Spinning my wheels

Sorry for no Thursday post folks. I posted late Wednesday night, and I wanted some of the thoughts and feelings I had to sink in. I wanted to let myself get clear that this new determination wasn't just something I felt out of anger at my stagnation due to being sick and on the low end of my willpower. Apparently, it isn't because I woke up yesterday feeling the same way, and even with still being sick and tired, I went with Rach to sit in on a spinning session with the BU Cycling Team.

I have to admit that Rach and I have an ideal situation for our triathlon training where we live. We've got the Wheelworks team to learn from and train with. The membership has been incredibly supportive and we're getting even more involved this winter (more on that in the notes). And for training, we have the Esplanade in spring, summer, and fall, and FitRec in the winter.

FitRec has a lot of little rooms designed for specific classes and one of them is a room with about 20 Spin bikes in it. The BU Cycling Team gets an hour each week on Thursday nights to hold it's own class. Each week someone takes a turn as the leader, creating a workout and putting together a mix of music to help motivate the folks that show up.

The advantage of a spin bike is that with a quick twist of the resistance knob, you are on entirely different terrain without having to travel to a different location. It's much like the standard stationary bikes in the main part of the gym, but really designed for more advanced work. The bikes even have clips for the SPD cleats if you want to wear your bike shoes.

Last night, the leader put us through what I can only call a grueling workout. We started with a series of sprints, resting between each with just a slight increase in resistance. The sprinting on a spin bike is all about turning over the pedals as fast as you can. I only wish they had a cadence counter on these bikes, because while all the rest of the folks in class probably outclimbed me, I am certain I outsprinted all of them.

The climbing was the part that really felt like I got a lot out of. We did climbing intervals where we were advancing the resistance as we got further up the hill. We even did a full set of climbing intervals where we stood for each section of climbing. It felt awkward at first but eventually i got the hang of it, and was smiling through the last couple sets even as my legs started to burn. I spend far too little time out of my seat when I climb on my road bike. I believe I have it in me to be a much stronger climber with the right training and understanding of the right way to climb.

At the end of the hour and ten minute session I was covered in sweat and my legs felt like Jello. And I was smiling. Because even though I went spin class, i wasn't just spinning my wheels anymore.

Notes:

- USA Triathlon has an offseason training competition for it's clubs called the National Challenge Competition. I mentioned this to our team president and superheroine-in-residence Sunny, and she asked if I would be willing to take the lead on getting this going for the club. I'm doing it as yet another way to keep myself motivated throughout the winter. Also, there are prizes, and if you have been reading this blog for more than 5 minutes, you know I am all about prizes. The NCC starts in december and has multiple contests within a contest including a monthly focus on one of the three disciplines (Swim in Dec, Bike in Jan, Run in Feb). It's a good way to make myself get out of bed in the morning in December to hit the FitRec pool.

- I have taken on an apprentice. I don't want to spill the beans on this quite yet as it's a bit early, and deserves a full post, probably sometime next week.

- I'll be doing some cleaning and reformatting of the site this weekend, so if it's down at all; fear not. It won't be for long.