Bier en modder

There was an amusing game we’d play in school, the hour of power, where we’d take a shot of beer every minute for an hour. On the surface it seems pretty easy. Hey, it’s just a teeny sip of beer.

You’d typically start off pretty strong but most everyone bonked around 20-30 minutes. Those who made it past halfway were a pathetic mess. I can’t remember if anyone ever succesfully finshed. It adds up to 5 beers in a hour - pretty staggering by any measurement and a textbook case of binge-drinking at it’s ugliest.

This sprint workout I’ve been doing feels a little like that. It’s an hour of 10 sec. sprints every 3 minutes. In between sprints, you’re supposed to keep a fairly brisk tempo. Doesn’t sound that bad. I mean, come on…it’s 10 seconds.

Like the hour of power, I start of strong; high wattage, tons of snap and a solid effort all the way through. I’m feeling good. The first 30 minutes usually fly by. The second half…not so much. With about 6 or 8 to go, it takes noticeably more effort to keep a tempo pace and I usually start doing the math to count how many I have left. I also start thinking how overrated speed and power is. With a couple left, I’m a mess and the f-bombs are flying.

But when it’s all over it’s strangely euphoric. It’s hard work, at least for me, and I’m hoping it pays off in the long run. While most of my miles are relatively slow right now, I do try to sneak one of these rides in each week.