Spinning class - The road to Loudenvielle

It's been a while since I posted one of my classes, so here's another one of those stages from this year's Tour de France - this time the stage from Foix to Loudenvielle. After the usual warm up to loosen up the legs, it's time to start climbing - a comfortable climb at a steady pace, gradually increasing resistance. Then a flattish road (although that's no excuse to take it easy!) before another short but fast climb to get HR up to an uncomfortable level (around 80% HRR). A quick lull before the climb continues - not long enough to recover completely so even this steady climb feels that much harder. As we get closer to the top, we test our limits by increasing resistance. Then it's another quick recovery as we head downhill, before the big climb of the day.

So far, it's been a mix of hard steady climbs and fast but lighter climbing - now it's time to put the two together, starting again with a steady but relatively quick climb but gradually increasing resistance until it gets very uncomfortable and climb out of the saddle to maintain momentum. HR by this stage will be around 80-85% but, two minutes from the top of the climb, an increase in resistance and HR to 85-90%. Somewhere in that final minute, HR should cross the lactate threshold, the "red line", where breathing becomes difficult and legs start feeling a slight burning sensation. So the two-minute recovery as we head downhill should come as a relief, a chance to bring breathing under control.

With the final climb starting only three minutes from the finish, it's time to use up whatever energy is left in the tank. A fast climb but with quite hard resistance to start the climb with HR at 80-85%. After a minute, a slight increase in resistance to bring HR upto and slightly beyond the red line at 85-90%. Only one minute to go and it's going to be flat out - another increase in resistance to raise effort levels and HR up to 90-95%, crossing the line with a last gasp and complete relief at completing this challenging ride.

Of course, it's not necessary to push so hard - climbs can be taken more comfortably by lowering resistance and effort levels, while maintaining a steady cadence (leg speed) and with enough resistance to ensure controlled pedalling. HR will be approx 10% lower but still leaves a feeling of going from the aerobic, 70-75% zone to the slightly uncomfortable but manageable 80-85%. Self-control is sometimes necessary, e.g., when returning from injury, after a long break or if suffering from a hangover (been there, it's not nice!).

Warm up - 4 mins
Seated climb - 5 mins
Flat road - 4 mins
Fast climb - 5 mins
Recovery - 1.5 mins
Steady climb - 6mins
Recovery - 1.5 mins
The big climb - 8 mins
Recovery - 1.5 mins
Fast standing climb - 3 mins
Cool down - 5.5 mins

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Playlist:
One wish for me - Miguel Migs
I wanna be U - Chocolate Puma
No scrubs - TLC
Rebel yell - Billy Idol
Duende del amor (night) - Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra
Sahara - Kleopatra
Overdue goodbye (reprise) - Anastacia
Insomnia - Faithless
Harlem's nocturne - Alicia Keys
Hungarian - Bond
Touched by God - Katcha

I'd rather die than exercise!

Not me, I hasten to add, but only four in ten Britons would be motivated to do more exercise if their life depended on it, a poll has found. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) published the survey last week, as it launched a new television advert urging people to take more exercise. The charity's figures show that one person dies every 15 minutes as a result of physical inactivity. But increasing the heart rate for just 30 minutes a day can cut the risk of heart disease in half.

The survey of more than 2,000 adults found that 38% of people would be motivated do more exercise if their life depended on it. That leads me to think that 62% of the population would NOT do more exercise even if it guaranteed to save their life! This would go a long way to explain the apathy in Britain (and, presumably, the USA, as it's primarily an Anglo-Saxon problem) about obesity and the consequences on society.


I also found out last week that 80% of the NHS budget is spent on conditions directly related to food, drink or smoking. Considering the massive budget of the health service, imagine the amount of tax we'd save if people cared enough to take care of themselves. Think of that, next time you think obesity, excessive alcohol consumption and smoking don't affect you - these people cost you money!

As an additional bonus headline, the survey found that 8% of women said doing vigorous housework was their favourite form of exercise (what?), only 1% of men agreed (quelle surprise!). Mind you, who are these nutters? Housework is their FAVOURITE exercise? Sounds like some sort of fetish to me....

