Sunday, April 13, 2008

The puddle contest

3.0hr. trainer ride (zone 2)

I finally broached Spinervals 13.0 - Tough Love! That is a very good workout--the ones that are designed as free-standing and continuous workouts are preferable to the ones spliced together out of bits and pieces.

Of course I am not doing as good a job as the cyclists in the DVD--I am often in a slightly easier gear & riding at a lower cadence than recommended. (I adjusted the resistance to make it a bit easier after forty-five minutes, but I still could not quite keep up!) And I cheated in one significant way, which was that in a long middle set of 5 x 6 minutes where you do one minute standing alternating with one minute sitting, I skipped all the high-cadence easy-gear standing work--it is both a technical and a fitness-related challenge to stand and spin in an easy gear, I cannot face it yet!

All told, though, I feel I did an eminently respectable job. I am going to do this workout again next Sunday, I really liked it...

(Real cyclists will be ritually groaning at the evidence of my extreme procrastination re: riding outside!)

Avg HR 133, max HR 156

6 comments:

Becca said...

You rode the bike for three hours?? In your apartment? It wasn't--I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I have to ask--boring?

Jenny Davidson said...

Well, I had Coach Troy's words of Spinervalesque wisdom to ponder! But no, not really--or perhaps I just always have an active interior life that makes up for slight understimulation on the exterior? It is true that I was thinking fairly eagerly of what I was going to sit down and write on my blog--though in the event I could not be bothered to write it all down--like that though under other circumstances my mouth might be watering at Coach Troy's (semi-comical) suggestion that after this workout one has 'earned' a big bowl of ice-cream or a piece of chocolate cake, in fact the regular consumption during the workout of sticky-sweet gels and Clif products makes sweets seem very off-putting! I have just had some very salty and delicious pasta with meat sauce...

I was talking in the locker room the other day with a triathlete/swimmer who said she could not ride indoors at all, because the only thing she likes about cycling is the insane adrenaline rush as you shoot through a red light or whatever. I was looking at her with utter horror!

Spokane Al said...

Congratulations!

Tough Love is my all time favorite Spinervals DVD.

I tend to skip the chocolate cake too.

Rebecca H. said...

I'm impressed with your 3 hours on the trainer! Most of my rides have been 2 hours or less, and I really need to get some longer times in. I get sick of all the sugary stuff I eat on long rides too -- sports drink, gel, various kinds of bars. It gets gross.

Brent Buckner said...

Good spin!

Jenny Davidson said...

Yes, Al, this one seems like it's going to be my favorite too--even more than "Mental Toughness"!

Dorothy: Why can they not make SALTY foods for calorie replacement?!?

Brent: Yes! Hmmm, Coach Troy repeatedly mentioned the possibility that a three-hour indoor ride is worth four on the road, I am pondering the relevant components of Gale Bernhardt's training plan and hoping this really is the case...