List yours here!
This should be a single workout that was a particularly epic experience. Race day doesn’t count.
I’d like to highlight 10-12 of these in a homepage article. If you’d like to be considered, please email me (lars.slowtwitch@gmail.com) the following NO LATER than Thursday, Jan 2nd:
ST name:
Brief description of workout (25-50 words): who, what, where, why’s…
Screenshot of workout on Strava (bonus):
Include 1 picture:
These should be fun to hear!
I haven’t done these in years. We had a bike/run course laid out at the parade grounds at Fort Jackson, SC. After a warm up, we would do bricks of 4 or 5 x 4 mile bike/ 1 mile run, redlining it the whole workout, after which we’d be trashed. Then we’d go for beer and wings. Man, I miss those days.
I still shake my head at this one https://www.strava.com/activities/337957399
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Consider including Monty’s 40th B-day “celebration.”
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=421161#p421161
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Consider including Monty’s 40th B-day “celebration.”
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=421161#p421161
Drop the mic
Thread over
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Hey Lars, after I could not do triathlon after a disc injury in 2015, I embarked on a 4 year swimmer journey, learning all 4 strokes.
This culminated in a target to do 25x400IM = 10K two days ago (Dec 28th)
I have summarized the story in this thread:
Its probably the single hardest workout I have done and I have done some crazy hard rides in the Alps, Multisport adventures here in Canada, Adirondacks and in the Rockies…but this one took it as “hardest of them all” as it was a skill+ endurance + execution day with no room for slippage (I had exactly 3.5 hrs to get it done which was the limit of my pace that I could repeat).
I still shake my head at this one https://www.strava.com/activities/337957399
Wow!
College XC my senior year when Alan Webb was a training partner:
5xMile on the track, looking for equal 800m splits at half and finish.
5:00
4:50
4:40
4:30
Last interval was Out in 2:10 and race home. Webb & Chris Lukezic went 2:10-1:55 for a 4:05 final mile and I got my doors blown off running 4:14 and I was over the moon. This was 15 years ago and I can remember everything about it, including the awful massage that came after.
The one that comes to mind was a 200km gravel in to the middle of nowhere. No aid stations, no SAG, no stores.
Just a top tube bag with food, spare tubes, and a water filter to replenish liquid in mountain streams.
Didn’t take many photos cuz my riding partner and me hammered it in just over 7 hours. So much suffering…
A handful of years ago I went to a wedding reception about 120 miles away from home on my tri-bike. I mailed my clothes to the hotel beforehand and then mailed them back when I checked out the next morning. The ride there was a total bitch with most of it into a 20+mph wind. Had a some beers and a few hours of sleep then back on the road.
Here is the ride there:
https://www.strava.com/activities/250590491
And back:
I often do 2x20’s…nothing cool there…but on the cross course with my homemade barriers.
Treat each as a race, imagine doing your category then doing single speed or masters later.
Catch is, no big breather like day. You get 8 min rest.
20 is short enough it’s harder than a full race pace or equivalent…twice.
Man they hurt. I can easily ride there from home but always drive in case of crashing, tired, or puke.
On my 40th birthday I did what I called FortyMan, which consisted of 40 laps at the local Y pool, then quick transition to my bike for a 40-mile ride; my ride ended at the local high school track, on which I then did a 40-lap run. Distances were longer than an Oly and shorter than a 1/2 IM, so a good hard workout on a hot mid-July day. My wife was my support crew, meeting me at one point along the ride and then setting up water etc at the track during the run. It was fun!
4x10min on the trainer
4x2k on the treadmill
4x6min on the trainer
4x1k on the treadmill
Got it from one of the Norwegians insta accounts (modified to suit me). Especially the second round on the trainer was pretty tough. With warm ups and cool down it takes about 3 hours. Nothing like Montys 40s though 
Last April, I did a self-supported 70.3–my wife and kids were out of town and I was left unsupervised. It was high 30s and rainy/windy. 2k pool swim at our local Y, 70 miles through the Cleveland metroparks and back and 13.1 from the Y to my house and back. I put water bottles at mile 15 (and thus 55) on the bike and then some water at my house at the turnaround on the run. The trunk of my car was “transition”
I had decent swim (that was easy) and great run–but the bike was a bear to maintain speed as I had traffic and lights to contend with.
I’d say it was more like a “race for one” rather than an epic workout–but it helped me wrap my head around transitioning from fast sprints and Olys to longer course stuff.
