Sufferfestukah 2012: Day 10!

Sufferfestukah Day 10 at last!

Webb: Day 10 promised to be a big one. One-hour and 45 minutes of "Hell Hath No Fury" and "The Long Scream." The titles alone should have told you to stay under the covers and keep the trainer hidden away. But wait, what's this, no "HHNF?" 

Technical what?

It wouldn't be Sufferfestukah in our household without some technical difficulties. For some reason, our "HHNF" file would not play on this occasion. I'm not getting into it now. I'm saving my energy for a long talk with Apple. (In other news, I recently have had music files stop playing partially through the song. My guess is this the same problem. So when you buy something on iTunes and it says you should back-up your purchase, well, yeah, back it up.) We've done HHNF several times and were more than just a little disappointed that it was not going to happen.

Being good minions that we are, the next step was choosing a replacement video. There could be only one other option: "Local Hero." The purpose of the workout after all was to be on the trainer a long time. "Local Hero" plus "The Long Scream" would give us nearly10 minutes more than the original plan. After a frustrating delay, we were back on task.

Pulling out the racing kit for
Day 10 of Sufferfestukah

Elle: Wouldn't you know the one video that would be a problem would be the last one, and of course, one of my favorites. Wait, I say that about all the videos... At least this year it wasn't due to Sufferlandrian error. Since we've already done Local Hero this Sufferfestukah, I won't re-hash, but you can read all about it here.

Webb: I felt good today. My fatigue and overtraining were behind me and I was ready to take this workout head-on. I did a good job of following the instructions, Suffer, Obey, all the way through the sprints at the end, momentarily forgetting what lay ahead. 

"The Long Scream" is brutal, especially after nearly an hour and twenty minutes of racing. Imagine being in a race and breaking away early on, then getting caught by a chase group and working together to keep the peloton off your backs. Then you start taking longer pulls up front only to be attacked again and again even though there is lots of road between your lead group and the finish line. Tired of these shenanigans, you attempt to breakaway and solo the final 30 minutes of the course. That is about as close as I can get to describing what it is like to do these two videos back-to-back. 

Celebratory ice cream with
hot fudge - yummmmm

I suffered a great deal during the first 20 minutes of "The Long Scream." I stayed with Phinney. I hung onto Sir Wiggo. But it was Cancellara who proved too much. It took a monumental effort to remain relaxed and stay in time trial mode. Sufferlandrians do not simply drop back, so I soldiered on. With no Day 11 tomorrow, I left it all on the bike. There could be no better way to end Sufferfestukah. 

All in all, in nine out of 10 days, I rode almost 185 miles over more than 10 hours and drank at least  274 oz. Not a bad way to end 2012. 

Elle: Holy saddle pain, Batman! I nearly emptied my Chamois Butt'r tube during this year's Sufferfestukah, but apparently it wasn't enough. My body is ready to take a break from the bike for awhile. I need to get back in the pool anyway. And I'm ready to embark on my 2013 back-to-running program. It's a pretty conservative plan, designed by SEAC running club leader, Dan. But I guess that's what it takes to come back after an injury. But I digress...

We survived Sufferfestukah 2012!

Thanks again to TheSufferfest, Marion, The Rat Snake and Scott for joining us. To all you lurking minions, the Festival of Suffering will return in 2013. We hope you join us next year. In the meantime, The Tour of Sufferlandria will begin in late January. Visit TheSufferfest's Facebook page for details.