This thread reminded me I hadn’t had the pleasure of Nine Hammers for a while, so I fired it up for this morning’s pre-breakfast session. I’d done it 9 times in the app before this morning, though the actual total will be more as I purchased the original video. My memory suggested it’s not that bad…
What I hadn’t allowed for was the Full Frontal test in July and some new inducing power targets . My notes from the session:
Very, very hard. Second & third part of last Hammer broke me - HR 160+ but legs just full of lactic.
Peak HR for me is very high 170s / low 180s, so I wasn’t on the HR limit but my legs were screaming. I suppose the good thing about still using a dumb-trainer is there’s no spiral of death to get stuck in - you can just keeping churning at whatever watts the legs can offer.
Absence is meant to make the heart grow fonder. I’m not sure that applies to Nine Hammers…
I thought Nine Hammers was just right. I finished it properly, but 30 seconds from the end of the last interval I was about 60% confident I would make it to the end. I had to pedal at a much higher cadence than suggested in the final sprint, though. I topped out at HR of 190, slightly below my max of 195.
First time 9H today as a morning session (generally not the best timing for me). Was looking forward to it as a ‘nice workout’ without having read all these experiences.
Adding to this that last weekend I did a Half Monty (part of the fitness kick starter program), with a surprisingly big increase of FTP and MAP… and today was a disaster, paused a few times and reduced the % by 10-20% on yellow section in the 2nd half. Not fun. Makes you humble. But hey, next workout can only be better (hopefully!).
BTW: Also feeling yesterday’s strength session - that is also in the program - a bit in my muscles. I am not used to strength training.
Don’t sweat it my friend. NH is a somewhat divisive workout, I believe being fresh going in is the important aspect but still no garauntee. Saturday I have Tool Shed, which has within it Shovel and NH, I’m dreading it if I’m honest.
Confession time- In Week 1 of Century Training program. I did 9Hammers yesterday for the first time. Using ERG and FTP from a year ago which now I am sure is reduced after being off the bike for several months of this horrid year.
Anyhoo I made it through the first 5 hammers but barely & pedaling squares for the last 30 seconds at about 50rpm. I had to get off the bike and open the window further move around a bit. I got back on and reduced the setting to 85% and was able to make it to number 9 but once again pedaling squares for last 30-40 sec. I was Beat but I am glad I found this Post cuz now I do not feel sooo bad about it. Also that is a tuff workout to be on day 3 of the training plan but what a wake up call!
Tomorrow’s scheduled fest is The Shovel. I am going to start out at 90% and see if I can make it through. Is that a couchlandrian move? Should I do a new full frontal or half monty to reset FTP? Advanced thanks for any comments no matter how cruel they may be. Cheers.
Yes, if you are using year old fitness numbers and you have been off the bike for several months you should definitely do at minimum a new HM, but preferably a new FF.
Similar experience as described.
However I found the Shovel more ‘realistic’ and could almost completely follow it as you get more recovery time as the intensity increases - only just out of the ‘valley’ of the second Shovel I knew was going to be very tough, and just there I needed a bit of extra recovery time (paused). Nice session though.
I find The Shovel very difficult. Whenever it comes up on my schedule I know I better be ready to give everything I’ve got. But, I’ve always been able to complete it even tho I’m just barely hanging on the whole time. But as I’ve found from hanging around the forums for a couple months, just because a workout is easily doable for you doesn’t mean it’s easily doable for everybody. Some workouts seem to hit certain rider types harder than others. 9 Hammers, tho… that seems to be a killer for everyone. After my knee recovers I’m going to have to give it another shot.
First attempt at 9H for me last week. It was a bit late in the evening and I was slightly fatigued from Christmas food shopping = no chance! But I got as far as the 5th hammer at 100% before blowing up. Then had to drop to 90% to have any chance of finishing, although I managed the easier low cadence 7th at 100%. Finally threw in the towel on the last ramp of the 9th. I can only imagine completing it all at 100% on low 4DP numbers or on a mega A+ day! Really good challenge though
First attempt at 9H today. Got to 90 secs of 9 th hammer remaining and just had nothing left. Great workout. With recent HM fitness bump I feared I’d get nowhere near the 9th hammer so good validation of recent results. On a fresher day I would have competed it
Yesterday, I had my best suffering yet with 9 Hammers. This was my best mental effort to survive and I was dropped with 46 seconds left on the 9th Hammer.
…And I feel great about that!
I have done 9 Hammers six times. This was my third attempt full gas. (plans sometimes call for reduced 9 Hammers)
I made a tactical error on that last step up on Hammer 9. I knew I was deep in the suffering and thought I could pace my way to the end. But that last step up calls for a punch! I needed to hit it like I was 10 seconds from the end and find that cadence where I could convince myself to hang on. I collected myself for 20 seconds and then punched out the end.
One could be sad here to be so close, but I am so proud of that effort. It was my best suffering yet! Cheers!
Just finished my first NH. Despite my previous 2 weeks were quite bad (1 week of full rest due to illness and last week I made a couple of tempo workouts + Cash Register + Joyride), I think I managed it quite well: I only had to break from min 2:00 to min 2:30 of 8th hammer (but last 30 sec at full power) and from min 1:20 to min 2:00 of 9th hammer (but last 1 min at full power). So: yes it’s really hard, but it’s not impossibile (if you’re motivated, rested, trained and if your 4DP numbers are accurate).
First time post for me, having recently discovered this forum. I suffered the Nine Hammers for the first time this week and made it to the final minute of the ninth hammer before my cadence spiralled down to zero. I was pretty dejected as I really didn’t want to fail, but a friend pointed me at this thread. I’m really happy to have found that this is kind of the expected result, but also a little frustrated that I had to find out this way. Maybe some signposting in the video would be helpful, I mean at one point it literally says ‘you will not fail’ (or words to that effect).
That 9th hammer is a killer for sure. Until today I thought it’s actually the not-so-recovering-recovery section between hammer 8 and 9 that makes me struggle. But since I switched to level mode in this one to easy pedal and try to really recover I can hereby reject that hypothesis since it did not make any difference. At least I was able to finish hammer no. 9 as a sort of 40/20, with completing every first forty seconds of the last three minutes. That may not actually nail this one but was tough enough for me though.
Ok, so I decided to ditch the ToS prep plan for today, and do some recon for the legendary second tour stage. Oh my, oh my, what glorious suffering! But I did it! I FREAKIN DID IT! And I feel quite proud right now.
Started the final pounding of the 9th hammer with 100 rpm, and it just slowed, and slowed, and slowed. I wanted sooo bad to quit it. But I wanted to complete it more!!! The final 30 seconds I didn’t even look at the screen, just standing, looking down at the floor and churned those pedals, and finally reached the finish with as little as 50 rpm.
inducing power targets . My notes from the session:
