ToS 2022: Stage 5: A Very Dark Place - who's afraid of the dark?

Pretty sure they’ve reduced the target wattages since I last did it. I normally struggle on this and made it on 100% despite it being stage 5. Was expecting to die towards the end of the second interval. For instance quite a lot of the last interval was below my FTP. Don’t remember it being like that.

Just finished AVDP. Found this one easier than the other stages this Tour. Not to say my legs are not fried but surprisingly do’able this time round.

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Maybe we’re getting stronger??( Thank-you Sufferfest) Thou shalt not drop me today Spartacus!!! Bangin’ soundtrack gents. Was that Roman “Bardeeeee” clawing his way back on that ramp? Epic suffering. And somehow Sir @Glen.Coutts was chuckling in the depths of my pain cave…

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I do like a little enterpainment :wink:

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Either that or the oscilloscope probe is shaky.

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Nope. That was the ever-suffering Pierre Latour along with Fireball (from Thin Air fame).

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Ow. Owwww. I had to do this one right after Model and I am very toast. That evil laugh, though. I love the Sufferfest humor that can make me laugh even as I’m trying to get as much oxygen as possible into my body.

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Despite being on the focused plan and having done AVDP recently I quickly started to think I wasn’t going to make it until I got to half way through the third dark place; managed to hang on after that! :dizzy_face:

Glorious suffering was had! :pirate_flag:

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something to look forward to, then!

also I should have said, I didn’t manage ALL the standing segments, but then again I rarely do in a workout, it’s one of my weaknesses.

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are you doing it Nuclear? if not that might be why the targets were below FTP, I know that in my 5th interval the targets were about 105% of my FTP.

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The old Sufferfest AVDP had the last interval at 90%-93% of MAP (rather than 80%-85% in SYSTM), so there’s a big difference.

For more info:

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Yes, nuclear. Similarly, I’d done 9 Hammers about 8 times and had never made the last minute of hammer 9 till last time. It had been impossible. I’m pretty sure they’ve tamed some of the videos. I think they reviewed the high failure rate videos and took a few % off. Not a lot, like 3%, so it wasn’t noticeable but enough to get more people through. That would explain why so many people survived this stage & people reported it not being as bad as expected.

The levels are done as an absolute % of 5 minute power. My 5 minute power happens to always be about 20% above FTP.

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I’m so glad I abandoned the idea of doing this tour Nuclear. AVDP theoretically suits my riding style with 1-5 minute efforts but this one always beats me up.

The mental anguish knowing the final stage is looming is certainly playing a part in the pain.

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AVDP is one of my favorites, despite my VO2 weakness. I always struggle, but the sound track motivates me. And one of my self-encouragements as the clock winds down in other videos I don’t like (TBITW!) is once it hits the 4-minute mark: You can do this–that’s less than one interval in AVDP!

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I used a very similar self-encouragement, yesterday. First I told myself there were only 5 intervals. I can do 5 intervals and they’re not all at 100% MAP. I can do 5 MAP-focused intervals at lower than 100%.

Then after that there was only 4 more. Then only 3 more. And if I can make it though the next one then there’s just one more. And then the last one I just needed to make it through and I would be done.

Somehow that worked. It’s weird how that works. lol

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Thanks, I’d totally missed that discussion. That explains a lot

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hello dear sufferlandarians,

i did today my first avdp,
and it was good.
so good that my hr didn’t want to go in zone 5, my average hr was 142
I only burnt 358 cal,
is it the training effect or is something wrong?
i like these kind of workouts, like half is easy, team scream, revolver
and I was always at my limit,
but today it was … to easy?

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Have you updated your power numbers recently? From your description, it sounds like the workout was easier than it should have been.

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my next hm is in two weeks,
so maybe I will do it after the hm again

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The day before yesterday Half Monty and new numbers. Today A verdy dark place awaits me today… . Yes I’m afraid of the dark!! :sob:

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