Standing on the podium at gravel nationals a year ago as of yesterday, I could have never imagined how much my relationship with biking and racing would change.

After the disappointment of moving from first place to fourth place after a big crash at mile 90 of 140 at nationals, I was determined to get back into training after a brief break off the bike to heal.

Two races and training blocks later, I stopped wanting to ride and hated the fact that I didn’t want to do something that I once loved so much. I felt like I was losing a part of myself. Out of fear, I forced myself to ride in hopes that the love would come back. Little did I know that what I really needed to do was let go.

Although I stopped training, I decided to still do the races I was signed up for, but with a far different mindset. I let go of all expectations and went in with only the goal of staying upright and having fun. Whether it was due to the power of taking myself less seriously or simply just luck, the races I took on with the new mindset went far better than the previous ones despite having far less fitness.

My season ended after completing BRW San Diego, marking a total of nine long races. Afterward, for the first time since I started cycling, I took a break and made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t start riding again until I truly wanted to. After a month and a half off the bike, I finally did.

While the cycles of burnout that led to this were in no way ideal, I’m grateful for the newfound excitement I have towards riding and everything I learned about myself in the process. In this next chapter of my cycling journey, I’m excited to prioritize fun times over fast times while hopefully uplifting people along the way.

To any of you facing burnout, I hope you’ll take a deep breath, be gentle with yourself, and open your mind to the idea of letting go. While it can be scary and overwhelming, you’ll be led back to whatever it is you’re letting go of when you’re ready if it’s meant to be.

The post From Burnout to Balance appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

I wanted to start taking cycling seriously, so I decided I needed carbon soled cycling shoes.

I had read that the stiff soles increase your power transfer by 30%. Since I was riding a lot slower on the old Salvation Army Schwinn bike than I wanted to, I figured that such a large gain in transfer would really transform my riding.

So I went to the bike shop, and grabbed a pair of Diadora Road Shoes with sweet carbon soles. They were blue and had a stiffness factor that was ridiculously high. Exactly what I needed.

But after my third ride with them, I couldn’t figure out why everyone raved over them. They made me slow, wobbly, and clumsy on the bike.

I constantly slipped and slid in them, and I simply could not make myself pedal any faster. Clearly, the marketing ploys had fooled me. Power transfer increase. Pfft.

The next day, I decided to try them again before giving up. I pulled up to a ride with my good friend, Heath, and asked him if he liked the new shoes.

“They’re awesome,” he said. “But why don’t you try them with clipless pedals?”

Got an awkward story? Join in the fun, and submit yours to us. We just might spread the love by publishing it.

The post Awkward Roadie Tries Carbon Shoes appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

Long-time runner, first-time triathlete, Kalen, joins the SLO Cyclist team as one of our newest contributing writers. In her first article, she shares what she learned competing in her first sprint distance triathlon.

Catching the Bug

I’ve been running for years, and I had finally put a few half-marathons into the soles of my shoes when someone decided I should update my goals. In the middle of a ten-mile training run, a lady chased me down and told me that I should be doing triathlons. Yes, my introduction to triathlon came from a complete stranger.

I did what anyone else would do and started researching triathlons as soon as I got home. (That’s what everyone would do, right?) After finding a sprint triathlon that was 3 months away, I registered for it.

Then, I bought a bike.

The Training

I maintained my summer running schedule of 15-20 miles weekly. I added in cycling, but mostly on a trainer. I learned some very valuable lessons like the need for cycling shorts and that not all cycling shorts are created equally. I learned that bike fit is very important and your bike fitter needs to know how to best handle a person that lives with leg length discrepancies. I experienced the lesson of handling my first hill. I learned that running as soon as you get off the bike is not a thrilling experience. More on these in future installments.

A few weeks before the race, I joined a gym with a pool. I knew that this discipline would be the most difficult, but that it was the shortest of the three so I gave it the least attention. I didn’t go into this race with the intention to win. I only sought to complete it.

The Swim

The swim portion was done in a pool as a zig-zag pattern across. Swimmers were supposed to self-seed. I went last. Turned out that there were two swimmers slower than I was, but it didn’t matter as they were out of the pool long before I was. It was hard. If it weren’t for my son, I would have quit.

The first transition was the one where you try to put dry socks on wet feet. I’m still cycling with cages so I’m wearing my running shoes. I had grand plans of putting on sunblock and body glide, but since I was last out of the pool, I felt like I should move faster and neglected to do those things.

