So as advised by my Sufferlandrian mental training I have devised my mount Sufferlandrian plan.
One of my goals is to achieve Knighthood of Sufferlandria and live long in the realms of the suffering.
Now I’m 3/4 of the way through the 12 week intermediate road plan with strength, yoga and mental included in the plan. I made good improvements on the HM test half way through and I’m feeling pumped for the final 4dp test.
My question is this… After completion of this plan if I had a week or two recovery and then switched straight into the Mt Sufferlandria training plan, do you think that would provide me with the tools required to complete said task?
I have nearly 2 years of consistent training under my belt and feel positive of the position I’m in right now.
It sounds like you’re enjoying your stay. Keep up the good work.
Your Mount Sufferlandria is your own goal, whether it’s a specific event, a personal challenge, improving your metrics, or something else. When you talk about the Mount Sufferlandria training plan, you’re referring to the Knight of Sufferlandria training plan, right? If so, it will definitely help you prepare for tackling the Knighthood Quest.
From your comments, it sounds like you have enough experience to proceed . How long have your recent long rides been? I went into my Knighthood Quest without doing the preparation plan because I’d done enough 6-hour rides close to that date that I felt I could push through (I jumped on a group effort organized by Dame Britt). It all depends on how prepared you feel for such an effort, but the plan will definitely get you ready to crush it.
Just a mistake, man. Sorry if you felt I was implying incompetence.
Before checking the plans as I typed my first reply, I thought that the Volcano Climbing plan was named the Mount Sufferlandria Climbing plan .
Excellent! You’re close to your goal, then. There’s a dedicated Facebook group on the topic, Sufferlandrian Knighthood Quest Planning Committee, in case you’re interested.
My experience of it was that the primary challenge was Mental and not physical. You need to accept you will crack (several times) and still need to carry on.
If you’ve not experienced that aspect much before I’d just stick a couple of hard sessions straight after each other where you’re guaranteed to fail.
With careful selection of which workouts to do and preparation of water bottles/feed you can get through the physical aspect easier than you think. I had a recovery milkshake ready for after each workout, a bottle ready for each interval and changed shorts every 2 workouts.
It did sound to me like it was more a mental challenge than a physical one. I’ve tested my determination a few times out door’s and on Zwift in the past so have some control over the breaking. I’ve never riden 10 hours before though!
Thanks for the tips on preparation, I’ll make a note of all those things Eerke, thank you.
Physical prep is one thing, but as you’ve mentioned, the mental prep is just a big if not more. Check the group out as suggested, it’s a great pool of knowledge and experience. From KoS: prepare… route, kit, nutrition, a minion helper and lots and lots of chamois cream.
Have the belief and you will crush it! Good luck!!
Every Knight has a different story to tell about the path they took, all part of the lore of Knighthood. It sounds like you’ve worked out your WHY, and most would say that’s the most important thing, so now you just need to work out how to do your DO. There’s a whole spectrum to that - from plan and prepare meticulously to just get up one day and do it (I did the latter). Only you, at best, can know when you’re ready. However and whenever you get there just remember your WHY and you’ll get it done. It’s “only” half a day or so on your bike (!) but it’s also a personal achievement that you’ll likely remember forever. Plus it gets you access to Knights’ perks. And stickers
Failure isn’t the end of everything, it’s the progression of a determined person. But to me, right now failure isn’t an option. I’ll probably have to use every mental trick in the book about half way through though.
It is apparent that there’s going to be a hell of a lot of preparation for the challenge. I’m pretty anal when it comes to all that stuff so I’ll end up being one of those who plans it all.
How did you go about documenting your effort for proof of completion. I’m interested to know what methods people have.
Cheers James. You guys are great. The advice and kind words have encouraged me no end. I’ll finish the road plan and then push through the Knighthood training plan which should take me somewhere near Christmas if it’s another 12 weeker. Need to check that again
At least then I can say I’ve got something out of this poxy year 2020.
Oh and the perks of Knighthood and stickers are the icing on the cake! I’ve also noticed talk of a jersey… Can’t wait.
Knighthood is a quest that will require more mental fortitude than physical aptitude. If you’ve done 3 to 5 videos back to back at some point in the month leading up to a Knighthood attempt then you will be ready. My suggestion is to ride in Level mode and to start off with your targets across the board dropped by 85%. Starting off in Erg mode or at a higher than 90% intensity range is a recipe for unnecessary suffering. Of course this will be some level of suffering required to succeed, but you don’t want to get there too soon! Here are a few example slides from a presentation that I gave some time ago. Effectively, in order to do a single epic session, you don’t need to accumulate lots of epic sessions along the way. Providing just enough stress and rest in your training to allow you to be able to complete the task without injuring yourself is a good way to think about it! In preparation, often less is more.
Thank you coach, that information is really motivational especially hearing it from the man himself .
I’ll aim to take on the challenge around about Christmas time after finishing the Knighthood training plan coming into it nice and fresh. As advised I’ll set percentages across the board to 85%. Although this may drop somewhat during the challenge . Having seen others elsewhere suggesting anything under 70% is for the couchlandrian and not the Sufferlandrian I will not drop below that out of fear of being punished.
Sounds like a plan…and 85% is a starting point. I know for sure that I was close to 60% for parts of my Knighthood…and there’s no possible way that I could have done any more than that at that point. You’ll have some waves of feeling good and not feeling good…so just remember when you’re down, at some point you’ll come back up!
. How long have your recent long rides been? I went into my Knighthood Quest without doing the preparation plan because I’d done enough 6-hour rides close to that date that I felt I could push through (I jumped on a group effort organized by Dame Britt). It all depends on how prepared you feel for such an effort, but the plan will definitely get you ready to crush it.
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