Simplicate and Add Lightness

Spin class didn’t happen, so I did some weights…this was the warmup…

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 03/18/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 00:10:00.00
• Calories: 90

Today was the first day of spin class for a couple of weeks and had it’s good and no so good points.

The good was the workout.  It wasn’t that it was particularly well planned (but it was better than the usual stand-in stuff) but I worked it hard and made an effort to have a good session.

The were progressive climbs, in and out of the saddle.  Sprints, high cadence work, low cadence work.  Overall a nice variety of work.

The not_so_good was the news that stand-ins will now be the norm as the regular instructor is leaving (maybe even left).  That does make me consider ditching the gym and moving across to the competitor gym…not sure though.

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 03/04/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 00:55:00.00
• Calories: 496

Today was the first day that felt ‘normal’ for about a week.  Normal didn’t feature riding to work though…I have a meeting in New Orleans this morning and needed to drive!

Getting up at the normal 4:42am also felt better than recent days!

The gym day started out with 31-32 minutes on the Precor elliptical thing with HR at about 70%.  I then followed it down with 3 sets of back extensions with a 45lb weight…some hip adductor and abductor sets…and finally 1/2 mile on the treadmill.

I probably shouldn’t have run on the treadmill, but I actually felt fine doing it.  Interestingly enough this might be the first time I’ve run in my Asics shoes all year…maybe they’re the best ones for me!

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 03/03/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 00:32:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 130
• Calories: 288

Spin class this morning didn’t seem like it was going to be a good one, so I made it my own and it turned out fine.

The A/C in the spin room was broken…not good.  The instructor was out sick…and the 4th string back up was the only available person, so doing my own thing really seemed appealing.

Being a recovery week I had no interest in pushing myself too hard.  I did a 20 min steady interval at about 130 bpm HR then followed it down with a set of single leg isolations - 30 seconds, 1:00, 2:00 on each leg.

After that I just kinda idled along before cooling down and stretching out.

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 02/23/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 00:45:00.00
• Calories: 406

Spin class this morning was a stand-in day…and left a little to be desired, so I did my own thing for part of the class.

One of the biggest issues I had with the class was the music.  She played ALL the Saints related songs.  Ok, I like the Saints…want them to win…but the songs are crap for spinning to! 

I followed along with some parts of the class, but a lot of it is so disjointed that it’s better for me to do my own thing.  One area where I followed along was the ‘endurance’ section!  The basic premise was to ride for 5 mins with HR at 85% of max.

Neither 5 mins nor 85% max HR count as endurance for me…and looking around the room there wasn’t anyone else at 85% HR!  Actually I wasn’t at 85%…I was at about 83%…but that’s close enough!

Next Tuesday is Mardi Gras so no spin class…next outing a week from now.

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 02/11/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00
• Calories: 541

The weather forecast was a bit off overnight.  There was a whole lot of rain rolled through which didn’t feature in the forecast.  What that meant was…no bike ride to work.  I did drag myself out of the bed at 4:30 though with the intention of riding to the gym for spin then to work.

Given that I felt like I’d been run over this morning I wasn’t sure how spin was going to go down with me.  Turns out it went pretty well!  Tonja put together a good hard class starting out with Tabata then moving through a range of tough intervals.  30-30-60s, high cadence isolations, in and out of saddle hill climbs, round-the-worlds, etc.

It’s easy to tell when Tonja is pushing it hard…plenty of people fall by the wayside and hit the showers early…today had 4 finishers and 1 of us really wasn’t pushing themselves too hard.

Given the lack of biking to work today I’ll probably hit the bike on the trainer this evening…put in my 2x 5k intervals at 25mph…

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 02/09/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 1:03:32.00
• Average Heart rate: 133
• Calories: 573

Spin class this morning was situation normal…stand-in instructor.  Actually, the instructor this morning has been a once_a_week regular for the past 6 weeks or so, but is still not the normal 5:30am gal!

I typically don’t like the flow that this stand-in has, so I did my own thing.  I got myself into an aero position, got my cadence to about 90rpm then dialed the resistance in to give me a HR at about 60-65%…low 130s…and there I sat for the class.

I think this kind of steady state effort may do me more good right now than the usual spin class routine.  I may plan to do this kind of workout once a week during spin class gradually ramping up my exertion levels as the racing season approaches.

I followed the class down with 3 sets of 10 back extension witha  45# plate today.

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 01/28/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 130
• Calories: 541

Tuesday morning spin class with a ‘new’ stand-in instructor!  Actually, not so new…somebody who had taught the class a few years ago then stopped…but now is making a comeback!

The class itself seemed like it had potential to be a good hard workout, but since I’m on a recovery week I took it easy.  I also kept the resistance lower than normal out of the saddle to avoid loading up my knee.

I had virtually no pain in my knee this morning, which is pretty encouraging.  I’m not going to try any running until Saturday at the earliest…maybe even Monday!

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 01/26/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 110
• Calories: 541

Following yesterday’s ride home being rained out this morning’s ride to work also fell foul of the weather.  Looking out the window this morning the ground was still wet and I don’t like getting to work wet and dirty…getting home that way is ok though.

Anyway, I took the executive decision to drive and that turned out to be a good one as it was actually still raining when I got outside…not hard, but raining anyway.  The forecast for tomorrow is very nice though…sunny with a high around 70…I plan to take a 20 mile route home.

Spin class today was back to the regular instructor and it was a very good class.  There was more flow to the routine (she might be coming up with it on the fly, but it feels more natural than the ‘planned’ workouts the other instructors do).

I thought there might’ve been a Tabata Thursday creep in, but no, that’s saved for Tuesday’s…

Lots of heavy resistance grinding which I enjoy and I think is a benefit for the duathlon racing I do.  Gradual ramp ups (30 secs out of the saddle, 30 secs in with resistance higher, 30 secs out higher still, 30 secs in highest, 30 secs in with starting resistance) were good as were some variations on the same theme.

HR got up into the mid 160s which is a little unusual for spin class recently but not a bad thing.  Given that I missed the ride in this morning and missed the Sunday long ride it was good to push it hard spinning!

I also threw in 3 sets of back extensions with a 35lb plate and 3 sets of side bends with the same plate.

Today was also weigh-in day…I was halfway expecting to be the lightest I’ve ever been (ok, since I started high school) but there was no change from last week.  Body fat was down from last week though so that’s a positive change.  We’ll see how things vary over the next couple of weeks though…all going well there’s not going to be any yo-yo-ing starting!

Weight:  170.8  Body Fat:  11.6%

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 01/21/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 1:10:00.00
• Max Heart rate: 165
• Calories: 631

Not much to say about this one…a bit disjointed, but ok.

How’s that for an exciting post?

Oh yeah, different instructor = no Tabata!

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 01/19/2010
• Time: 05:30:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00
• Calories: 541