Great name for it. I usually flip it off when I get through it. 
Mary Austin: Mary Austin (disambiguation) - Wikipedia
Of course, in this case the reference is to Mount Mary Austin, in California, itself named after Mary Hunter Austin, an American writer. I’m quite sure she wasn’t as nasty as the workout.
Actually felt terrible during the warmup, my legs were talking even at 65% ftp! Muscled through the first 2x10 and actually got stronger for the next two sets! It’s amazing how the body works sometimes and tries to tell you to give up way too soon
Sadly she got the better of me today.
Energy level was low from the start and my knee started nagging halfway through, so I skipped the last 20 minute block and finished at endurance pace.
Figure it’s better to bail today and hopefully be strong for the last week of SSB II. 
I have excuses though! 
- Sunny weather tempted me into doing 4.5-5 hour outdoor rides thursday and friday; one restday just wasn’t enough.
- Had a few days this week where I didn’t get enough sleep. 5 hours or 8 hours makes an amazing difference in recovery.
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Can I jump in here and state that on my SSB2-mid volume this week it had Mary freaking Austin -1 followed the very next day by Tallac +3. Got thru Mary barely but next day I was able to get thru only one (out of five) interval on Tallac. Not sure if I should just plow ahead - or go back and replace a day with Tallac again - maybe +2 or something. Man, those two back to back thumped me good.
People will complain about anything apparently. MA -1 is just a threshold interval. If it is breaking you your FTP is wrong.
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IIRC, all the workouts are named after mountains in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
As for the real person, it’s this Mary Austin:
Another Mary Austin completed on Tuesday and boy, am I suffering today. That workout is phenomenal, but it has absolutely demolished my immune system and i feel awful.
The workout itself was manageable. No BS bravado here - it really had me chewing on the stem on a couple of occasions, but i got through it and was very euphoric towards the end. The knock-on effect has been a little disappointing though. Maybe it’s the transition into the winter colds/flu season, but i will aim to do Petit tonight instead of my scheduled Darwin.
In other places as well - a few in Quebec, for example (Megantic, Mont Albert, Mont Gosford).
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Originally, they were based on the Sierra Nevada range. I didn’t realize it at the time of my post, but he (Coach Chad) had long exhausted those possible names and moved on to others.
Did it today. Barely completed it. End of last two sets at the peak, I dropped a couple of cycles. But I cursed myself through it. It wasn’t even my heart rate or physical pain. It was all mental. Before I started, I was like: “this is tough”.
Especially frightening was the only 1 minute “rest” in-between. But I did finish it. I never give up. Just take a short break (20-30sec) and curse yourself back in, get the adrenaline flowing.
Part of SSB2 MV… I hope I can finish Sweet spots tomorrow though…
Also, the flu is going around. Felt my stomach a bit when pumping and belly breathing. Hopefully my body gets rid of it.
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