Sufferfest Week Update

Sufferfest Week is almost complete, the hard part is over.   Starting on Tuesday I did 2 hours of interval training every day (lie, I only got in 90 minutes on Tuesday).  I got 119 miles in on the bike the past 4 days.  I also went to the gym every day and worked over every body part to exhaustion.  The only components left of Sufferfest Week are a recovery ride tomorrow and Xmas Cross on Sunday  My ride location for tomorrow has been moved from Swatty to a local jaunt so I can ride with my homie.  My Octabong will be in tow for the race on Sunday so odds are I will be riding to where ever that is and probably crawling out of the woods back to the start/finish.

My sufferfest week so far hasn't been as hard as I thought it was going to be.  It still proved to be a damn good challenge.  My first challenge to over come was at 5am Wednesday morning.   My legs were stiff and tired from the gym and intervals the prior day.   I thought about this blog post, drug my sorry ass out of bed, and did the interval set.  "It's hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off."

I had to stop thinking about it and just do it.  I am my most productive, efficient, and successful when I ignore how I feel about something and I simply, just go do it.  That is what got me through this week.  It's not hard for me to shut off feelings in regard to something and just focus on the task at hand.  I get this precious gift from my mother.  My mother is a hard woman.   She's the best mother in the world, the only woman I admire, and the only woman whose life I would trade my own to save.  She has never been much for feelings though.  If she had her own slogan it would be the same as Nike's "Just Do It."  She never wanted to hear how I felt about something, but was always interested in what was or had to be accomplished.  I remember mornings when she would wake me up and I would say that I didn't want to go to work.   Her typical response would be something like, "well you can tell me all about it this evening when you get home from work."  Hard woman.  No forgiveness.  I rarely understood my parents when is was young, but as I get older I appreciate the lessons I was taught.  My mother has taught me how to be a hard woman as well.  I set goals or desire to do certain things and I just do it.  I can feel all I want to about it after it is done. 

Thursday morning was my next challenge.  My racing mind forced a spell of insomnia all week.  I really hadn't a decent night of sleep since Friday night.  My dog woke me up shortly after 330am Thursday morning and she screwed around forcing me to not return to my warm bed until just after 4am.  My alarm started going off at 430am.  I snoozed twice then got out of bed.  I had to get at least an hour of intervals in this morning because I had a party to go to that evening.  The more time I got in on the bike in the morning was that much less time I would have to squeeze in after work that day.  I did end up only doing an hour that morning.   My body was tired.   I could barely push myself into heart rate zone 5.   Standing up and sprinting would do the trick, but I would tire out so fast doing that.   I suppose the Sufferfest week was catching up with me.  I had to keep pushing as hard as I could though....and I did.

 "I used to be so big and strong.  I used to know my right from wrong.  I used to never be afraid.  I used to be somebody.  I used to have something inside.  Now just this hole it's open wide.
I used to want it all.  I used to be somebody.  I was up above it.  Now I'm down in it." -NIN

 

 

Friday morning (this morning) was my next challenge.   The mornings were proving to be my most difficult challenges.   I was out late Thursday night.  When the alarm went off at 430am I may or may not have (I did) drop the F bomb.  And I may or may not have done it more than once (I did). Hang over head ache, sore stiff legs (which I destroyed at the gym again the day before), and running on 4 hours of sleep I got out of bed and got on the bike.   Again I couldn't rally much for zone 5, but I pushed as hard and as fast as I could.  I'm going to be deep in the pain cave at TSE and I need to learn how to over come it.   I only got a 40 minute session in this morning.  The marble size saddle sore I earned this week wasn't helping much with my desire to grind out the full hour.  I blocked it all out and just focused on my pyramid intervals and did the best I could.  I focused on each interval, ignoring the fact there would be another one coming next.  I gave everything I had to give to each one.  That might sound real tough, but my interval sesh really was a hot mess.   But it was my hot mess and considering the circumstances, I was still grinding them out as best I could on top of a pounding head. 

 

"Dearly beloved.  We are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.  Electric word life. It means forever and that's a mighty long time. But I'm here to tell you. There's something else. The afterworld.  A world of never ending happiness you can always see the sun, day or night.  So when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills, you know the one - Dr Everything'll Be Alright.  Instead of asking him how much of your time is left ask him how much of your mind, baby.  'Cuz in this life, things are much harder than in the afterworld. In this life, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN."  -Prince and the Revolution

My intervals tonight didn't go as badly as I thought they would.   I think I hit rock bottom this morning.  My 90 minute interval sesh tonight went much better than this mornings.  Starting from zero you've got nothing to lose.  I didn't expect a great performance tonight so I started the session out reading a new blog I've recently become interested in.  As I started into the intervals I realized I didn't feel too tired.  I was actually able to push harder than I thought.  I alternated intervals sets with high gear low cadence and low resistance high cadence.   It worked out well and the 90 minutes flew by.

 

The suffering part of Sufferfest week went rather well.  With riding every morning and night, my life and house are in complete disarray.   I started taking inventory today of everything that needs done.  

*My car is in need of some serious repair work (bent front rotors) and interior light bulb replacements.  Thank goodness cell phones now double as flash lights

*My kitchen light is broken.  Luckily the only thing I cook in my kitchen are PBRosa's, green smoothies, and protein shakes.  

*My dog needs a bath and I have to make a trip to the vet to pick up her allergy medicine.

*My dryer has become a secondary storage facility for clean clothes in addition to my closet. 

*My kitchen counter and sinks are full of dirty blender cups, nalgene bottles, and flabongos

*Christmas is coming and I have yet to purchase the 1 gift I'm required to buy for a family gift exchange.  It can't get it online and actually requires a trip to a store which I don't have time for.

*I need to take a 4 hour certification test next week in which I have studied maybe a total of 2 hours for in the past 6 months.   It's been a while since I've truly failed at something.  I expect it to be a humbling experience.

 

I have off work now until Jan 2nd.  I expect to get all things listed above completed.  I'm also going to come up with another Sufferfest concept for next week.  Plus I need to get rid of a ton of things and continue to pack for my move.

 

In more exciting news, I am getting more involved with the Roam Life experience.   I will be blogging up some things for them, doing an interview for their Amazing Women series, and promoting their fabulous website and concept.  More information to come soon.