The Ride

On the bike, I was able to pass people throughout the course. Many of the people I passed were participating in the fat tire division of the race, but I still didn’t count myself out. I had put in quite a bit of work both outdoors and on the trainer. The course was flat.

I learned the importance of sunglasses during the ride by seeing a dragonfly up close and personal. I needed to learn how to hydrate better during the ride, which is the downside to spending so much time on the trainer–I wasn’t comfortable riding one handed. I could’ve used some of these bike handling skills videos during training.

The Run

The second transition was quicker because I was already in my running shoes. I was losing steam as I grabbed my water bottle and I considered just calling it quits again. As soon as I came out of transition, I saw my son again. So I ran…

At the end of it all, I finished ahead of 6 people according to clock time and ahead of 25 people according to chip time. I’m not fast, but I’m getting better.

Now I’m training for the Olympic distance triathlon that I accidentally signed up for.

The post Tips from a First-Time Triathlete – What I Learned from My First Race appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

In his first article, our contributing writer, Curt, shows us exactly what it looks like to balance work and a serious training regimen. Riding at 5 a.m. shows guts, Curt. We like guts. Especially since we don’t have any ourselves . . . “cue complaints about brisk, early 10 a.m. mornings.”

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, slide, ugh. Nope, didn’t wake her up, great, now for the bladder attack, hope the door doesn’t squeak again, eeeeeekkkkk, gotta buy that graphite for that door one of these days.

This sound familiar? 5 a.m. alarm to get up and ride before work, trying not to wake up the wife. What else goes through your mind? Anything like this….

Do I grease up the nether regions?

Did I make a water bottle last night?

These shorts stink, oh well.

Do I really need my contacts this morning?

Where are my shoes?

Is this light charged?

Blinded by the light.

Where are those gloves?

Remember, turn on that app so If I drop dead, get run over, eaten by a dog etc. someone will know. Well, five minutes after anyway.

ID and Insurance card, check. Yes, insurance card, they’ll take me to a better hospital if I have it on me, right?

Jeez, I need to get rolling.

Which route?

Every route away from the house is uphill, dang it. (Really, every route is uphill, I’m not lying)

Climb, leg burn, back locks up a little all because I’m too cool to warm up.

Ok, breathe,  you are on the bike, it is all ok.

Remember, spin, we’ll get to the interval later.

These roads are awesome with no traffic.

Breaking dawn, no, not the movie people, sky is looking beautiful.

Interval! Time to jam.

I’m going to look up and watch the sky turn pink anyway.

Feel awesome now.

Wow, that car gave me room . . . amazing.

I love riding in the morning.

At least until this hill, crap.

Remember, gotta climb ’em to bomb ’em.

Am I back to the house already?

I swear I sleep on the bike.

Ok, stretch, eat, shower, shave and off to work.

Yeah, this feeling is why I do it, how ’bout you?

The post What It’s Like to Balance Cycling & Work appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

Power Meters – Are They Worth It?

This is Shane.
Shane likes bikes and wants to race.
Shane hasn’t been working out lately.
Shane’s going to compare a Heart Rate Monitor and a Power Meter in the name of science.
Don’t be like Shane–just read his results.

OK, enough silliness. We’re down to science these days, and we’re not afraid to put ourselves on the line for your benefit (well, Shane’s not, anyway). Here’s the plan:

In order to find out whether or not a power meter is a strong investment, we’re following a few parameters in our testing. While this isn’t completely fool-proof science, it should give us a strong idea of the differences in training with heart rate zones versus accurate power data.

In order to do this, we’re removing as many variables as possible, and stretching our test out over the next few months. We’ll give you regular updates on the progression of Shane’s training data, and share with you his actual numbers as he goes from relative desk jockey to full-on cycling beast mode, back to desk jockey and then back to even better beast mode.

At least that’s what we figure will happen.

Here’s Our Method

Through careful planning, and with product support by the people at Quarq, we’ve developed a plan to show the effect of training in two ways: First, with only heart rate visible, and, second, with only power visible.

Shane will complete exactly the same 10-week training plan twice. We’ll eliminate as many variables as possible by giving him the same rest period between plans, making him complete his workouts at the same time of day, with the same nutrition, and in as similar conditions as possible.

At the beginning, middle, and end of each training plan, Shane will complete a benchmark test to give us his base numbers as well as his gains. All of this data we’ll share with you. Yes, he’s a brave man.

