Spinning - yeah, right

Yeah, I know. I've talked about taking a spinning class for about five months now. I had good intentions, but I'll be honest, I was completely freaked out by the prospect.

A friend recently described spinning as "one of (her) favorite punishments" and noted that it can burn approximately 500 calories per half hour.

Determined to build up more strength for the bike event, I added a spinning class one night a week into my training schedule. It was time to conquer my fear.

Let me just say that it was everything that I had heard it would be.

We were about 15 minutes late to the start of class, but the instructor nicely hopped off her bike and got Andrea and myself set up on ours and then proceeded to "punish" us for being late.

She had us crank up the tension, climb out our saddles and run on the pedals for the entire length of a song. I don't remember the song, but I remember that it was annoyingly upbeat and seemed to go on forever.

And I don't know if I have ever worked out so hard before that I wanted to throw up. But those first ten minutes certainly made me want to. After the initial shock wore off, I actually started to enjoy it. Minus the fact that I was sweating buckets and I managed to empty my water bottle with 15 minutes still left in the class.

What I liked about it was the fact that, for the most part, the brutality usually changed about every 15 to 30 seconds (with the exception of the first long climb). I didn't have to count laps or the number of run intervals, watch the clock to know when to run.

The instructor took care of that for us, yelling at us to "go, go, go!" or "pick up the pace!" She would pleasantly remind us that we were not in rest period. She would give us a rest period in approximately X minutes, which always equaled the end of the class.

It was another challenge. Another fear conquered.

I'll be back at next week's class.

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Back in the saddle again...

So the 12 week count down started on Monday for the Danskin Triathlon. I have a partner in crime this time around: I've convinced my friend Andrea that she too wants to join in the insanity. We will both plunge into the waters of Lake Andrea in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, on Sunday, September 27th.

I used the fact that the she shared the name of the lake in which we would race as a sign that she must join me on this journey. Well, that and some strong "Pete drink" plied during the post-Pigman celebration party.

This past week has been light on the training, a couple of swims to get reacquainted with the feel of the water and a bike and run later on today.

Boy, oh boy, how I had missed the pool! There is nothing like the feel of coolness against your hot cheeks as you glide through the water.

Not having done in swimming since the tri a month ago, I found that I have more confidence now, knowing that I can do a 550 without stopping, knowing that if I dropped my feet, I wouldn't be able to find solid ground for at least another forty feet, without panicking at any point.

This past week has primarily been focused on coming up with a good solid plan for the next eleven weeks. I feel that this was something that I was truly lacking last time around. Obviously it wasn't necessary for successful completion last time.

But this is not last time. Those goals have been met; new ones need to be set.

The swim is longer, 800 yards instead of 550. I am unfazed by that now. The bike is shorter, 12 miles instead of 15.5, and the run is the same. At the rate I completed the last events, my finish time for the Danskin should be 2 hours, 16 minutes. I find that to be wholly unacceptable.

I think the biggest goal that I'm setting for myself (now that it's beyond not drowning & simply finishing), is to run the entire run. Even at a slow 11 minute mile, I may be able to shave 16 minutes off my finish time.

Too accomplish all of this, I dedicated about 70 million hours this past week coming up with a training plan that included three swims, three runs and two bikes a week, along with the eventual addition of strength training. Sure, sure, I could have signed up for an online plan for about $29.99, but I am cheap. And besides, I previewed many and none of them really made any sense to me. They talked in technical terms like VO2max and RPEs and heart rate zones. Yes, I'm positive that this information is beneficial, but unless someone is going to give me a lesson in athletic geek talk, I really don't want to be bothered with it right now: I have training to do.