Day 20: Uphill Grind

We are up to Day 20 in the Spinervals 32DayChallenge. While I would have LOVED to honest to goodness do this challenge as designed, my work travel made that impossible and I have had to miss quite a few days of cycling. However, when I'm home, my butt is on that trainer for my workout. Even on mornings like today - I have a holiday event tonight so I moved my prescribed strength workout to last night. I NEEDED a hard, hard workout with weights so I pretty much pounded myself into the ground. Fell into bed in a heap and was asleep before I shut my eyes. One of those kind of workouts, you know? When the alarm went off this morning, my first thought was "Ouch, I'm already sore. And wicked tired. I should sleep in." Thankfully that thought didn't win out and I was able to pull myself out of bed and get down to the trainer.

Today a new workout was on the schedule: 41.0: Ascending Mountains. I bought myself the latest 3-DVD pack (among others!) for myself for Xmas, and this workout is currently wrapped and under the tree....... I was THIS close to sneaking it out and replacing it, but thought better of it. I'll have to wait until next week and swap it in for something else to try it out.


So today I did and oldie but a GOODIE: 7.0: The Uphill Grind. I love this one because the cast is all women - all ridiculously accomplished, strong women (among them Olympian Joanna Zeiger), so it's very inspiring. In addition, at a mere 45 minutes, I thought it would be a good one on a day where my legs were already seriously fatigued from the strength workout less than 12 hours prior, but still fit the bill for the scheduled workout of the day. Ha. Hahahahahaha..... That's maniacal laughter - the kind when your brain is totally deprived of oxygen and you are beginning to lose consciousness.....

After a solid warm up and a fun sprint set, the main set consists of 4x5' - where those 5' are 4' of climbing (big gear work) following by a 1' descent (fast hard spinning). Troy is sneaky, sneaky, sneaky in this one - you make it through the first rep feeling pretty good. Solid. Strong. Ditto on the second set. And now you see the pattern forming - we'll be standing in Big/12 for the last 30 seconds of each climb rep - that's after a solid 3.5 minutes of hard big gear work. Ok, got it. During the third set he's upping the intensity and you are standing more often, or worse, sitting in Big/12 while keeping your cadence up (for you non cyclists out there, that hurts). I finish the third set literally just DRIPPING with sweat, my lungs heaving, chugging my water. One more to go. 5 minutes of serious business. Ok, I got this.

Then Troy gets mean. He looks all cute and preppy in his khaki shorts and polo top, but don't let that fool you - he's clearly a mean bastard at heart..... The last rep is almost all standing, right from the get go. We move around from Big/15 to Big/12, but we are standing. Some brief seated work, but only as a tease, really. Half way in, and I am saying bad, bad things out loud to my beloved Coach Troy as my legs are begging for mercy. At the time, I truly mean it when I'm yelling at him to "F&%K OFF!" as he yells at me to keep my cadence up, to stay on that wheel in front of me, to keep pushing up that hill. But I don't back off, no, I do as he says, as I think about climbing Gates Pass and Mt. Lemmon at his training camp in March. I need this. I hate his guts at this moment, but I need this so I do as I'm told. The set finishes with a strong downhill minute, and when it's finally over I happily sit up to soft pedal and towel off for our minute of glorious recovery before the last sprinting set. I'm dizzy, I'm breathing as my good friend Claire describes so eloquently "like a fat girl in gym class," and I can barely see straight.

It's going to be a great day.