Sufferlandria, who'd have thought (fought?)

Pathetic start to the week. No training took place at all until Thursday. Work was to blame - honest.

Thursday was a slightly better day. Got Pinky from the bike shop all fixed up and ready to go at last. Pinky didn't seem quite right though, she made an awful rattley sound around the chain and tensioner area. Hmm. Tried swapping chains, swapping tensioners and adjusting tension but nothing seems to work. (I think Chris needs to take a look at it). My other bikes aren't faring so great either - Slinky has issues with rear cassette, Winter has broken spokes and Jenny has dodgey brakes.

Pinky, not perky

On a brighter note though, training commenced. My iPad had it's ANT issues fixed which meant I was able to use the Sufferest App and cycle some on my turbo trainer. I only cycled a short (20 mins+) session but great stuff - the iPad and all the sensors worked. 20 mins and I was whacked!

Not so whacked that I couldn't manage a run though. Later that evening I jogged around the Studley Triangle. Only a short (5k) run but at least I had completed a couple of activities now.

Baby Lunar

What a day Friday was. Daughter's birthday, visit to my new job premises and The Tour of Sufferlandria kicked off. This Tour is regarded as the Greatest Grand Tour of a Mythical Nation. This tour lasts for 9 days (4-12 February) and consists of cycling (suffering) whilst watching Sufferfest videos on my iPad. Basically, for 9 days straight, the plan is for me to sit on a bicycle in Doo Little bike room and cycle myself silly. I had to pay a $10 donation for the privilege but monies collected go towards a Parkinson's charity (Davis Phinney) so good call. I get a 50 hour window to start each stage (due to time differences around the World), so that's how I managed to finish stage 1 before the 4th. You get's me, right?!

Stage 1 was named 'Igniter + The Long Scream'. Little did I know that the 'Igniter' part was the same warm up I cycled yesterday. The 'Long Scream' was basically a 30 minute time trial that followed. The time trial should have been cycled at a cadence of around 90 rpm (which I did just fine) in heart zones 4 and 5. Man, I struggled cycling in zone 5 and to be honest only dipped into that zone for a few minutes at most. My average heart rate was 142 bpm and reached a max of 171 bpm (with an AVG speed of 30.3 kmh. Am really quite unfit and am going to struggle with this tour.

The torture device (Sufferlandria style)

Stage 3 'The Omnium' was completed on Saturday. (I know I had skipped stage 2, but plan to cycle that stage following day). I chose this stage because I was working 9-9 and only had an hour to cycle before work. Simples. The stage was far from simples though. It required 6 super efforts essentially  as it emulated six different races which make up the Omnium competition. I struggled with the high cadences required but dipped into zone 5 more so than on the previous stage. My AHR was 141 bpm and MHR 172 bpm (with an AVG speed of 29.8 kmh).

Attempted to complete Stage 2 on Sunday but Sufferlandria appeared to have a gremlin invasion and the video would not play. No bother, I cycled Stage 4 'Angels' instead. Nothing angelic about this stage though. This stage emulated some tough climbs. Still struggling getting my heart into zone 5. AHR 141 and MHR 167. All in all, an ok week, with a 100k cycled (and all indoors).