I am new to the Sufferland but I think I found a place where I belong.
First of all I started the quest of being over 40, a year ago and have a lovely family with 2 little kids.
From what I ve seen this seems to be a common ground for many Sufferlandrians.
And as for many it is not easy to fit in proper suffering in a busy schedule. About 12 years ago I was overweight (+30kg) and couldn’t be unfitter…I started with some indoor riding on an simple Ergometer for about 4 years which helped me to shred most of my unnecessary kgs. Then I found a big passion in running until 2020 when covid started…my training slot was at lunchbreak in the office…since then this slot has vanished…luckily end of 2019 I invested in my first road bike ever and with that in a tacx vortex (upgraded after about 2000km to a Flux S) to have some additional sport possibilities in the evening when the family is in bed.
And it turned out this was one of the best investments I ever did, this is now my main sport setup since March this year. It is easy and fast to go to the cellar and fit in a 1 hour session.
Starting with Zwift, Rouvy, Fulgaz…etc my main one was Zwift for months. I use an Apple tv as this is such a great and simple way and it just works!
SUF wasn’t part of it obviously, I didn’t want to bother with a PC etc while training.
Now after all those months I started to get bored with Zwift, pretty much all route bages are in the collection and there is simply nothing new. Training time went down until I signed up 3 weeks ago for the SUF trial. I figured the mirroring option with the apple tv to my big screen works actually pretty well.
And for SUF, what should I say, its challenging but what makes it so wonderful is the humour! It always makes me chuckle, even if I m in real pain and this actually keeps me going in the workouts! Simply love it.
I started to read the forum and it seems there are only great people here, no stupid comments as usually in Forums, no comparison of who is better than the other one…simply people enjoying the sport and platform and respecting each other!
Thats why I m here and I think it has been more than 10 years since I last posted something in a forum.
Sorry for that long introduction but SUF and you guys got me excited
I hope the shop opens soon, I need some gear and posters!
Welcom to the forum and The Sufferfest. I’m glad your journey let you to this point and I hope you enjoyed every minute along the way. Once SUF - you can never leave
COVID changed a lot in our world. It’s important to remember there are even good things coming out of bad situations. Being more restricted in my other sports actually helped me find my passion for cycling, too, similar to your story.
Losing so much weight and being more active is already such a great achievement and I’m sure it improves your life as well as your families. Was is really all just sports, or did you change your eating habits at the same time?
I have two kids myself. Being fit enables you to play and interact with them on a whole different level - and to be a role model for a healthy lifestyle.
Let’s do it for them!
How did your start with SUF go? Did you do the Full Frontal Fitness Test and already decide on a training plan to follow?
Please keep in mind, one of the great things about The Sufferfest is the holistic approach to the sport, which in turn will help you become a more well rounded athlete.
My only recommendation at the moment is: Try out the Mental Toughness Programm, yoga videos by Abi and possibly the strength training workouts.
Well it wasn’t only sport of course, big changes in diet as well. A lot of juicing and found a passion to vegan cooking (i m not vegan but love the variation of tastes and ideas) Brendan Brazier or Rich Roll books are great! However sport helps to keep my weight now pretty stable since almost 10 years without paying too much attention to what I eat.
And yeah while teaching one of my girls cycling, I could run next to her and this was one of the moments where I realised how important it is to be kind of fit when having kids.
My SUF start was the 14 days trial plan which I didn’t really follow…
‘Getting away with it’ and ‘Elements of style’ were my first videos and convinced me to stay. So that following Sunday I went directly to the ‘Full Frontal’. As I was regularly cycling before already I thought thats the best way. My FTP result was similar to what Garmin said it was.
Now I m about to finish the second week of the All purpose road plan (advanced) and keep enjoying it more and more. The Shovel and butter were the last ones. Today is GOAT on the plan
@TheBlackKite Welcome. l too fit in the that middle age, two kids, getting overweight bracket! I found SUF about three years ago and without doubt it has been excellent for me. The plans give me a schedule to follow that provides the extra motivation I need to get off my behind when I’m not feeling it!
I totally agree with you about the forum - other users actually provide really helpful advice and professional coaches/scientists offering guidance.
Enjoy the goat. I’m starting a new plan on Monday so have a free choice until then - how do I want to suffer today I wonder?
@TheBlackKite: Just in case you didn’t know. There is an ongoing promotion through October 19th to get a free Wahoo heart rate monitor if you dedice on an annual subscription. More info right here.
