Thursday, January 17, 2008

Excel in Hell

Last night I headed down to Akron for the Excel in Cycling class. I must admit I feel pretty foolish driving almost 1.5 hours round trip to ride my bike in a room full of people when I have a perfectly good gym right by my house with a plethora of spinning classes. Plus it costs me $10 a time, so an extra $40 a month, not to mention the gas expenditure. But I cannot even express to any of you dear bloggy friends (except maybe Janet and Brandon b/c they do the classes too!) what a tough class this is. There is no way in hell any gym spinning class or me on my trainer at home or even me out on the road for 2 hours would push myself like I do in this class. Last night in 2 hours I covered 38 miles (which isn’t all that high, but we do a lot of big ring work, one legged drills and hills) with an average cadence of 80rpms, avg 16mph,and avg hr of 138bpm and according to my Garmin I burned 1816 calories! Now I am sure that’s a little high, but regardless I still burned like a days worth of food! All in 2hours and 20 mins. Here is what a class looks like:

It’s extrememly gross b/c everyone sweats all over the place. I for one am not much of a sweater, so there is no pool under my bike, but I would say 80% of the class is male and sweaty and leaves a big nasty deep pool of sweat around their bike. I refuse to wheel my bike through sweat and then load into my car, so I carry it across the floor! When I got to class my calves were already extremely sore, I am not sure why, it probably had something to do with all the stupid step class moves in bootcamp on Monday. But my calves were already hurting but during the lactid threshold ladders my legs literally started burning, I suppose that means I was building up too much lactid acid. But all of that stuff is a bit over my head and I don’t really get it. Regardless I experienced some serious pain, but pushed through it so I was quite pleased with myself. When I got home I went into the yard and sat in the snow. Not for very long, I’m a wuss, I don’t know if I will ever be able to take a ice bath.

I TRIED to get out of bed this morning, but Mushi was being just too kissy and snuggly and I lay with him for awhile after my alarm and it was curtains. Next thing I knew it was 7:30. boo. So now I have to run after work. Which is fine, it’s only 5 miles. But it’s supposed to be speedwork, I hope my legs can handle it. If now, I’ll do the speedwork tomorrow and the easy run tonight.

8 comments:

cdnhollywood said...

Have you tried some of the Spinervals DVDs? I use these at home all the time, and I find that I push just as hard at home as I would in a class like the one you did. I'd recommend "Have Mercy" and "Aero Base Builder" as starting points.

Janet Edwards said...

Good to see ya briefly last night!

I sweat like a boy and also have one the the nasty pools of water after those classes.

While it is an expense and takes a bunch of extra drive time, these classes are so worth it and will reward you with results. There is a reason that place gets so crowded!

Brian said...

That's funny that you try to avoid the sweat pools.

When you ride outside and go through some water do you avoid that? Probably not. But you can't imagine how much bacteria is in it. Just close your mouth and eyes at least.

Josh Middleton said...

Ew! I would avoid the sweat, too. Nasty!!!

Josh Middleton said...

oh.. and thanks , Brian, for the uplifting side note! :)

Kim said...

Huh. YOu have to bring your own bike to these spinner-thingies?? (ultra runner who knows nothing about these other two sports...)

triguyjt said...

monica--
your training is going well...great job...
that excel must be superb.
I miss my spin classes at peak performance .

for the record..i am a big pool sweater too...takes me 5 minutes to mop up

Brian said...

If you think a little puddle is bad. I work in a hospital you should see / hear some of the stories.

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Mnowac
distance runner attempting to run a marathon in every state, vegetarian foodie, mediocre triathlete, sucky swimmer, mommy to Harper, tea lover, coffee drinker, animal saver, hubby snuggler, race addict, full time working 31 year old living in cleveland
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Marathons so far

  • Sept 2012 - Corning, NY - TBD
  • April 2012 - Louisville, KY - TBD
  • Sept 2011 - Erie PA - 4:25
  • June 2011 - South Bend IN - 5 hrs+ (it was 98 degrees!)
  • Dec 2010 - Rehoboth Beach DE - 4:26:06
  • Nov 2010 - Huntington WV - 4:11:44
  • Oct 2009 - Towpath - Cleveland area OH - 4:30:35
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