While we’ll collect both HRM and Power Meter data throughout the duration of our science, Shane will only be able to see and use one or the other based on which test he’s completing.

We’re using the super accurate Quarq Riken R (the carbon version of the more affordable Riken AL) to collect all of our power readings. We recently did an in depth review of the affordable Quarq Riken, but now we want to put it on the line to see whether or not investing in the Riken power meter will actually translate into making you a better, faster, cooler cyclist.

How Do I Keep Up With This?

Don’t miss any of our data; read our findings as they happen! Be sure to subscribe to SLO Cyclist or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.

And don’t forget to encourage Shane on his brave quest. Up next, we’ll put all his benchmark numbers out there. He truly is fearless.

Special thanks to the cool people at Quarq for getting us set up with the Riken R for the purposes of our testing.

The post Is A Power Meter Worth The Expense? We Do Science To Find Out appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

Here at SLO Cyclist, we’ve been out-wheeled by hamsters. We’ve been warned to throw in the chamois. We’ve been heckled by non-Sufferlandrians. But here at SLO Cyclist, we’ve achieved something: We are true Sufferlandrians.

It’s totes true. We’ve got the training diaries to prove it. The Sufferfest is for real, and what better way to suffer than for a good cause (and maybe a sweet new BMC Team Machine, right?). Whether or not you’re already in on the Sufferfest, you can join the Tour of Sufferlandria while supporting the Davis Phinney Foundation.

What’s This Now?

Line up with the virtual peloton of fellow Sufferlandrians from the comfort of your own pain cave, and compete in the 9-day “race” without feeling the wind chill of winter roads. Simply donate at least $10 to the aforementioned foundation as your entry fee, pin on your official race bib, join the chatter on The Sufferfest, and complete daily video challenges.

Although you will need either a subscription to The Sufferfest ($10 for one month of unlimited videos) or a full complement of the specific training videos needed to complete the Tour, you will also be entered to win some seriously cool, seriously satisfying prizes.

One thing to remember: Get your trainer ready, because all of this starts tomorrow! (Feb 6th-14th–although each day of the tour is technically 50 hours).

Head over to The Sufferfest’s Tour of Sufferlandria Official Page to get signed up, and support a very worthy charity in the process. We’ll be lining up right along with you. Don’t worry.

To get stoked on the Tour, watch the Official Route Announcement below:

https://vimeo.com/150839967

And Maybe Suffer with Kinetic’s Fit App In The Process  

Sponsoring the Tour this year for the first time, Kinetic (you know, the people with the sweet trainers), has released a new Kinetic Fit app to work in tandem with your Sufferfesting. If you’re a premium subscribers of Kinetic Fit, and registered for the Tour of Sufferlandria, you can get free streaming access to each of the nine Tour of Sufferlandria video training stages between. Pretty cool if you’re already planning to use a Kinetic trainer for the Tour.

Details on the App

The Kinetic Fit app, available in iOS and Android (beta), is free to all registered users during the company’s extended trial period. Similar to Kinetic’s predecessor inRide app, Kinetic Fit uses Bluetooth Smart® technology to transmit wattage output and workout metrics such as heart rate, distance, speed, and cadence. The more robust Kinetic Fit has real-time monitoring of over 50 key data points, and allows full user interface customization.

Kinetic Fit additionally unlocks training potential that wasn’t found in the inRide app with over 100 new interval workouts written by professional coach, Drew Edsall with power and cadence targets. Features such as interactive real-time graphing, second screen mirroring, and synchronization with streaming video content keep users on-target, motivated and fully engaged.

Kinetic plans to update the Fit app regularly with new workouts, power-training plans, social incentives and added functionality and features, many of which will be open to all app subscribers during the extended free trial period.

All Kinetic Smart Trainers sold through retail since October 2015 are already compatible with the firmware requirements of Kinetic Fit. Version 1 inRide sensor pods (T-2000 and T-2002 inRide Watt Meter accessories) purchased prior to that time are not compatible; however, Kinetic has a free firmware upgrade program.
Finally, owners of even the earliest generations of Kinetic Rock and Roll or Road Machine trainers can inexpensively retrofit their equipment with Kinetic’s inRide Sensor Pod (MSRP $75; or $130 for sensor pod and BLE heart rate strap).

More information about Kinetic is available at kurtkinetic.com.

