ride to their servers. Of all the time to fail though, it really was literally the last few seconds.
Anyway, I contacted support and they asked for a couple of files from the bowels of my PC, and are going to see what they can do - great service from them I think. They also said they would still credit the ride to the tour, which I thought was really cool of them. No way I could do it again!
With regard to FTP, mine had gone up a few weeks ago when I started Base II, which I was finding a challenge but haven't altered it - I tested recently, so it is what it is. I read somewhere Nate was recommending 80-90% intensity so I tried a couple at 85% but have since moved up to 90%. I don't see this as a race against other people as such (after all, we're not timed to travel a distance, it's a fixed length) but more a personal challenge that I'm doing with like-minded companions. I normally go on the turbo 3 times a week and this is 9 consecutive days, and don't my legs know it. I'll keep the intensity as high as I think I can just manage. If you want to set yours at 70% or 110%, that's fine by me, I'm glad of the company either way!

Cheers,
MarkP

jotko

Smashed Angels out this morning at 95% - first time I have ridden up an alp before breakfast! Felt pretty good, that is until I had to flat out sprint to catch my train, legs were not doing as my brain was asking. That last interval on Angels with the video is brilliant, definitely made it easier to keep pushing. I especially liked the big 'grovel' printed across the screen, ha ha. No turbo this evening, I am goIng to attempt to play 5 aside, hopefully body holds up.

Good luck all still in!

jgsi

Stage 5 oh jelly legs

ShutUpLegs

We are gonna need more supplies......

jgsi

ShutUpLegs wrote:

We are gonna need more supplies......

Feel better now that I have had a fried egg sarnie and 2 espressos
(down to 167 lbs as well .. 165 is my target to be at)

jotko

JGSI wrote:

ShutUpLegs wrote:

We are gonna need more supplies......

Feel better now that I have had a fried egg sarnie and 2 espressos
(down to 167 lbs as well .. 165 is my target to be at)

I am 5lbs lighter than when I started the tour (11st10 to 11st5) - pretty sure most of this is just good old fashioned dehydration, but hopefully some if it will stick.

jgsi

jotko wrote:

JGSI wrote:

ShutUpLegs wrote:

We are gonna need more supplies......

Feel better now that I have had a fried egg sarnie and 2 espressos
(down to 167 lbs as well .. 165 is my target to be at)

I am 5lbs lighter than when I started the tour (11st10 to 11st5) - pretty sure most of this is just good old fashioned dehydration, but hopefully some if it will stick.

right about dehydration.. been on the wagon since end of December when I was 184lbs

ShutUpLegs

Looking through some of the workouts complete for The Long Scream I think there is going to be some serious reductions in FTP.

ShutUpLegs

JGSI wrote:

right about dehydration.. been on the wagon since end of December when I was 184lbs

Pretty impressive that.

jgsi

All hush hush, but you havent seen the carbon wheels I have promised myself if I stay at that into March...
The Cannondale isnt going to know why xmas cant happen every day!
No point in being all a tad o'erweight and buy in 1400gm wheelset.

On the LS... my legs had had enough... but I think I sort of recovered after going to pieces mid way thru.

springtide9

OK, I'm now ahead of the game (although dropped!)... as want to end this Suffering on Saturday (dinner party Sat night!)

Today's activities....

Stage 5 - Angels
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/187143

Stage 6a - The Wretched
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/187235

Stage 6b - The Long Scream
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/187914

So I'm hoping, one tomorrow, two Friday and the last one on Saturday!

mattshrops

Nice work gents.

Decided to buy the long scream as tt's are my thang anyway. Really enjoyed it(ok it was turned down )
Looking forward to doing it full bore when i'm rested.

The wretched http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/187886

"Time to drop the bomb.."
The long scream http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/187887

I'm also hoping to finish on sat as sat night is the club dinner.

Have to say the response from nate et al always seems to be spot on.

Keep pushing chaps.

t5nel

Just banged out
Wretched
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/188017
And Long Scream
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/188129

Massive respect to those of you pushing out NP of 288 - just the idea makes me feel ill.

Still keeping it at 100% and coping so I think I am also going to redo FTP test after this (1 week rest) maybe will still be in the 230-240 range
Almost there
Tim

markp80

You're all miles ahead of me, I just did Angels tonight! I thought it was going ok but the last interval was really tough (I'm at 90%). I've had a look at the profiles for Thursday and that doesn't look like fun.

MarkP80 wrote:

Well, there I was, sat up taking my gloves off with 10 seconds of the cooldown of A Very Dark Place to go, and my computer crashed! Just went completely dead, no lights, nothing. I was absolutely gutted.

