I've been with Endurance Nation (EN) for 18 months now. So far I have:
Completed two build-your-fast out-season programs. Tough stuff.
One power hack/VO2max protocol study. "Puke effort" describes those.
One half Ironman training cycle
One full Ironman training cycle
Included in all that have been many bike functional threshold power (FTP) and running tests. Seemingly countless 2 x 20' workouts at FTP--very tough. Four-plus hour rides that include 2 x 45' at 85% of FT (shoot me now), with a shorter version of the same the next day. I have faced 30 x 50 in the pool, and run 10K tests for Vdot. And on and on....
Thing is, I feel I am still just a student learning what it really means to work hard. There’s hard training, then there’s EN training--and lord knows EN has challenged me in ways I never dreamed I could manage. Yet, within the EN training there has been a coaching message that kept bouncing off my tin ear.
I rode an indoor 10K time trial (TT) with members of the EN team last Saturday. That experience crystallized what Coaches Rich and Patrick have long been saying about doing group rides with people who challenge you, doing epic weekends, or challenging training camps. Being pushed in an event like the TT showed me the level I can—and need to—push to from time to time. Yes, the workouts we do are plenty hard, but the group dynamic of reaching to a different level of effort was something I hadn’t experienced in a long time. It was like another piece of the EN puzzle got filled in for me.
Sure, I rationally understood what Rich and Patrick have been saying, but it’s been a while since I extended myself to that degree on a training day. The TT also showed me that, even with my advancing years, I still have limits to extend. Better performances can be eked out. I can keep improving. So finally, light dawns upon the dim, and I now get it. There will always be really difficult work to do in EN training, but sometimes I need to find ways to let myself push harder—and then do a little more.