The post Suffer for a Good Cause (And Maybe Prizes Too) – Participate in The Tour of Sufferlandria 2016 appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

Faster Than Ever With The Sufferfest  – Training Diary

I was using Google Earth the other day when I spotted the pool where I do most of my lap swimming. The width of the pool was a mere centimeter on the face of the city and an indistinguishable speck on the globe. I felt almost panicky realizing that I spend hours in that tiny speck swimming back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. So when a swim-bike brick fell on a sunny weekend day I had to get outside. I’m lucky enough to live near the site of my next triathlon, so I struggled into my wetsuit and waded into the chilly bay.

My new goggles leaked a bit and some kelp brushing against my hand startled me enough to result in a scream that I’m grateful was muffled by the water, but the open water swim was my best yet. My friend who has been swimming with me for nearly a year now remarked that I’d gotten faster. I didn’t struggle to keep up, and when I left the bay and yanked off my wetsuit I had plenty of energy to complete the bike course. I didn’t bring running shoes, but I felt entirely capable of getting in a few decent miles if I had.

Despite a couple of rough days in weeks 3 and 4, the suffering is paying off! A couple of days later after an endurance building swim workout I snuck in a couple of timed sprints and was thrilled to have cut several seconds since starting The Sufferfest training plan. It’s still hard to muster the discipline to swim a few seconds slower than Critical Swim Speed and get in those extra reps, but clearly The Sufferfest knows what it’s doing.

When I got out of the pool tonight I had a strong urge to ride my bike off into the moonlight. If you’ve ever heard me complain about brick workouts, you know this is abnormal. The Sufferfest is molding my very psyche into a conditioned triathlete. I’m swimming faster than ever before, climbing stronger than ever, and keeping my form in the saddle.

I have no idea if I can still run. I mean, I do complete the run workouts, but the focus on set times at specific heart rates and multiple hard, fast efforts means I haven’t paid much attention to my pace in awhile. Running was my strongest leg before The Sufferfest, so I’ve focused my efforts on swimming and cycling in order to guarantee decent split times. I’m dying to know how fast I’m running. Hopefully I haven’t sacrificed my strong running legs for a decent first two legs.

At the end of this week I will be facing some added challenges in the work, family, and, most dauntingly, traveling arenas that will likely get in the way of serious Sufferlanrdian business. Since running seems to be the easiest sport to squeeze in while traveling, I’ll be sure to get some data on how my running legs are holding up.

My Ongoing Review

Having just completed week 5 of my training plan, I’m seeing some tangible results. I really just feel faster, but it definitely shows in my swim and ride times as well. Being able to climb is a huge deal for me–especially since the bike is the weakest leg and the course for my upcoming tri is hilly. The Sufferfest has defnititely forced me to get better at the two legs I dreaded most, instead of letting me just rely on my run to make up for the other two.

This thing works.

If you want to keep watching me suffer (that sounds kinda not cool, but whatever) click here to read our other training diaries, and if you want to keep following my (and our other writer’s) progress through The Sufferfest, be sure to subscribe to SLO Cyclist.

What Exactly Am I Doing?

The Sufferfest Intermediate Triathlon Training Plan – 10 Week with Training Videos

There are a few options to get you started. Grab the training plan (they also have plans for cyclocross and triathlon) for $29.99 and download the official app with all of the necessary videos at your fingertips for $10 per month (a great way to go if you don’t want to hassle with downloading all of the files and copying them over to your mobile devices for easy viewing). All in all, you’ll spend about $60 to complete your training this way.

If you want to own the videos outright and download them, you can also purchase each video separately for around $12.99 each–or get them all for $199. For this particular plan, you’ll need 13 videos.

You can also see more of what other Sufferlandrians are doing, and keep up with @TheSufferfest on their Facebook and Twitter pages. 

Because I have chosen to suffer publicly, the kind (wait, I don’t think that’s the right word) Minions at The Sufferfest have set me, and a couple of others in our office, up with their road and triathlon training plans as well as their full complement of videos. Thanks, Minions!

The post Testing Swim & Bike Speed With Bricks – The Sufferfest Triathlon Trainin Plan Review appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

My Own Personal Triathlon Sufferfest Week 3

Have you ever been at the gym and seen someone scurrying back and forth between the spin bikes and the treadmills, only staying on one machine long enough to sweat prolifically and then bail for the other? Were they staring at a tablet the whole time? I hope not. Because if so you probably witnessed my first multiple bike to run workout, and I’m sure it wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was so embarrassing I’m considering buying a treadmill and letting my gym membership lapse to guarantee that I won’t have to do it again.

