Wow … It Seemed Like Thin Air is truly a monster of a workout and a veritable “abomination of climbing” (from the workout description).
I remember doing Kitchen Sink during the 2018 (right?) ToS and how tough that one was with the endless short, high intensity stuff from The Shovel, etc. and so I expected similar suffering on ISLTA given the similar IF. Well, ISLTA is equally tough in my opinion, but for a Pursuiter like me, those long intervals (especially the 40 minute climb of Mount Sufferlandria!) made for some particularly glorious suffering!
I’ve done it twice now but I think with some power reductions both times due to the training plan. That last 40 always pushes me to the edge (actually had to catch my breath for a moment last time) for sure, but I do somewhat enjoy the challenge of it. I definitely have to eat during it as well.
I was thrilled when ISLTA came out, because it meant we finally had another long video! I only wish I didn’t have to ride through ISLAGIATT to get to the 40 min climb. I really hope we get an original long video in the next year or so.
Forgot to mention how tough all the high-ish cadence segments scattered throughout this workout were!
Standing at 70 rpm and below is usually a nice change but anything above 80-90 rpm at sub-threshold power on tired legs is hard for me. Worse than sprinting against big power.
I also dislike standing with high cadence and low power, tired legs or not. It always feels awkward to me and sometimes I just skip it because I feel like I’m never going to stand outside with that power level and cadence.
As a fellow Pursuiter, ISLTA was definitely tough. ISLTA was tougher for me within the Volcano Climbing Plan than it might be on its own. The icing on the cake was narrowly surviving The Hunted, carrying the fatigue into ISLTA, then following THAT with Defender.
I feel like a million bucks when I get chewed up by a workout or training plan but have the grit to keep going.
Just finished “it seemed like thin air”. I just want to say great work at keeping me engaged for 2 1/2 hours. I was a bit worried before starting the workout that it was going to be too long but time flew by. It didn’t feel too draining for me but I love sustained efforts and I have not updated my numbers in 7 weeks (I was supposed to do a full frontal last week but I fell sick and decided to continue with my scheduled FTP block and do the full frontal at the end of the block)
I wish I wrote my reflections right after the ride. Yes, that was truly something else. Thanks for setting up this post. I guess the next time I ride it, I will post my reaction. If I remember correctly I just dragged myself to the end. I refused to quit but at times just crawled through the last few sections.
Holy hell that was suffering. Probably the hardest I’ve gone on my trainer to date. Overclocking a 50 miler on the road yesterday probably didn’t help the legs, but man that’s a tough workout.
but I like your approach more!
nice one !!
