knoxtnhorn

Ok. So y'all have convinced me to join trainerroad. I anxiously await my power meter from Amazon to get started.

That being said, have any of y'all done or are planning to do Sufferlandia? If so, how does one do the "tour" without buying all the Sufferlandia videos? I'm not a cheapskate but I'm not so sure I want to plop down $150+ on trainer vids considering I live in an area where riding indoors is infrequent. I've got a couple of the videos. Should I just do the same ones over and over and download my effort to trainerroad or does it not work that way?

Bah Humbug

You can do the Sufferfest workouts on TrainerRoad without owning the videos. You just watch Netflix or whatever. That said, I don't know about this tour, but I'd be shocked if you didn't have to own the videos for it to "count".

cderalow

there's two levels of tour participation and associated 'prizes'

to join the 'tour' you simply follow the links to donate to the Davis Phinney foundation for parkinson's. (https://www.thesufferfest.com/about-s...rlandria-2014/)

every $10 donated translates to one entry into the prize winning pool. you don't have to do any riding to be eligible for prizes from the simple donation pool.

the second level is to donate and actually ride the specified video workouts within the specified day. completing all of the the video workouts within that specified days using trainerroad and donating qualifies you for the second pool.

you do not need the videos to do the workouts at all. I've done several of the workouts without the videos. the videos help motivate/provide entertainment.

Ricanfred

Yes, +1 on what cderalow said. It hurts just to think about doing 9 straight days of SF videos. I don't think I can do that, even lowering the % of the workout in TR. Aside from the awesome challenge, will this help increase fitness at all?

RJM

I'm doing the tour of sufferlandia but not on trainerroad, so I am not eligible for that level of prizes. It doesn't matter to me, I am just using it as motivation. I had most of the videos (I think ten are needed) on the list except for ISLAGIATT, which I just bought.

I suppose you could do the workouts without the videos if you know the cues, speeds, and exertion levels you are supposed to be at. The end result is the same.


BTW, their training plans are pretty good if you need something a little structured and you get a mix of indoor and outdoor riding while following the plan. 10 weeks though.....

DaveWC

Ditto. I did the same last year. It's pretty tough if you push yourself.

simonaway427

As others have said, you don't need the videos...just fire up the TrainerRoad profile and have at 'er.

I did it last year...my legs were not happy by day 7 or 8.

knoxtnhorn

Ok. I get that the Sufferfest vids aren't needed. So, what am I supposed to do on the 25th (opening day)? Some random workout or does Trainerroad provide a certain workout through its website that I am to follow?

hhnngg1

Be forewarned - doing Sufferfest videos with full trainerroad power on an up to date (non-sandbag) FTP is darn near impossible for a lot of the videos.

I consider myself very good at burying myself in racing and training, and am not afraid at all to suffer, and suffer hard. I do 3 hr trainer rides at a pretty good intensity no problem, week in week out.

But I can barely survive the 1-hr Sufferfest videos at full power. I just did ISLAGIATT for the first time this past weekend, and only could make it to 1hr40mins at full power - then I was completely, utterly toasted. (Even though I didn't get a ton of TSS that ride since 1hr40 << 3hrs even with the intensity adjustment.) I'd actually be pretty impressed with folks who completed ISLAGIATT at full power, it's so hard.

The others I own are shorter, so I can survive them, but they hurt like all heck. I certainly wouldn't be able to complete Sufferlandria tour at full power, mainly due to Wretched and ISLAGIATT, but also from the daily beat-down.

You don't need to own the sufferfest vids - I actually find they don't help me that much at all (ironically) because since they're so intense, I spend all my concentration focusing on my wattage and trying to get it as close to the recommended wattage since I know that every watt over the interval will = later death. (If you have a KICKR, this isn't an issue.) I can barely even remember most of the video in the last 20 minutes of my Sufferfest vids since I'm so focused on holding my power/intensity.