When taking on a training plan with a name like The Sufferfest, one does not expect to be comfortable. The physical toll is obvious but welcome for those of us who know that today’s pain will be tomorrow’s victory.

What I wasn’t quite prepared for was another type of discomfort I experienced this week. And it wasn’t only during the multiple bike to run workout.

Maybe it’s just me. Does anyone else find it embarrassing to swim drills that involve holding a kickboard upright between your thighs? What if you were in the lane next to a water polo team practice at the time? Would it be embarrassing then?

Yes, The Sufferfest demands sacrifice of both physical comfort and looking cool all the time. Good thing we know the payoff is gold.

The gym incident could have been avoided had I owned a treadmill. The multiple bike to run workout is a series of bike and run bricks so close together you barely have time to get the treadmill up to speed before you must transition to the bike again. It’d be a fine thing to do in your own home. Since I don’t own a treadmill (I generally despise running indoors), and I didn’t want to run around holding a screen up to watch (I’m not that coordinated), I had to take this show to the gym.

Although I was tempted to skip the embarrassing bike to treadmill to bike to treadmill to bike to treadmill insanity, I had a feeling it might be worth it. It was. By the end of the workout I was killing it on the treadmill and smiling broadly to my red-faced, sweaty self.

I’ve always said a triathlon is the fastest way to the worst run of your life. I’m fastest on foot, so the last part of my tri always goes something like this: “Yes! I’m in the last few miles of the ride and then I’m onto my best sport. It’s all downhill from here!” Then from the moment after I get my running shoes on: “Where the heck are my legs? Where. Are. My. Legs. UUUUUGH! Are there lead weights on my legs?! Why does the pavement feel like sand?! WHY didn’t I just do another marathon?!” About a mile into the run my legs begin to feel like my own. I sort of remember how to run again and at that point I begin overtaking anyone who passed me on the bike. I usually finish strong. It’s just the mile or two of rubber legs I worry about. So I knew I needed some brick workouts. I was impressed last week that the very first week of the plan included a brick.

When you’re a Sufferlandrian triathlete you’re not a swimmer, you’re not a cyclist, and you’re not a runner. Although you will definitely improve in all of those, ultimately you train for triathlon.

Results So Soon?

I set out on a group ride for my bike to run brick this weekend. This was the first time I experienced undeniable payoff from all the suffering. I didn’t struggle on the climbs. I even enjoyed them. I felt like I’d broken through the months of mediocre or non-existent gains from all my LSD training and I was powerful! It would’ve been worth it just to experience that ride, but I had to top it off with a run. The beginning still wasn’t glorious. I still yelled, “I HATE BRICKS!” as I waved goodbye to my cyclist friends. But it wasn’t horrible. It still felt like running through sand but without lead weights attached to my legs. And the switching point where I found my legs again happened much sooner. I had maybe half a mile of rubber legs before I found my normal stride and set in for the remainder of the run. I assume I’ll keep improving with more bricks over the next seven weeks.

My Ongoing Review

One of the best things about The Sufferfest is that it does all the planning and motivating for me. It even reminds me when to clean my bike. My bike is SO CLEAN right now! With that out of the way I’ve set a couple of new side goals for myself. One is using the foam roller more often to prevent muscle soreness from impacting my workouts the day after a hard run or bike day. What’s a few minutes of self torture on the foam roller when you’ve already suffered through a workout? The other goal is sleep. Because more sleep tonight leads to better suffering tomorrow, and victory down the road.

If you want to keep watching me suffer (that sounds kinda not cool, but whatever) click here to read our other training diaries, and if you want to keep following my (and our other writer’s) progress through The Sufferfest, be sure to subscribe to SLO Cyclist.

What Exactly Am I Doing?

The Sufferfest Intermediate Triathlon Training Plan – 10 Week with Training Videos

There are a few options to get you started. Grab the training plan (they also have plans for cyclocross and triathlon) for $29.99 and download the official app with all of the necessary videos at your fingertips for $10 per month (a great way to go if you don’t want to hassle with downloading all of the files and copying them over to your mobile devices for easy viewing). All in all, you’ll spend about $60 to complete your training this way.

If you want to own the videos outright and download them, you can also purchase each video separately for around $12.99 each–or get them all for $199. For this particular plan, you’ll need 13 videos.

You can also see more of what other Sufferlandrians are doing, and keep up with @TheSufferfest on their Facebook and Twitter pages. 

Because I have chosen to suffer publicly, the kind (wait, I don’t think that’s the right word) Minions at The Sufferfest have set me, and a couple of others in our office, up with their road and triathlon training plans as well as their full complement of videos. Thanks, Minions!

The post Giving Up Your Dignity for Triathlon – The Sufferfest Triathlon Training Plan Review appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

The Sufferfest Triathlon Training Diary: Week One Complete

I’m embarking on the second week of The Sufferfest Intermediate Triathlon Training Plan, and I’m still standing—literally, at my standing desk. We at SLO Cyclist have a profound fear of the sedentary office lifestyle. I’m standing proud today because I’ve just won back the Sufferlandrian jersey in the final seconds of the team time trial. What? Okay, let’s back up so I can prove I haven’t lost my mind from all the suffering.

I signed up for an Olympic distance triathlon because I thought training would fit in perfectly with my leisurely lifestyle of working full time, planning a wedding, supporting my indentured student fiancée and our dog, and folding 1000 paper cranes in the Japanese tradition to prepare for said wedding. I thought I was doing okay. I was finishing up a series of 25 and 50 yard sprints in the pool when I looked up to see my old swim instructor glaring at me.

“I thought you were training for an Olympic?”

“I am” I said. “My training plan has a lot of sprints.”

She glared harder. “Get your money back” was all she said.

Fortunately around this time the good people at The Sufferfest offered to torture—er, train—me with a plan that promises serious improvement without sacrificing my day job.

I’ve never been an early adopter. Before The Sufferfest I’d heard of heart rate zone training and Rate of Perceived Exertion, but I was pretty content hammering away at whatever pace felt good and assuming more miles would mean more speed in the long run. The Sufferfest taught me that while in swimming I was in fact doing too many all-out sprints (thank the Sufferlandrian lords for introducing me to Critical Swim Speed), when it came to running and cycling I was doing far too much LSD–Long Slow Distance. Not the other thing. This is not that kind of magazine.

Plenty of us out on the road or in the pool are guilty of just doing what feels OK and then chilling when the lactic acid starts to rumble. The Sufferfest is different. It demands data. Gone are the days of me relying on LSD to make me faster on the road. And my past is littered with 50-meter pool sprints. The Sufferfest is forcing me to train with purpose, and analyze my data.

But I will admit, it took me a while to learn to use the heart rate settings on my Garmin.  Data was something I used at work. In training I liked to zone out, and as my swim instructor once scolded I “count by feelings.” So naturally I grumbled about the overuse of technology. Then I started the first video.

I swear on the pride of Sufferlandria, I have never sweat so much in my entire life. Yes, it is a hot autumn in California, but I thought I was a triathlete. I HAD been working hard, hadn’t I? Maybe I’d never raced with the pros while someone yelled “You’re doing it wrong!” I’m not kidding. These training videos are not your mother’s aerobic tapes from the nineties where a smiley woman in bright legwarmers exclaims “You’re doing great!” even when you’ve stopped for a water break. (You obviously can’t see me, woman!) In Sufferlandria you ride with the sweaty, hardcore pro men and women. The pressure is real.

You might be thinking these Sufferlandrians take themselves way too seriously. I did—for a moment. Then during a recovery phase they showed me a video of a pro cyclist cooking an omelet on rollers. Then they made fun of the resulting omelet.  I laughed. “Okay,” I thought, “these are my people.“ I’m grateful they showed me the omelet in the middle of that threshold test because had I seen it at the end I would have puked. If you can get me to laugh while making me work harder than ever, you can have my soul, at least for the duration of this 10 week training plan.

I’m now armed with a new set of annoying triathlete lingo. I know my FTP, my CSS, and I can maintain the correct RPE. My heart rate monitor will tell me if I don’t. I’m breaking free of excessive LSD. I’m taking my new acronyms and I’m kicking my own behind. Watch out, other people’s behinds; you’re next.

My Ongoing Review

If you want to keep watching me suffer (that sounds kinda not cool, but whatever) click here to read our other training diaries, and if you want to keep following my (and our other writer’s) progress through The Sufferfest, be sure to subscribe to SLO Cyclist.

What Exactly Am I Doing?

