Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Easy run, hard bike

The plan called for 40 min 3r 1w. And that's mostly what I did after parking at Renfrew. I got as far as the little wooden bridge, and did a brief Rocky dance on it, then turned around. Going up that hill again is tough. I was chugging away and made it to the top without stopping, but I wouldn't want to have been looking at my heart rate. It was really neat feeling it get much colder going down the hill. On the way back I was warm enough that I didn't notice a temperature difference.

Then came spin class in the evening. Lots of people tonight and I think almost everybody had a good time. It's a lot more fun being in a group. I got there early, and was on the bike about 20 minutes before class started to warm up. Let's see, we did some 1 legged drills, then some high cadence sets I couldn't keep up with, then some steady cadence moving into higher gears every minute for 4 minutes, then resting, and doing that 4 times, and if that wasn't enough, we did some short all out bursts with a long rest, and we did that a bunch of times.

I ended up being on the bike just over an hour and a half, and felt good the entire time. Well, let me rephrase that. My hands and butt felt good, though my legs and lungs were getting a bit tired. A lot tired. I think of tonight as a good solid workout. I'm feeling strong and steady maintaining 90 or 100 rpm, even in the harder gears, at least until my heart rate tops out. I don't yet have the skills to pedal at 110 for very long at all.

I miss riding my bike outside. I'd love to go for a ride out highway 22x and not worry about drills or anything. Just ride and look at the scenery. Look at cadence and heart rate every once in a while to be sure I'm not slacking off, but mainly just going for a fun ride. With any luck a chinook will come along on a day I'm not working, and I'll be gone.

2 comments:

  1. Great job....I , too, miss the biking outside where life was your focus and not the wall or tv in front of you....if you spin lots at home - the spinerval dvd's are great - like being part of a spin class with no one watching you....no one can see when you "swallow up"....

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  2. I'm really proud of you Keith - you are doing amazing!!! YAY!!

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