The Sufferfest: Blender Cycling Training Video

The Details:

Endurance. Turbo trainers. The thought of developing the first on the second is soul-destroying. It means spending time - a long time - on that horrific device. Even our Minions, who love indoor training, have always struggled to stay on the trainer after our one hour Sufferfest videos finish. Not any more. Blender changes everything. This is the video that softens you up, takes you to the edge of exhaustion, sneaks up behind you and kicks you over that edge and down the hill, then makes you run up while being chased by a raving mob all the while pouring molten lava down toward you. You'll love it.

Background: As our mission is to heal the world of Turbo Trainer Boredom Syndrome (TTBS), we got in touch with a friend of ours who knows something about spending a lot of time on the bike: Connie Carpenter. Yeah, the one who won a Gold medal at the 1984 Olympics, former World Champion, etc. She put us in touch with Neal Henderson, who coaches her son, Taylor Phinney (Yeah, the World Champion, US National Champion and Giro d'Italia Pink Jersey wearer) and superstars like Evelyn Stevens. Neal happens to be the Elite Cycling and Triathlon Coach at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, a mecca for professional endurance athletes. Well, one thing led to another and Neal sent us a workout that he gives to his professional athlete's and his national-class Masters riders to prepare for competition. It's got a bit of everything - from longer threshold efforts to leg-searing sprints for the line.

To go with such a varied workout, we dove into a treasure trove of new footage we received from our partners at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). We put in:

• the 2012 Road World Championships (Limburg, Netherlands) for both Men and Women
• a bunch of the 2012/2013 Cyclocross World Cup
• the 2012 Cyclocross World Championships for Women
• the 2012 Mountain Biking World Championships (both Cross Country and Downhill).
• For the recovery sections, we've got some great track cycling and fat tire snow biking from Sufferlandrians Dane Walker (UK) and Eric Brandt (USA).
• It all winds down with some cycling safety tips from a top British professional cyclist (back in 1939!) and some words from Davis Phinney of the Davis Phinney Foundation.

We wrapped it all up in the story of the Sufferlandrian National Championships - an event you, of course, must win.

Blender also sees us take the quality of our footage even higher and the design is simply beautiful (assuming you can see it while your head is down, shaking side to side during the intervals). Clear indicators of effort and cadence are always present in the upper right and when new instructions come up, they pop-up from the bottom in a large red bar so you can't make any excuses about missing them!

We're super pleased to have the Davis Phinney Foundation as one of the presenters of this video. The mission of the DPF is to help people with Parkinson's disease live well TODAY. Davis (and Connie) was a personal hero of mine back in the mid-80's and what he's done with the DPF is sensational. We'd also like to thank Neal and the Boulder Center of Sports Medicine for helping us put the workout together.

Workout Details:

Whatever you thought was difficult is going to have to move into second position. With a workout designed by Boulder Center for Sports Medicine's Elite Cycling and Triathlon Coach Neal Henderson. It's your chance to suffer like the pros. Here's what you're going to be up against over the 1 hour and 40 minutes:

Warm-up

About 10:00 at RPE 4, then a progressive build to higher RPEs and then a 2:00 recovery.

Interval Set 1: Mixed Longer Intervals Threshold/VO2 Max

• 10 minutes Threshold (RPE 7/10)
• 2 minutes Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 2 minutes VO2 (RPM 9/10)
• 2 minutes Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 8 minutes Threshold (RPE 7/10)
• 2 minutes Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 4 minutes Supra LT (RPE 8/10)
• 2 minutes Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 6 minutes Threshold (7/10)
• 4 minutes Recovery (RPE 1-2)

Interval Set 2: 18 Short/Intense Power at VO2 Max and Anaerobic Capacity

• 6 repeats of 40s VO2 (RPE 9/10), 20s Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 2 minutes Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 6 repeats of 30s VO2 (RPE 9/10), 30s Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 2 minutes Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 6 repeats of 20s Sprint (RPE 10/10), 40s Recovery (RPE 1-2)
• 4 minutes Recovery (RPE 1-2)

Interval 3: Grand Finale, Threshold with limited recovery when fatigued.

3 repeats of 4 minutes Threshold (RPE 7-8/10)/ 1 Minute Recovery (RPE 1-2)

Cool-down

5 minutes relaxed spin (RPE 2)

SoundTrack:

This collection is right up there with the best we've ever put together. Like the workout, like the racing, it's got a bit of everything: electro, dance, indie rock, pop and chill-out. We've got the playlist on repeat here at Sufferfest Studios.

• History in the Making - FightingGhosts
• Rearrange - Justin Petersen & The Rehersals
• Lookie at Me - Keith Gregory
• Face Junk Pavement - Molotov Disco
• Crazy Girl - Andre Rodriguez*
• Graceful (Radio Edit) - Casino
• Decay - Hiss & Chambers
• Goodnight California - Nate Currin
• Madness is My Home - Chiwawa
• Rockstar - Jason Farnham
• You & Me & The Boatman - The Quiet Company
• The Real World - Mountains:Valleys
• Summer School - Twirl*
• Hippie Kill Disco - Immune System
• Fair Child - DJ Wings
• Breathe - EMC Frankl
• Make Me Want You More - Thomas Donovan
• Webcam - Mi Mi Mi
• Mira Prospect - Ex-Plosion
• West 7th - DJ Wings
• Electric Resolution - Lloic Liatard
• Radio Free Romford - Agent Orange (UK)
• Time 2 Choice - Ex-Plosion
• Chemical Reactions - Chill Carrier
• Who We Are - 1987
• Golden Olympic - Happy Endless
• Propaganda - Ex-Plosion
• Weights & Measures - Dustin Edge
• Nothing More to Do (Club Mix) - Justin Crosby

Reviews:

• IronVan suggests a bigger bucket for Blender
• Norbs gets blended. Big time. Ends up useful as Kermit.
• Industry Outsider finds that Blender hits you ever which way.