Translation of Yesterday’s Mythical Tale

Read this enchanted post first,,,,.
…now, here is the translation.

I walk into the cycling room at Elevate Utah at 5:30 sharp with my trusty Trek bicycle by my side. Sam isn’t here because he pulled some muscles winning a race over the weekend. Plan 7 was showing on the screen like always.

Michelle, Dan and Matt are in the room already and Harry and his son Mitchell enter shortly after. We all hook up to the Computrainers and begin our day’s adventure. Our preparation for this workout has spanned many months in which we conquered many smaller Plan 7 workouts. What we met today was nothing like we had ever experienced before.

I remember that I wanted to adjust my seat down just about 1/2 a centimeter. I pull out my multi-tool and loosen the ring round my seatpost. Alan Sumnall, owner of SBR Cycles in Orem had suggested that if I think it will ride better I should adjust it down slightly. I stick the alan wrench back into the constrictive ring and begin tightening.  SNAP!!! The little bolt that keeps the seat post from slipping back and forth snapped and hit the wall. I rummaged through the drawers to no avail. I tell everyone in the class, “Well I guess I am out for this one.”

I think to myself, “I wonder if it will hold me anyway.” It turns out this little ring is more for holding the seat from turning side to side than up and down. Matt starts Plan 7 and we all do the warmup. About 12 minutes in the screen reads 100% FTP with max VO2. I scratch my head thinking did it really just say that.  It feels like we are racing headlong into the heart of the cave to be met by the ferocious mouth of this venomous monster. There are 10 of these intense spikes and then back to 85% FTP at 85 RPMs. A couple of spikes(fangs) later and Mitchell’s station stops reading. Matt tries to move him to another station but the system has him stuck at station #1. We try everything we can think of. I get off and try pushing physical buttons while Matt selects options with the mouse. We give up for a second and then Matt has the brilliant idea to stop the workout and try to shift Mitchell over to the far station where Sam usually rides.

The spikes/fangs continue unrelentingly. At spike #7 something happens to Michelle and she starts pushing the limits. Her FTP is off the chart and here RPMs are about 10-15 higher than required. Her Watts/Kilogram continue to climb. We have all seen this determination in her before and we know where it is headed only we don’t realize how far it will take her. Another break and then another push and she is now above 4.2 W/Kg. Another break and another push and Michell does something none of us have ever seen – She breaks the 5W/Kg mark. The 10th fang is overcome and we get a nice long rest in the valley of 45% FTP. We push a little more over some mountain top like hills and then the workout is over.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.