This would have to be mine: https://www.strava.com/activities/2841509713. Slow and steady…
I’ve been thinking about this for the last day and came up with three, each having their own unique epicness:
1)In college, as part of a cross-country bike trip, riding from Eureka, NV to Wendover, NV (200+ miles on the day). Early start to the day in July to get in some decent mileage before the heat of the day. Two hours into the ride got passed by the Hells Angel’s (Oakland chapter) who had spent the night in the same hotel the night before…(“Born to be Wild” was played over and over and over most of the night). After a meal in Ely, NV we rolled out and noticed a nice tailwind. We covered 100 miles in <4 hours because of the tailwind. Long day in the saddle but very fun to roll along at high speed for an extended period of time.
2)Back in the early 90’s, decided I wanted to ride from my house in the Chicago area to my Dad’s house in Champaign downstate. Mapped a nice rural route (~160 miles) and took the day off work. It was early/mid-May and temps were gorgeous…low/mid 70’s by late morning. Stopped at some Casey’s General Stores in a couple of small towns along the way to reload on fuel and drinks. With 70-80 miles to go, black skies to the west were approaching and before long, I’m riding in the middle of nowhere in a torrential rainstorm with high cross-winds. Rode out that storm for 50ish miles. The last 15-20 miles, despite better weather, I was mentally and physically toast. Once in Champaign, I stopped at a payphone to call my dad that I had made it into town. He left work shortly after that and found me asleep in his front yard next to my bike.
3)Several years ago, on my 50th birthday, got together with some friends and rode a leisurely 50 mile ride just enjoying the ride and fellowship. Then went to the YMCA and swam 50x50 on 0:50 sendoff. Nothing overly difficult on that day, just a nice long day of exercise.
In 2002 I was living in Singapore. We did a training weekend in Batam Indonesia which is a ferry ride from Singapore. The plan was to take the ferry to Batam, put our bikes in a truck and drive to the end of the archipelago, which was connected by a serious of brides (it was the road to nowhere built by cronies of the Suharto regime) with little traffic. We would swim, eat a seafood meal, cycle back to a hotel in Batam, eat again (it is Asia!), then massage. Up early for a run, then swim to a nearby island. Got to the end of the road and hopped in for the swim. We swam about 30 minutes and then headed back. What we didn’t know was that the current did not allow us to make it back. It was a bit scary for the weaker swimmers because we were sitting in the South Asia Sea stranded. Eventually we got a boat to pick us up. Then a huge seafood meal and a very hot and long bike ride back to Batam. A great weekend.
What the hell is going on with this thread. You have guys posting about trainer FTP rides…we lost the spirit…I was expecting someone to come on here and say they did Everested doing Ventoux from all three sides and then finishing up the 8000m climbing day with two climbs up from Bedouin…or someone coming on here and saying they did Stelvio from all three sides and then just did two more repeats from the North Side and then ran to the summit of Ski Stelvio and skied back down to the pass at 9000ft.
This place is slipping!!! Come on people, let’s see some workouts with some serious soul and passion!!! I’ll settle for a 5km swim in English Bay in Vancouver, ride to Whistler up the Sea to Sky Highway…2000 ft climb, switch to Mountain bikes, ride up (5000 ft) and down Blackcomb (race the downhill kids down), ditch the mountain bike and run to the Summit of Whistler 5000 ft climb (yes, I have thought about this, and when I had the fitness I never did it).
I am considering doing a different version around here…swim 5K in Ottawa River, bike 180km to Mont Tremblant, run the to the summit of the mountain (only 2100 ft gain…take lift down)…much less pedigree than the Vancouver to Whistler Summit tri, but it could be fun
Last year when training for a 10K ows, I would do long sets in the pool every friday. My peak long workout before the taper was 8 x1000 meters. It was as much a mental workout as it was physical.
Did the Kona IM course on my own on Wednesday of race week in '95, '96 and '98. The first time I had friends helping me with liquids and ice on the bike and run and I finished in 12:45. The other two times I did it unsupported. Walked and puked from the Energy Lab to town in '96. Qualified and finished Kona in '97, and DNFed the final solo attempt in '98 in the Energy Lab after taking a nap on the side of the road.
There wasn’t a wide shoulder on the Queen K all the way to Kawaihae like there is now, so that wasn’t the smartest idea in hindsight, as I was buzzed multiple times by trucks. Got blown off the road into the grass on the descent from Hawi in '95, which was a great intro to the winds in my first visit to the Big Island.