With all my heart and gratitude!
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Very foolishly decided to follow the ‘popular’ double stage this morning. Back to back.
Haven’t done TBWIB for 4 years and really wanted a reminder of the Sufferlandrian treats the riders in the other tour were enjoying.
Double pain shakes is something I really don’t want to repeat.
I’m regretting this decision now but am dreading it tomorrow 9 
But that’s tomorrow’s problem. Now we feast…
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Holy mother of GvA… glad that’s done.
I had my own personal minion dishing out the beatings.
Still cheering for those still to cross the line!
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There are workouts so hard, that you cannot wait for the final recovery section to be over. Blender is one of those.
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I was feeling quite fit and confident before this started, but by the time I got to the end of Blender I started to worry about making it through my second ride of the the day (due to fundraising promises, I did both the Sufferlandrian and Wahooligan tour rides today), let alone the rest of the week. Well, it has to be done, so I will do it!
Here’s a little before and after Blender for posterity (no photos after The Best Way is Blended because I was dead). Nothing has ever felt like such a perfect representation of the day.
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I confess to a FOMO-like feeling at this point each year, when so many of my fellow sufferers are so far ahead of me. I just have to remind myself there are still 18 more hours left for stage 1! So I’m ready to start with last year’s Team DPF jersey and socks (as well as a wahoominati base layer)!
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What is it about us that makes us love sufferfaces so GvA dang much?! 
Beautiful, glorious suffering for the greatest mythical nation in the whole wide world!!
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According to the instructions in Primers, we should avoid suffer faces.
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Haha. That depends. It can be a tactic to hide it, and it can be a tactic to show it.
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Well it was pretty hard. It was on new but lower numbers.
Of course in the old days you could choose nuclear or get me through it (or another option I’ve forgotten)
So, after first Tt effort I needed short break. , I also lowered % to 95.
As for 9 hammers, I may have to go at 90%
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in the before times, before the old days, you just did it 
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Stage 1B 
. Now fully Blendered. Thank goodness I had Dame Karen @Bunches415 along to jeer me on, especially during the CX bits.
Stage 1 Done. Having sooo much “fun”!
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Now, that’s a sufferface!
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Psshaw. You can almost see the smile!!
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There are no permanent records of my suffer face because it breaks mirrors and cameras and scares small children.
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Finished! Toughest session I’ve done in a long time…
Anyone else notice that during the Call of Nature break, the song that plays has a chorus that goes, “…it’s where I want to pee…”?
At least that’s what it sounded like to me over the white noise of blood rushing to the head…
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I get that too! People have already finished Stage 2 before I’ve even started Stage 1. One of the downsides of being on the west coast of North America.
But Blender is now done, and I have an appointment with the couch for the rest of the afternoon (and maybe a bit of yoga mat time).
I have a bit of a soft (but slightly spiky!) spot for Blender - it was the first Sufferfest video I did, back when a few trial workouts were available through Strava. Little did I know where testing out that workout would lead!! 
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