TrainerRoad/SufferFest Plan?

[LotusMartin]

Following on from my 'Fixing my Turbo Trainer' thread, has anyone any tips on where to start with TrainerRoad/SufferFest?

I have:

Suitable Turbo Trainer for TrainerRoad
TrainerRoad Subscription
SufferFest - Wretched and A Very Dark Place
Should have ANT+ USB Dongle shortly today

I'm guessing I should do the 8 minute Fitness Test first (to get my FTP whatever that is), but what would be a good starting point? Is it worth reducing the Workout Intensity setting to begin with?

[RichUK]

I did the 20 min fitness test with Trainerroad at 100% and honestly thought I was going to die.

However, it helped set a baseline which I can now see a reasonable improvment from. So it is worth doing properly, just to give you an idea of how fit you are and what FTP you are starting at.

Edited by RichUK on Wednesday 15th January 14:33

[Cookie220]

20 min FTP, then have a look at the training plans (of which there are many)

[Rolls]

Sufferfest video's are hard, end of.
Doing them properly with trainer road will utterly ruin you!

[LotusMartin]

Rolls said:

Sufferfest video's are hard, end of.
Doing them properly with trainer road will utterly ruin you!

Perfect - I need to be made to pay!

[HurryUpAndWait]

Rolls said:

Sufferfest video's are hard, end of.
Doing them properly with trainer road will utterly ruin you!

Ain't that the truth - had a little bit of sick in my mouth doing Revolver the other day.

Considering the "Tour of Sufferlandria". Made good gains doing the Tour of California last year. On TrainerRoad that is...

[LotusMartin]

My Sunnto MovieStick Mini ANT+ just arrived - seamless connection to TrainerRoad + Garmin Speed/Cadence and HRM. Very impressed.

[Lighterfuel]

Depends on your current level of fitness. I'm a big fan of The Sufferdest - they do Novice, Intermediate and Advanced training plans for a small fee. I elected to go for the Novice plan a few weeks back as I'd been off the bike for a year and already know that Sufferfest is not for the feint hearted so did not want to push it too hard too soon. I also did not want to think too hard about setting up my own plan. All I want at this stage is to be able to kick some butt on some outside training rides...i.e. regain a decent 'tempo', instigate some changes in pace, decent strength and, of course, compete for the last sprint. I've done Sufferfest before, so I know the potential gains are great.

After 30 minutes of 'The Long Scream' (simulated time trial) a couple of days ago, I got off the turbo in 'all sorts of mess' (as it should be!) and thought a lie down on the cold floor would be nice......wifey came running out to the garage to make sure I had not died. She always gets concerned when it Sufferfest time....bless her. Once the Novice plan is completed I'll be straight into the Intermediate, or perhpas the really Brutal one.

[Lighterfuel]

...forgot to mention. Do a 20min balls out test to get a good approximation to FTP. You can establish training plans from there....

[upsidedownmark]

RichUK said:

I did the 20 min fitness test with Trainerroad at 100% and honestly thought I was going to die.

However, it helped set a baseline which I can now see a reasonable improvment from. So it is worth doing properly, just to give you an idea of how fit you are and what FTP you are starting at.

Edited by RichUK on Wednesday 15th January 14:33

Whole point in the 20 minute test is to go as hard as you can sustain for 20 minutes - the 100% bit has no meaning until you know what your FTP is.. I think out the box it assumes about 200w, but that could be anywhere for you

I'd recommend the 20min test over the 8 min test, frankly more accurate. You're attempting to predict what you could sustain for an hour (in ideal conditions), so the 20 min has a fudge factor applied, the 8 min even more so.

Basically, that's what FTP is - the amount of power you could sustain for 1 hr before falling over and puking. Stands for functional threshold power. Once you know that, you can figure what you should be able to do for 2 min, 2hrs, 6hrs etc., and target your training to particular areas - just under FTP / threshold for increasing your power, 60-75% for aerobic endurance and so on. Bit like HR zone training, but rather more accurate. Just don't get too carried away with virtual power; it will be consistent (repeatable, and perfectly good for training), but try not to think of them as watts. Generally seems that VP doesn't correlate terribly well with real world watts. Doesn't matter, but just be aware - you may not be the weakling your virtual watts suggest, equally you may not be the hero they suggest either

[RichUK]

upsidedownmark said:

I think out the box it assumes about 200w, but that could be anywhere for you

It wasn't 200w, I was somewhat relieved as I staggered off the bike!

[drgav2005]

LotusMartin,

If you are a premium member on Strava you'll get streaming access to Rubber Glove (FTP test), Fight Club and Revolver.

Trainerroad + turbo + Sufferfest is a brilliant combination. I've just finished the Sufferfest 10 week Intermediate Cycle Plan and it was bloody brutal... but I loved it. Made a tremendous difference to not only my power but my cadence. I'd previously been a bit of a grinder but now I'm happily spinning away at around 100 rpm.

Enjoy!

[neenaw]

If you want to really beast yourself and get your money's worth out of TrainerRoad, look for the Tour Of Sufferlandria which starts on the 25th.
It's basically a 9 day challenge doing one or two of the Sufferfest videos a day. Should be fun in a painful kind of way.

[PGM]

Thread resurrection rather than start new!

What sort of spec PC are people using?

This is the spec trainerroad says, I've looked up some PC's and it appears to need something pretty high spec:

TrainerRoad will work on PC and Mac computers with the following specifications:

PC
2.33GHz or faster x86-compatible processor, or Intel Atom™ 1.6GHz or faster processor for netbook class devices.
Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 3, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (including 64 bit editions) with Service Pack 2, Windows 7, or Windows 8.
512MB of RAM (1GB recommended).


I set everything up with an old work laptop that I've got in the workshop which is an Intel Celeron R 1500GHz processor with 512mb ram.

Things were a bit jerky with the screen freezing for a few seconds when the workout (8 min FTP test) was about to change to the next timing phase.

Result was that I didn't get a proper FTP due to this and my speed magnet moving down the spoke away from the sensor and I wasn't doing the correct timings for each phase.

Anyway I've got sufferfest videos and would like to stream movies or music while training also which seems like I've got no hope of doing currently.

Do I need a new PC just for the garage, seems a bit OTT when it supposedly runs on an iphone!

Workout is here if relevant:

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/ride ... inute-Test
http://www.strava.com/activities/220680557

Thanks for any help
Paul