A Knight To Be

Eight weeks to go. 2019 had just ended. Here are some stats: 94% of those kilometers were indoors. It was my most active year in a decade. My oldest child (of 3) is ten, so it kind of matches. 2015 was strong, and I also had a few podium finishes, including one on the National Championships (for CAT, Masters B). Still, there's a direct correlation between the occurrence of an offspring and a reduction in cycling volume. A brief history of time: In May 2018, I decided that I'm going to ride the Alpen Brevet in Switzerland, only three months or so away. This followed 2.5 years of practical inactivity: 2015: 400 hours / 10,000 km 2016: 116 hours / 3200 km 2017: 40 hours / 790 km 2018 (through May): 12 hours / 270 km Then in June 2018, I started to get things in motion with Zwift's Fondo plan. I managed to ride about 40hrs/1000km in training before the August event, which was pivotal. I knew I was light years away from my podium form, yet rode on in t...

fail·ure /ˈfālyər/ noun 1. The action or state of not functioning. "The point when your working muscle is fully fatigued to the extent that it can no longer complete another repetition of a movement with strict biomechanics." Or, in other words, Success . Workout highlight Fight Club... true to its name, was a fight to the finish . This workout comes early on the training plan when targets are high, and adaptation has only begun. You attack. Attack and attack. The attacks come thick and fast from a threshold level with no recovery. As with most surges on The Sufferfest workouts, cadence spikes by ~15rpm and the power by Multiplies of Agony and Pain (MAP). Each interval starts with a TT effort, ~100 rpm, then transitions into a climb with ~75 rpm. While I have no problem surging from 100 to 120 rpm regardless of power (usually), the surge from 75 to 90 is a challenge. Obviously, metabolic and muscular demands are different at these efforts and given enough of ...

Week 9, 21 days to go. Today I took the Empty Tank Express . I'm in the Peak phase of the plan, and while I haven't tested my legs in a race or anything more demanding than the Full Frontal Test, I'm hitting minor breakthroughs consistently. Xert helps me keep tabs on my progress, maintaining the balance between informative analytical data and analysis-paralysis (e.g. Today's Plan). Revolver + Half Is Easy What you see here, are two Sufferfest workouts done back-to-back. " Revolver ," followed immediately by "Half is Easy". Here, have a taste: Both these workouts revolve around the same idea: equal work to rest ratio, at VO2max or above. Revolver is 1 minute On, 1 minute Off. Half Is Easy dishes out 2 sets of ~10 minutes each, with 15sec On, 15 Off. Now, look here. On the one hand, I have a VO2max (MAP) weakness. On the other, I have Repeated Efforts as a strength ("Attacker!"). The result of these two comb...

Week 7 I may never discover what Salted Watermelon tastes like. As I soak in this glorious Rest Day (that still includes a recovery spin, Yoga, and MTP), I have time to reflect on the past couple of days. On Monday, I rode " Who Dares ." Now, whenever I see an "FTP" focused workout, I tend to relax. Why? because I find it relatively easy to settle into a rhythm and push on. No workout is going to have me sitting at FTP for an extended period (shut up FF), and a session that's an hour-long, well, can't be that punishing with FTP focus, right? Wrong. "Who Dares" is basically 3x 9.5minute sets of: Sprint > subFTP > Sprint > Grind > Surge >Sprint > Rest The idea is to teach your body to be more efficient at recovery under pressure and clear away metabolites faster. The sprints flood the body with metabolites (lactic acid and its buddies). The following sub-FTP efforts force the body to clear them out while still pushin...

Week 5 When I first started with The Sufferfest Training Plan, I had to pay attention to planning the upcoming weeks carefully. Going from Xert, which is "dynamic," meaning you can find the right workout for your goal on any given day, SUF Plans are pre-fixed. Let's dwell on that for a moment: Pre-fixed training plans are a "given." You get the workout schedule for the next ~12 weeks and follow it. Sick child? Holiday? Business trip? Tough luck. Yes, life always gets in the way, but you more or less have to make up for missed sessions somehow. The Sufferfest makes it easy to figure out what to do in such a case: https://thesufferfest.com/blogs/training-resources/skip-a-workout-dont-panic . But as a whole, you're committed and inflexible. It's the same with training plans on Zwift and Today's Plan. Zwift will give you a short window to complete workouts, but if you miss the train, you're in trouble. Dynamic/Flexible training pla...

A couple of days ago, we reviewed the first two weeks of the Journey. Yesterday was a Rest Day flavored with some Yoga and the MTP session named "Relaxing to Recover." It's rather enjoyable. About 20 minutes in which you flow through a contraction-relaxation routine from head to toe. Some background music adds a lot, and, if you are lucky enough to find 25 minutes of uninterrupted stillness (i.e., no kids screaming in the background that they don't want to take a shower, no SO on the phone, no doors opening and closing, no people coming in and out because your torture chamber also happens to be their playroom...etc) then it's wonderfully meditating. Today is just a Strength session with a recovery spin — nothing to write home about. So instead, let's paint the background picture with details of the torture chamber set up: Trainer : Tacx Neo (1st. Gen) Smart as they get. This trainer is by far the best thing I've spent money on this decade, ...

Today marks the end of an eight-month training period on Xert. I started using the dynamic software, with great success I might add, reaching new highs and breakthroughs consistently. Racing in Zwift, I won some races and PRed on an ongoing basis. Yet, something was missing. Xert, being "dynamic" will let you slack off. You can indicate your fatigue level and remain stuck in Endurance training for the entire program, or have only a handful of quality, high-intensity workouts. Also, Xert will ask you "what type of rider do you want to be..." playing to strengths rather than focusing, or clearly identifying, weaknesses to improve. Other than that, which can be solved with a strong will and headstrong obedience, the biggest missing element is Strength.  By Strength, I mean weights and (lean) muscle building, integrated with a cycling training plan. I could never get both to sync even though I can train anyone on the bike, and have years of experience in t...