Gettin' Sweaty in the Basement with Coach Troy

Oh, stop it! It was a Spinervals workout!!! Big Gear Strength, to be exact. Although I will admit to having a HUGE crush on Coach Troy, but we'll leave that for another day...

I know that many people despise their bike trainers, but I love mine. I really do. I enjoy riding the trainer nearly as much as I enjoy riding outdoors. Now, if it weren't for Coach Troy and Spinervals, I'm sure I'd be in the "trainers are the work of the devil" camp. But with Troy, what's not to love? A handsome guy screaming at you to focus, ride harder, don't give up, "have some pride and finish strong." In addition, you've got a room full of uber fit cyclists and triathletes to watch suffer along with you. Awesome, awesome stuff.

Big Gear Strength is a 1 hour leg strength building workout. If you loving mashing the big gears, you will love this one. For the most part, you are parked in Big/12, only leaving for brief recovery periods. I happen to LOVE the standing sets, of which there are two. The first, fairly early in the workout, is a 5 minute set where you stand in Big/12 for 45 seconds, then sit in Big/13 for 15 - repeat that pattern 5 times. After the lunge sequence that comes at about the 2/3 point (3x10 lunges, each leg), you do it again, but this time for 3 minutes, alternating 50 seconds standing with 10 seconds sitting. Killer. And beautiful.

There is just under an hour of such quad burning fun, and you end with a leg and lung busting 3x20 seconds all out in Big/12. Ouch.

Troy can make me sweat like nothing else. My calves sweat. My forearms are dripping. I climb up the basement stairs when the workouts are over totally and completely spent, feeling like I just conquered the world.

I'm looking forward to my next sweaty session with Troy!