Saturday, July 26, 2014

The Sufferfest Running Video Review: Revolver

I have been using The Sufferfest's cycling videos for almost 6 months now, as prescribed by my Coach to aid me in training. They are as challenging as they can be, leaving your living room floor with a pool of sweat after an hour's ride on the indoor trainer for the glory of Sufferlandria. These workouts will push you to ride harder, and better, as they are structured to, well, beat the living crap outta you. It is always a punishing experience, but you get that sense of fulfillment (and relief) after your workout is done. I love it so much that I prefer to do these video workouts vs riding out on weekdays.

When I read that the makers of The Sufferfest are coming out with videos for running I said to myself, "Now THIS is something worth a try!" Fortunately, I was privileged by the Sufferlandrian  government to review one of their latest work: Revolver. Now there is also a cycling version with the same title so I had a good idea what this 30 minute video will be like.

So I put on a copy on my Note3, went to the gym, hopped onto the treadmill, and prayed for dear life as I clicked Play with my earphones plugged in.



Compared to the cycling version, there's a huge improvement in terms of video and info quality on this one. It looks a lot better, basically, with the intention of telling the runner the change of effort and grade as clear as possible. The video excerpts from the Milan Marathon and Diamond League Track and Field were good as well. However, for this particular workout wherein you need to concentrate on your (full) effort for several times, you have little chance to look at these videos (as my Note3 was below chest height laying down on the treadmill dashboard) as I hanged on at ridiculously fast paces (why was I doing that to myself?). Nevertheless, I really appreciated the new screen graphics.

The taunting to push you during the heavy intervals are coupled with famous quotes on pain and suffering, as if hoping that they could help while your mentally screaming "please let it stop let it stop!!!" when you know that it is all up to you to get this workout done. I like it when the trainer(?) part of the workout tells you to push more of the effort on the hard intervals, which I gladly did. At the latter intervals I was at 13+kph, which was the FASTEST that I've ever ran on a treadmill (or on the road for that matter). The treadmill even displayed a warning that I may have exceeded the recommended pace (to avoid injury). Of course, being a Sufferlandrian has taught me NOT to adhere to the tradmill's warning, even if it meant certain death by treadmill catapult.

At the end of the (short) workout, I felt great (of the effort I put in and the relief that it's all over). All I can say to myself as I walked away from the treadmill was, "THAT. WAS. FUCKING. AMAZING!"

Yup, running on the treadmill will NEVER be the same. Thank you The Sufferfest!


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Here are some more details mentioned by the people of The Sufferfest:
  • Our videos feature Officially Licensed footage from Diamond League Track & Field and prestigious marathons from around the world 
  • Workouts were designed by elite coach Neal Henderson of Apex Coaching. He also designed several of our most popular cycling workouts. 
  • Videos will be released on 31st July 2014 at TheSufferfest.com - The Machine (38 minutes) will cost $10.99. The other two videos are Steamroller (45 minutes and $11.99) and Revolver (30 minutes and $9.99). They will be available as a bundle for $28 for a limited time. 

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