TR will provide a 'tour schedule' that's easy to follow.

cderalow

If you follow the link I previously provided, it includes the tour 'schedule' (copied below)

ROUTE (More details at end of page)
Stage 1 (25th Jan): Rubber Glove
Stage 2 (26th): ISLAGIATT
Stage 3 (27th): Revolver
Stage 4 (28th): Hell Hath No Fury
Stage 5 (29th): Extra Shot + The Wretched
Stage 6 (30th): AVDP
Stage 7 (31st): Angels + The Hunted
Stage 8 (1st): Blender
Stage 9: (2nd): Violator

hhnngg1

I never thought I'd say it, but the 2x 20 all out Rubber glove FTP test first workout would be the easiest of them all for me. And yes, that's for an all-out 2 x 20, nothing in the tank after. Still better than going all-out on ISLAGIATT, having zero left, STILL trying to crank out another subtarget watts for 10 minutes, and still having 20 minutes of the hardest suprathreshold intervals left!

Nebby10

I've only done HHNF so far and plan on doing the tour, I fully suspect I'll need to bump the level down a bit as the tour goes on...I'm certainly not in fantastic shape

You aren't joking about ISLAGIATT:



ouch.

cderalow

I'm going to try and ride that this weekend... hopefully I'll have enough in the tank for it.

Bakerb24

I have trainerroad and a few of the the sufferfest videos. Anyone who is going to attempt that thing is nuts. would try it, but I know that I couldn't make it for more than a couple of days. If you can do it, you're my hero.

rangerdavid

have all the videos. did the Tour last year. don't know how you could possibly do the tour without all the videos, but I don't care, I have all of them. Best trainer workouts on the market, IMHO.

rangerdavid

also, sign up and donate $10 to the Davis Phinney Foundation and you're elegible for some very, very cool prizes............ We've raised over $17,000 for the Foundation so far.

knoxtnhorn

For what it's worth, I signed up and am about to get ready to start Trainerroad. I understand what y'all were saying (above) now. Trainerroad has the workouts for all Sufferlandia workouts. I can still do the workouts. I just won't have the video of Sufferlandia. I'm going to buy a couple more now; I just don't have $$ for all the videos - over $200.

RJM

Just FYI, you can buy all 16 of their videos for $159. They have a link to that deal on the bottom of their page. https://www.thesufferfest.com/video-sufferfests/

Black wallnut 

With trainer road can you also watch the video during the workout? If so how? I'm on the fence on if I should join Trainer road but it's seeming to me that if TR is based on 180# then my 50 yr old 240# body will not measure up at all.

chupalt

Trainer road has a built-in video player. You point the player at the sufferfest video for a particular workout. You start pedaling and the video plays, you stop pedaling and the video pauses.

TR is all scaled based on your personal ability. If you're training with power or virtual power, your workouts will be scaled based on your FTP. If you're training based on heart rate, it will scale your workouts based on your lactate threshold heart rate. TR is equally useful regardless of your weight.

cderalow

And if you're serious about using it, and follow some of their training plans, TrainerRoad is useful for reducing that weight. I lost 30 lbs using trainerroad and three of their plans over about half a year. went from 205 to 175.

cstandke

How is Sufferfests built-in video player? I have some of their older videos that only seem to work playing with ITUNES. I believe you can play with your own play and have Suferfest across bottom but that seems like it would be a pain to get it synced.

trijedi

I heartily agree that the Sufferfest videos are virtually impossible if you do them with a powermeter. I *think* the main reason is that the conversion of relative perceived exertion (RPE) to power is more complicated than it might seem. I used a spreadsheet referenced on the Sufferfest website. After really struggling through several workouts, it dawned on me that for a steady RPE, the absolute power that you would output will decrease over time. Similarly, to hold the same power deep into a workout will take more effort. That spreadsheet misses that timing issue.

In the interest of transparency, I am the force behind the RAD+ software for bike trainers. When we converted the Sufferfest workouts to power (with Sufferfest's permission), we took 5% off for the last 1/3 of the workout. That seems to best reflect the intent of the coaches who built the workouts. An RPE of 8 late into the workout is less power than would be an RPE of 8 just starting out.

www.RADplusSPORTS.com

cderalow

Stage 1 & 2 down....
pain is only mental.....

Nebby10

Completed stage 2 at 95% and even that was rough. Revolver is going to be a bucket of fun