Spinervals Review - 31.0 Endurance Booster

This review looks at the Spinervals 31.0 Endurance Booster DVD. It's one of the longer DVD's in the Collection (well, in my collection), at 1h45min ! A long time to spend on the trainer.

It's quite different from most of the others I have in the sense that it is a Zone 3 workout - during the Warm Up, Coach Troy specifically sets a target HR (or power) of above Z2 (classic Aerobic training) but definitely below LTHR.

What's odd here is that in some of the other DVD's, you hear the classic "Don't train in the Grey area - too hard on easy days and too easy on hard days" - and yet this DVD trains specifically in that grey area.

However, a quick dip into "Training and Racing with a Powermeter" by Coggan and Allen confirms that for endurance rides, Z3 is just the thing.... so no complaints there!

Before getting into a description of the workout, a quick description of the DVD - you have the normal Workout with Music on/off option, but one real negative point for me is that there are only chapters for the Warm Up, Main Set(s), Cool Down.

This is the case on all of my newer Spinervals DVD's, and I can't understand why. On the older ones, e.g the 3hr Tough Love, 5h30min Hardcore 100, 2h Have Mercy, you can pick and choose your sets if you don't want to do the whole workout.

So why not here?

Anyway... onto the workout.

Seeing as I was in week 10 of my winter IM training when I did this, a 1h45min ride was pretty much the longest I'd ridden, and thus I split the ride into Zones - 40% Z2 / 40% Z3 / 20% SSpot (for the curious, based on power, Z2 is 70-75FTP, Z3 76-85FTP, SSpot 86-93FTP) which meant the start would be easier than Z3 but the last 20min a lot harder. I tend to do all of my endurance rides with this split.

The workout itself is of the "Cadence and Zones are set, you choose the gear" type.

Ok, after just 2min gentle cycling we have:

a. The classic 3x30s @ 30s Rest WarmUp

b. 3min gentle

c. 15min Steady State Set.

At first, when you hear this, you thing "oh-no, boredom...", but actually, on these DVD's the 10-20mins reps are less boring than the 20x1min varieties. And this is no exception - it's well mixed up. ca.4min @ 80-85rpm, ca 3min @ 90-95 rpm, ca 3min @ 100 rpm and back down with a couple of minutes at 75-80rpm thrown in at the end. At regular intervals, says every 90-120s, you stand for 10s or so - which hurts at 100rpm!

As I train with power, there's a big effort difference for me between 190W at 85rpm vs 190W at 100rpm, which makes the intervals more challenging. 100rpm+ sends my HR sky high...

So, a time consuming active 15min that has you constantly checking power, rpm, standing and generally not looking at the clock.

d. 3min gentle

e. 15x1min@15s Rest, Odds Low Cadence (75-80rpm) Even High(85-90rpm)

Similar to c., but with a lot more rest. Upon reading, this should be a better set than c., but I found it a little more boring - the reps seems to crawl by, as there isn't much variation.

However, the set itself was good - the switching between cadence prevents you finding a groove, and the constant slow down and accelerate with each 15s rest also adds an extra spice.

f. 2.5min gentle

g. 10x90s@20s rest Odds Low Cadence (75-80rpm) Even High(85-90rpm)

More of the same as in e. but with longer intervals - 90s. You find a groove a bit easier here, and being Z3 effort, it isn't easy riding, and focus is needed at the higher cadences!

The 20s rest make a big difference vs the 15s rest in e., although I needed it as I'm not good with high cadence, and the Z3 power at 90+rpm was taking its toll (as you can see from the graph)

h. 2min Gentle

i. 7x2min @ 30s rest Odds Low Cadence (75-80rpm) Even High(85-90rpm)

During this set, I moved up to SSpot Power, so this became quite tough as it was my longest ride of the winter trianing so far, and never at my ideal cadence - either too low or too high.

I found 7x2min much better than the 15x1min stuff from earlier. Less starting and stopping, and you find more of a groove.

j. 2min gentle

k. 1x15min Steady State

Similar to in c. Regular changes in cadence, every 2 mins or so, and also periods of standing mixed in. Was tough going for me in SSpot, but the time passed much better than in the 15x1min stuff earlier...

l. Cool Down.......

So, that's the workout.

In summary, tough, doesn't need the 15x1min and 10x90s stuff (imho, of course), but good all the same. And infinitely better than doing 1h45min on your own. I enjoyed it, the time passed quickly, I didn't get bored, which is exactly what one needs. Pleased with the purchase.

..Oh, wait, one point.

The other cyclist... some of them clearly aren't fit enough, and don't put the effort in. There's even your token big guy with a massive IM tatoo on his upper arm.

The earlier Spinervals had much fitter groups.

I don't have a problem with whoever is on the videos per se, I just think the riders on the DVD should fit the workout. E.g in Tough Love.

Comments welcome.