Today was Day 6 of the Spinervals 32 Day Challenge - an oldie but a goodie!!!! I like these old school Spinervals - 11.0 Big Gear Strength consists of sets entirely completed in Big12 or Big13, with a mix of standing and seated work while in those monster gears. Troy is classic Troy - literally SCREAMING at us to push, Push, PUSH through the last few seconds of the sets. Calling on us to "finish with some PRIDE!" And my favorite Troy-ism: "Three, Two, Oooooooooonnnnnnnnneeeeeeee. Now soft pedal." It's fabulous. These big gear workouts are ones where I can actually keep up with the prescribed gearing - some of the workouts are a bit crazy in this regard. I'm currently simply not even CLOSE to capable of riding *aerobically* in Big15 at a cadence of 90 for extended periods of time. But in this workout, I can push Big12 HARD for the minute-long reps and love every leg burning second of it. The time flew by, and before I knew it, it was time to climb out of the HoP to start my day, already feeling accomplished. |
| Hilarious crazy morning hair, on top of being a sweaty mess. |
Tomorrow is where my resolve to stick with this really kicks in - I'm on a plane at 6:00am and am traveling through next Wednesday night (Boston -> Atlanta -> DC -> Tampa -> Boston). That is 8 days on the road, 8 days away from my OWN bike, my HoP, and stuck on a "cardio machine" type bike in the hotel gym (fingers crossed that they even have one!). But here me now: if there is a bike in the gym, I'll be on it. I'm packing the scheduled workouts and will play them on my laptop, and do my best, putting in the time and effort. It won't even be CLOSE to my usual experience, but it will simply have to do.
3 comments:
So glad to hear you say that about cadence and gearing; I am a low cadence rider and I know that is not good, but I have SUCH a hard time with the gearing/cadence in most of the Spinervals. But like you, I love to mash the big gears!!
Gina - I got over stressing over it too much in the other workouts once I realized that the folks in those workouts are typically 1) men, 2) really crazy good cyclists. It's ridiculous to think that we would ALL be capable of riding in the same zone in the same gearing/cadence.
When I'm in REALLY good cycling shape, I'm usually only off by one rear cog. That's when I know I'm in great shape. Right now, I'm lucky if my front chain ring is the suggested one!!!! :)
Good luck on the travel- I know the feeling oh so well. At least there are a couple of rest/ riders choice days in the mix while you are on the road.
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