The Sufferfest: Half Is Easy

This workout reminds me of high school cross country. It feels sort of like the pain of 12x400m, jog rest intervals, with the bright yellow "workout bucket" in case you needed to puke (I ran with the boys). So, awesome.

Disclaimer: I like The Sufferfest line of cycling training videos. Enough to have ridden 10 of them back to back when there was no structured training on the schedule. So it's not really a surprise that I like this one too.

Half Is Easy comes to us with the help of British National Cyclocross Champion Ian Cross of Dig Deep Coaching. This dude knows what he's doing. I'm constantly after my cycling classes to make their hards harder and their easys easier during HIIT workouts, and this vid will force you to do that. It fits into 39 minutes for those days when you need your a$$ kicked in a short amount of time.

After a 5 minute warmup, there's 3 minutes to get your motor neurons firing (2 x :25 sprint, :60 tempo). Then comes the first 10:00 set of 20x (:15 All Out/:15 Easy - hence "Half Is Easy"). Great cycling footage to motivate you during the Hard, and try not to bust a gut laughing at the Easy footage (hint: champagne, lounge chairs, a wildebeest just chillin', puppies, and lovely Italian landscapes). Spin your legs for 4:00 easy recovery, then do that interval set again. Harden up, you can do anything 20 times. Cool it down and you're done.

As always, steller footage of (officially licensed) cross and elite U23 men's and women's riding, soundtrack to keep you moving, a convenient on-screen countdown timer, suggested cadence and perceived effort can be found on your screen. Beat the trainer boredom and watch your FTP rise!

Go forth and suffer, friends.