Work is the thief of time

Ever feel like work gets in the way of life? Me, every day - probably why I sympathise so much with this guy:


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Warning: Facebook can be damaging to your spare time

Yep, this week I finally succumbed to the temptations of Facebook and spent more time on it than I'd like to admit. Despite my fears that it was all hype, just a glorified competition to have more friends than anyone else, a waste of time better spent actually speaking to people (how old fashioned!), I have to say that it has had its usefulness:

1 - it's great for finding old friends with whom I've lost contact
2 - it's surprising to find how many friends already know each other
3 - it makes it very easy to organise events, drinks, reunions, etc
4 - I've already "met" other people with similar interests to me
5 - for sharing those dreaded photos I'd hoped my friends had destroyed

All in all, great fun but I'm careful not to get involved with the myriad of virtual games it offers - the reason why many companies are trying to block access to Facebook by their staff.

Come find me - Robert Baldi. If you want to add me as a friend, make sure you tell me who you are - I may not recognise you by your real name!

Ciao for now,
RB

Requiescat in pace, Luciano

I don't know what to say but a comment from a guy interviewed on the news sums up the contribution Luciano Pavarotti has made: "I didn't even like opera until I heard Pavarotti sing at the World Cup"

Thank you Luciano for bringing some added culture to this island - you will be sorely missed.


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Running season begins again

After I ran the Rome marathon, my running dropped substantially. Apparently, it's a normal reaction after such an effort but I did find it hard to run more than twice a week without another major goal on the horizon, even though I enjoy it. I managed to get into a routine of running before or after one of my classes, especially as there is nice mile-long loop in the park near the gym in Kidbrooke, but still never anything over 10Km.

With the wet autumn evenings approaching (still no sign of a summer here in the UK) I feel like it's a natural time to start increasing my training load. I can increase the time spent running by only around 10% if I want to prevent injury, so it'll take me a while yet before I get back up to a 45-min interval session, a 1-hour tempo run and a long 2-hour run at the weekend. But it still feels great to be back out there pounding the pavement... all I need is to enter a spring marathon to help me focus (imminent hanging sharpens a man's wits!)

Talking of wet autumn runs:

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Spinning class - Three Peaks

I planned this ride just after coming back from those long climbs that don't seem to exist in Britain - I wanted to replicate the feeling that comes from climbing constantly for over half an hour but without working or boring the class to death. Very simple concept, then, which makes it a challenging ride to lead. I've split the ride into three segments, each one containing an 11-minute climb.

Climb 1: from a light start, this first climb has five gradual changes of resistance to build up to a fairly heavy climb, enough to want to stand for the final 3 minutes of the climb. While out of the saddle, an optional extra resistance change to push the legs beyond their comfort zone for the final 1.5 minutes. This gradual loading of resistance will allow the legs to adapt before each change - too sudden and leg muscles will refuse to co-operate and absorb that resistance.

Climb 2: now that the legs are used to climbing, the starting point should be higher, with moderate resistance. Still five gradual changes of resistance except that by the final change it should be very hard to maintain a steady rhythm in the saddle, so that standing up for the final 6 minutes of the climb should come as a relief. Out of the saddle, an optional two extra changes, again to push the legs beyond their limits.

Climb 3: this is the one for which we've been warming up! Starting from moderate resistance, there are four resistance changes to build up to a heavy climb that is sustainable for the final 7 minutes of the climb, always maintaining a steady rhythm. Then the fun begins! This climb has three switchbacks - short, sharp increases of gradient that usually happen when a mountain road "switches back" on itself - that will require bursts of intense effort.

Cadence remains constant but, just before each switchback, resistance is increased so high that it's almost impossible to maintain that cadence in the saddle and a burst of power out of the saddle is needed to keep the momentum going. Then it's back to the saddle, resistance back to that steady heavy climb (that's the hard part - to keep climbing after such a hard effort). The first switchback is 30secs long, followed by 30secs in the saddle. Not enough time to recover fully before a second, 45sec switchback. Then back to the saddle for two minutes until the final, 90sec hard effort before returning to the saddle for the final 45secs. Sounds confusing but, if you know the track, just follow the rhtyhm!

Warm up - 4 min
Climb 1 - 10 min
Recovery - 2 min
Climb 2 - 11 min
Recovery - 2 min
Climb 3 - 10.5 min
Cool down and stretching - 5.5 min

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Playlist:
Why does my heart feel so bad - Moby
Morning star - Planet Heaven
Duende del amor (night) - Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra
Spiritual light - Mea Culpa
The chase - Alan Reeves (from Kill Bill)
After all (Satoshi Tomiie remix) - Delerium
Touched by God - Katcha