Well, it lasted for my ride tonight but suddenly went off a little while later. Soooo - off came the back!
I took a big fan off the CPU which seemed to connect to an outlet duct via a car-radiator style matrix - which was blocked with fluff! So, I'm hoping it was cutting out due to the CPU overheating.
It's all back together now and seems to be working ok, so fingers crossed. If the laptop dies I can't finish the tour!
Amazing what you can do with a Crankbrothers multi-tool!
Cheers,
MarkP

jgsi

DS today and then tomorrow off work so its the 'Queen stage 8..a rest day Saturday ( light spinning for an hour or so - cannot afford to let the legs go tp sleep) and will finish on Sunday.
I can feel the work in the legs and is a good representation of say banging out 3 road races in quick succession in summer.

jotko

My legs have completely gone today

Football last night knackered the few remaining functioning muscles, but I need to do either the Wretched or Long Scream today minimum to stay in the mix.

They both look fairly horrific, no rest periods in either. I guess I will try LS as it is shorter, although it is hard to think of something I want to do less than a TT at the moment!

mattshrops

jotko wrote:

My legs have completely gone today

Football last night knackered the few remaining functioning muscles, but I need to do either the Wretched or Long Scream today minimum to stay in the mix.

They both look fairly horrific, no rest periods in either. I guess I will try LS as it is shorter, although it is hard to think of something I want to do less than a TT at the moment!

Have you got the video? When you're flagging at the end they show you the rainbow bands

jotko

mattshrops wrote:

jotko wrote:

My legs have completely gone today

Football last night knackered the few remaining functioning muscles, but I need to do either the Wretched or Long Scream today minimum to stay in the mix.

They both look fairly horrific, no rest periods in either. I guess I will try LS as it is shorter, although it is hard to think of something I want to do less than a TT at the moment!

Have you got the video? When you're flagging at the end they show you the rainbow bands

Ha ha, I have got the video for LS. Is there anything for if you are flagging at the beginning?

I might just MTFU and do it now, get it over with.

I am working from home again today, its definitely helping with the Tour, dont think I would have managed a session before work today, I could hardly walk lol

bobinski

Too knackered last night so saved Angels for this morning before work...

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/189152.

I felt good and so pushed it towards the end. It helped that I was going to be late for work!

Looking at posters rides i can see that some of you really have great power in those legs and lungs!

ShutUpLegs

Take some of those figures with a big pinch of salt, some good effort their bob

jotko

Just did the Wretched at 95% - first session with my new £30 Screwfix special 18" fan

What a difference the fan makes - my heart rate was 15-20 bpm less than during Angels yesterday.

Pretty sure a blood transfusion and an EPO sandwich wouldnt have that sort of effect, well happy with that.

I guess it is a different sort of workout, but still....the fan is a good development

jgsi

Who is it??
Stressing the Trainer Road servers, I mean... another update from Nate and the guys this morning!!

springtide9

Glad to see others are still bashing them out... it is giving the drive to keep going....

Bashed out Stage 6 today and tried it at 100% as it is the only ride for me today..

The Downward Spiral (remastered)
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/189591

Struggled to stay on the pace and thought I'd done a lot worse than I did... seem to do it at ~98% (looking at the IF values) which was a plus.

Not looking forward to the double tomorrow, but will have to stagger them between the day and evening (I know, against the rules!), but it will help. Also think 85% on both will be on the cards, with the last one obviously on 100%

Onwards and upwards as they say... and good luck to everybody else!

mattshrops

One thing that occurred to me tonight, and hadn't before, was that by turning down the difficulty on the TR workouts, we are also turning down the effort required in the recovery interval as well. So possibly a recovery in zone 2 now becomes zone 1. OK if you're finding it tough i guess you do what you have to. Not sure that it will make much difference anyway but seeing as i felt alright today...
Downward spiralhttp://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/190058

Might up the resistance tomorrow-see how the legs feel

Only 2 days to go.

mattshrops

BTW anyone noticed the countdown clocks seem to be a bit strange today?

Earlier it said stage 7 ends in 32 days!

Now saying stage 8 starts in 1day 14 hours(It should be 14 hrs only)

t5nel

mattshrops wrote:

BTW anyone noticed the countdown clocks seem to be a bit strange today?

Earlier it said stage 7 ends in 32 days!

Now saying stage 8 starts in 1day 14 hours(It should be 14 hrs only)

Yeah they have ballsed up some of the date handling code. Month changes tomorrow...

markp80

mattshrops wrote:

Decided to buy the long scream as tt's are my thang anyway. Really enjoyed it(ok it was turned down )
Looking forward to doing it full bore when i'm rested.

- are you mad Matt?!?!
Just did The Wretched followed straight away by TLS, both at 90%. That was absolute torture! Scream would be tough enough on its own, but after Wretched..... Well, I personally had to dig pretty deep to get to the end.
Still, onward and upward - another stage completed!
Cheers,
MarkP

t5nel

WHAT a difference a fan makes!

Feel like I have cheated myself a bit as I was able to absolutely smash it tonight on Downward Spiral. Watched the final hour of the 2012 TdF Queen stage (Albertville > La Toussuire) for inspiration.

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/190617

Definitely going to do an FTP retest now...

Not sure if I have ridden into some fitness over the last week OR if I had not lost as much as I feared. Either way, my heart says put FPT back where it was but my head says wait until after stage 8!

Tim