+1 on this. Cycling culture often makes it feel all consuming.
Yes, shifting to this. Being driven, it is not easy to do.
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I can understand the ābeing drivenā part. However, every source I can find says to back it down for now until you figure out what is happening. Iām now back at it and will be back grinding it out after the new year. I have one ride scheduled which I have looked forward to all year in Patagonia, AZ. thirty miles/fifty kilometers of gravel (well a few are well paved roadway) on Boxing Day.
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Thx Glenn, Iāll look again. I tried searching āwarmā āwarmupā āwarm upā but nothing came up. Then I tried browsing the library but it was losing slow, so I made it through a couple pages but didnāt see them.
Today I did āAttackerā which took about 20 minutes or more to download so I spun during the download, then I did the warmup twice, the session, then the cool down twice. That was better than just climbing on the bike and trying to knock it out.
Hi @toddsdonald
They definitely have the names I listed (in my version anywayā¦), though make sure you are searching under the Cycling heading rather than in the Sufferfest channel:
I hope that makes sense. Although I like the way of narrowing down my channels I know I have definitely gone straight to Sufferfest in the past (because, well, why wouldnāt you?) and subsequently found that what Iām looking for isnāt in that particular section. Perhaps too many routes in to what there is.
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Damn right - how many times do we hear even the pros saying things like āit just wasnāt fun any moreā, āI just needed to get back to havign fun on my bikeā, etc.
If they can complain about it then we really shouldnāt let it get that far. Though itās hard when you set yourself goals beyond having fun. Itās so easy to forget itās ultimately just throwing your legs in circles and looking at a nice view.
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Thatās the problem Iāll betā¦ I was looking in sufferfest. I didnāt even know there was a separate section for cycling. I knew there was swimming, running, badminton, water polo, shuffle board, bowling, miniature golf but didnāt see cyclingā¦ Iāve not explored much obviously lol
Youāll find that thereās quite a lot of extra cycling workouts in there. They are a few different styles of things though, and theyāre not for everyone.
Itās worth looking through and seeing what takes your fancy. Personally (and itāsuch thgns are definiltey a personal thing) I think the On Location rides - another channel in itself - are great, as are the Pro Rides, the GCN workouts are a little dry but are good sessions in terms of the worksouts themselves, and there are plenty of no-video workout-only sessions that have specific goals. They are very no frills - no videos, no music, but combine with your favourite movie/documentary/race footage/music and itās another sleeve to your suffering armoury. Suck it and see!
The No Vids are really good. You wouldnāt want to do them all the time, but they are a nice change, and contain some brilliant advice and sports science.
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also @toddsdonald, not to belabor the point but putting a little effort into learning how to adapt a training plan to your needs and modify itāas neededāas you go is maybe the most important skill you can learn and benefit you a ton in the long term.
Think about it, age aside, SYSTM has 12 week training plans. You can modify them for distance, type of event, ratio of on to off weeks and all sorts of great stuff, but how tf is any plan supposed to know what training would be best for you to do on a tuesday 10 weeks from now? People progress differently overall, people progress differently in different areas, people have different amounts of life stress and ability to recover, and everything else under the sun. The plan will take something complex and make it simple, which is great, but if you really think about it, itās an absurdity to think you can plan in detail that far in the future. But I think that means we need to learn to listen to our bodies and evaluate as we go, not throw the baby out with the bath water.
Itās a skill that will serve you even if you get a custom plan, because they are more individualized but suffer fundamentally from the same problem. Some coaches wonāt even do them as a result, theyāll tell you to either do the canned plan or sign up for coaching because the juice isnāt worth the squeeze, in their view.
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Iāve done the Shovel multiple times int he past; been doing SF for about 5 years It is a beast of a workout. Honestly, in my humble opinion, if you could finish the Shovel āno problemā, well, that is a problem. If you have a good test prior to the Shovel, it should be a damn challenge to finish. I often (usually) miss the later peak power (5-10s) targets.
Having said that, I have no insight yet into changes with SYSTM. And, Iām totally with you on the long slow workouts. Frankly when I do those I pay enough attention to make sure Iām on the power target and Iisten to music.
Went through and am still struggling with this. Exactly. My fitness was great in April, then dived down to some of the worst numbers Iāve ever put on a bike.
Itās okay.
This isnāt your job and itās okay to slip up for a bit, especially now.
Part of my get-it-back routine is āput in the timeā. I may not want to do The Chores or Blender, but I have to put that time aside to do something physical. Work in the garden, clean the garage, go for a walk, etc. When I get on the trainer, for the first 30 minutes, Iāll keep it at 100%. If Iām feeling good, cool. If not, I drop to 90%. If Iām still struggling, 80%.
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Such great perspective.
What is helping you be ok and come back?
Iāve got a few motivators, but one of the big ones is that I signed-up for The Mid South in March and I want revenge on that course. 100 miles of OK mud tore me apart faster than 250 mi of MN sand, MI gravel, or KS flint. So, spite. Spite is how I put myself on the trainer and put in the time.
But really, itās joy. I donāt get paid to race bikes and I get to say when Iām going too hard or running myself into the ground. Apps like Xert are great for analyzing my fatigue and does a great job of warning me of impending disaster.
I also accept that I canāt rip courses like I did in my 20s. Iām going to be slower. Iām going to recover longer. My race nutrition is no longer a bucket of wings and a beer. Every ride where I focused on having fun, whether I podiumed or not, has been a great success. So I work on that.
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Few learnings as Iāve eased off this past week.
- My quads are incredibly tight. Single leg squats and sprints are not my friends right now.
- Iām finding all sorts of cramps in my legs that I didnāt realize are there while foam rolling. I ordered a double lacrosse ball style heated massager so I can target these cramps better.
- Iām tired. Not just I need a good nightās sleep tired. But tired. Drained. If youāve been there you know this kind of tired.
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Some of that sounds similar to what Iāve experienced tapering for a marathon. People complain about all sorts of new aches and pains when they give their body the signal that itās finally okay to go into recovery mode
This article has some examples:
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This is super helpful. Thank you.
Yes. 
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This is truly a thing. Itās interesting how your body knows itās in āgoā mode until itās not. And yeah, when it stops you always notice the little aches and pains more. The endocrine system is a crazy machine.
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