Product Review: Spinervals 13.0 Tough Love

This is the big one-- Coach Troy's three hour monster of a workout. I've wanted to try it ever since I heard it was in production and I finally got my chance today.

This workout was not without its false starts. I had a dickens of a time getting my DVD adaptor to work, and then I had some problems with my mp3 playlist on the computer. But finally all systems were go!

This video is quite a departure from the early Spinervals, which mainly consisted of short hard interval sets. Tough Love is all tempo work with no sets shorter than six minutes and two long sets of 30 and 20 minutes of non-stop pedaling, although the constant gear-changing helps a little with the OMG factor. On these longer sets, I chose to count songs rather than count minutes, and it turned out to be a pretty good strategy for me. Looking at the clock just makes things worse, sometimes.

Because I'm supposed to be in my cycling off-season and my legs weren't feeling too good today, I made no attempt to hit the cadences Troy asked for. Not that I usually can, but I typically push harder than I did. Even so, it was a tough workout. Like all Spinervals, of course, it's as tough as you want it to be, but even when you're not trying to push the pace, it's a killer by the time you get into the last 45 minutes. So near and yet so far! Troy says this video was designed to be part of an Ironman training plan and I can definitely see how if you try to hit the high cadences he demands and then go for a run afterwards, you'll be ready for an Ironman course. Okay, maybe not Lanzarote or Lake Placid (killer hills), but Florida or Wisconsin, no problem.

So if your Farmer's Almanac is predicting a lot of rainy days this spring or summer, go order you a copy of Tough Love! And for the love of God, don't plan on doing this video with the music. Play your own.

Today's Workouts
3 hour bike - Spinervals 13.0 Tough Love
3 mile walk