The Sufferfest Intermediate Triathlon Training Plan – 10 Week with Training Videos

There are a few options to get you started. Grab the training plan (they also have plans for cyclocross and triathlon) for $29.99 and download the official app with all of the necessary videos at your fingertips for $10 per month (a great way to go if you don’t want to hassle with downloading all of the files and copying them over to your mobile devices for easy viewing). All in all, you’ll spend about $60 to complete your training this way.

If you want to own the videos outright and download them, you can also purchase each video separately for around $12.99 each–or get them all for $199. For this particular plan, you’ll need 13 videos.

You can also see more of what other Sufferlandrians are doing, and keep up with @TheSufferfest on their Facebook and Twitter pages. 

Because I have chosen to suffer publicly, the kind (wait, I don’t think that’s the right word) Minions at The Sufferfest have set me, and a couple of others in our office, up with their road and triathlon training plans as well as their full complement of videos. Thanks, Minions!

The post Letting Go of Long Slow Distances – The Sufferfest Triathlon Training Diary appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.

I’m shaking. Maybe it’s not visible. Maybe it is. My arms and hands draped on the handlebars. Shoes still clipped into my Speedplays, and I’m not sure I can gather enough control of my feet to unclip.

But I beat him. That stupid Sufferfest video hamster with his smug, elastic, rodent cheeks and his stupid 200rpm cadence. I hammered until he in his hamster ball of infinite doom were dropped and only dreaming of catching my wheel again.

Yes. Victory. If I could physically move, I’d raise my arms and yell something unsportsmanlike.

And the voice of my college tri coach leaps into my mind: bury yourself! No junk miles!

And here’s a key lesson–because the title of this article is not intended to be click-bait. People ask me all the time, “How do I get faster?”

HOW DO I RIDE MY BIKE FASTER?

My answer? No junk miles. That’s what The Sufferfest is all about. There’s no extra time in my schedule. I have to take each moment of each ride seriously. Sure, I’m all for enjoying hitting smooth roads with friends and stopping at every Instagram-worthy backdrop. But when I train, I train hard.

The often interval-based, high intensity workouts designed by The Sufferfest squeeze every bit of faster out of you in a compacted number of weeks. In my experience, there’s no quicker way to see strong results than with intervals, and I haven’t yet used a training plan that offered me such quick gains. I’m only half-way through week 5, and my fitness has quickly exceeded my own expectations. Here’s a quick tangible for you:

Last week was rest and test week. On Saturday, I did a road ride with two different groups. Several weeks ago, I was barely hanging on the back of the “slow group” (they called themselves that, I’m not labeling anyone) at an average pace of 13-15 miles per hour. Now, after completing four weeks of the training plan, I’m hanging with–and taking regular pulls at the front of–a group that averages 17-19mph.

Next week, I’m going to share some more specific data with you that details just how much my overall fitness has improved. For now, I’m just digging the faster.

My Ongoing Review

There’s no question that this training plan is the perfect solution for cyclists who either have a limited number of hours in the week to train, or riders who need some semblance of flexibility in their training schedule. In a mere five or so hours per week, you’ll see fitness gains that you may not experience with even two or three times as many hours in the saddle. So far, I’m absolutely impressed with the quality of the videos and their ability to keep me motivated while riding a trainer.

After all, I think we’ve all got a little Sufferlandrian in us. We just need a qualified Minion to bring it out.

If you want to keep watching me suffer (that sounds kinda not cool, but whatever) click here to read my other training diaries, and if you want to keep following my (and our other writer’s) progress through The Sufferfest, be sure to subscribe to SLO Cyclist.

What Exactly Am I Doing?

The Sufferfest Intermediate Road Training Plan – 10 Week with Training Videos

There are a few options to get you started. Grab the training plan (they also have plans for cyclocross and triathlon) for $29.99 and download the official app with all of the necessary videos at your fingertips for $10 per month (a great way to go if you don’t want to hassle with downloading all of the files and copying them over to your mobile devices for easy viewing).

You can also purchase each video separately for around $12.99 each–or get them all for $199. For this particular plan, you’ll need 13 videos.

You can also see more of what other Sufferlandrians are doing, and keep up with @TheSufferfest on their Facebook and Twitter pages. 

Because I have chosen to suffer publicly, the kind (wait, I don’t think that’s the right word) Minions at The Sufferfest have set me, and a couple of others in our office, up with their road and triathlon training plans as well as their full complement of videos. Thanks, Minions!

The post The Trick To Riding Faster – The Sufferfest Road Training Plan Review appeared first on SLO Cyclist | An Online Road Bicycling Magazine.