Finishing 2015 Tour of Sufferlandria plus 5th Biggest Snowstorm = Much Awesome!

There it is. Everything I did this week! It was pretty epic to end the TofS with a snowstorm (the 5th biggest recorded in the Chicago area--officially 19.1" in my town!), and I even managed to shovel yesterday (before and after riding). I keep track of shoveling as strength, because that's what it is. It doesn't include time using the snow blower--just shoveling by hand. The calories burned are approximations, but probably not too far off from reality.

I felt so much better prepared for this year's TofS than last year. Last year, I tried to do Sufferfest videos on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the lead up, which I now realize wasn't enough recovery in between those rides, considering everything else I was doing. This year, I did a Sufferfest video on Tuesday and Saturday as part of my regularly scheduled workouts, and I typically added on a long warmup.

This year, I also have been in strength building mode for the last 6 weeks, and I think that made a huge difference in my ability to complete this. Even though there are no studies to show that strength training has a lick of impact on swim/bike/run, my N=1 experiment has always shown otherwise. I mean, what is the difference between a really hard bike ride and a bazillion squats? My legs can't tell.

I think it also helped to have some close friends doing this, too. Peer pressure never hurt anyone! Plus I had something to prove--I've done all sorts of crazy shit, and it was time for me to do something I'd never done before. Fuck--9 straight days on a bike, all on a trainer!

Finally, I can attribute my success at finishing, in part, due to drinking Infinit during every ride. The rides were all pretty intense, and Gatorade just wouldn't have cut it. Plus, all my Infinit mixes (I have 3 or 4 different custom formulas) have caffeine in them. I simply could not have done all this training without caffeine!

What I am really proud of here is that there were FOUR DAYS this week where I swam, biked and ran! Should I count them as NothingMans? LOL. I think it actually helped with the way I scheduled things to swim (and I did the main sets on Monday and Wednesday with paddles and those were the only scheduled swims!). But I knew that all the running had to be super easy. In fact, all the running was technically optional, but I found that holding the intensity to Zone 1 (actually low Zone 1) was perfect, and on 2 of the 4 S/B/R days I ran right before I biked, so my legs were nice and warmed up.

I did not do the Tour of Sufferlandria using Trainer Road, so I am not eligible for any prizes. That's OK, because I bought myself my own prize:

Actually, I ordered 2 of them ;) I do have a bar that requires glassware from time to time! I already had the official Sufferfest shirt:

So how do I feel today? Rightfully shagged. But not from the biking--it's from the 4+ hours I spent moving snow yesterday. And there is more to go! I was supposed to swim this morning, but I just don't feel like going out in the blowing snow to move it, and I am sure my street is a mess still. I could walk, but my snow boots make my right foot hurt, so that's out of the question. I may or may not swim later today. I have a :30 easy run scheduled, and I'm pretty sure I can do that. Or take a nap! Or both!

Life is good!