Strong and Steady

Strong and Steady, nice strong pedal strokes, deep breathes, consistent energy moving in and moving out, let your brain go where it wants to and let your body work.  Release the tension from the day, from your problems, let your body work, just let the rhythm of the ride flow from the top of your head to the toes on your feet.  Strong and steady, what do you think of?  Waves that roll into the shore at the beach, the constant motion of a train rocking you to sleep, the strong, steady, consistent beat of your heart,......that's what I want today, strong and steady
Want you back 3:33 Cher Lloyd
 warm up

Sail  4:19 - Awolnation 
Have your class stand up and add tension until they are having a hard time moving the pedals, then sit and take the tension down till it is managable, but still the heaviest you can stand, this will be there hardest tension what they will build up to
Blinded by the Light 7:06 Manfred Mann's Earth Band
release tension start at flat road, total of 3 increases of tension, 2 minutes standing 2 minutes in the saddle
Wonderful Night 4:46 Fatboy Slim
still working the above set
Like A G6  3:39 Far East Movement 
 release tension, strong steady easy pace, up or down, breathe, get water
Underneath 5:10 DJ Antoine
Running tension, 7 out of 10, stand for 5 to 10 seconds get momentum then sit down and hold that pace for 30 seconds, 30 second rest, repeat
Clash 5:07 Junkie XL
Rolling hills 30 seconds on, 30 seconds on, 1 min on, 1 min off, etc
Going Wrong 8:18 Armin Van Buuren & DJ Shah
75% song
Rocky 2:48 Bill Conti
Last heavy in saddle climb
Crash into me 5:16  Dave Matthew Band
Cool Down
Possibility 5:06 Lykke Li
 Stretches

LITTLE THINGS

Little Things

So much can be said about the little things.....

“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.” 
― Leo F. Buscaglia

“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” 
― Andy Warhol

“Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.” 
― Danny Wallace, Yes Man

A little thing can change your whole mind about something or someone.  Just imagine a small tiny pebble in your shoe, it is not noticeable at all until it works it's way under your foot, then you feel it.  The slight pinge that something isn't right, but you keep walking.  Again you feel it and again, now you are paying attention, WHAT is that?  Where is it?  you have to adjust your stride, shake your shoe around, but it is still there.  Finally you need to STOP, take off your shoe, remove your sock and find the little bugger.  Amazing that something so small, so tiny, can STOP you in your tracks........  Little things can be very important. 

Little things..... like breathing in cycle class,  correct foot placement, correct bike set up, a little too much push on the down stroke of a pedal, shoulders pulled in a little too much during an endurance ride, sitting a little to close to the nose of the saddle, your bike seat a little too high.  You get the idea.....What is your little thing?

If it doesn't catch your attention when it is a little pebble, it will become a bigger thing, until you address it.  I find that A LOT of LITTLE things in all aspects of life tend to run this course.   So today, I am just asking you to pay attention to one little thing.......

 for example:  Breathing, feel the air move into your nose, your nostrils flare, the breath hits the back of your throat, your upper chest, upper back, abdomen expand, you can feel your spine elongate, then PURPOSELY push the air out back up your trachea, through your throat, out your nose and mouth... do it again.... grab each breath and follow it into your body and out.....be aware of what it does for you.  Connect with your breathing, with the way your body moves with your inhalation, embrace this LITTLE thing and use it to improve your yourself...

We then can go thru the whole aspect of what breathing does for you, that it will not fail you, that is the great thing about your respiratory system, if you breathe too fast, or too slow, or not at all, inevitable you will pass out and then your body takes over, the perfect, control-alt-delete for your body. 

As you increase your pace, increase your breathing, breathe deeper, exhale with more force,  your oxygen is your fuel, it drives oxygen to your blood, your muscles, your nerves, your brain, if your well-oxygenated, you are calm.

You exertion is low, you perform better physically 

By paying attention to your breathing you can sooth yourself, then you can reach down a bit deeper and expand the limits you have set for yourself.  Make every breath count......BREATHE....

I like to think of your heart as a small scared child that just woke up from a nightmare, your breathe is the parents soothing that small child back to calmness, back to stillness, back to sleep, to security, to comfort........

Now you can use this for multiple rides in the cycle room, you can use the breath example above, or break down the pedal stroke and have a whole class about the principles of pedal skills ( of course don't tell them that!  Just have them concentrate on one body part at a time, breaking down the stroke and describing it, detail by detail, Little thing by little thing)  the possibilities are endless... 

Rolling Hilly Course

Rolling Hilly Course Endurance One

January 25, 2013

I adapted this workout from a book I bought about a year ago.  The book is called

Workouts in a Binder for Indoor Cycling [Spiral-bound] Wes Hobson (Author), Dirk Friel

It has A LOT of useful information in it, if only I could find the time to devote to reading it...

One thing I did grab out of the book was how to calculate the RPMs, Count your leg movments, for example your knee's upward movement, for 15 seconds and multiple by 4, that is your RPM.  I didn't get a chance to use this for my riders in class yet, but it does help me..

Anyway on to the profile

Mother- 5:36 Pink Floyd  easy warm up song, enough tension to feel the road, deep breaths

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall 5:12 Coldplaery Ty- 30 seconds standing, 30 seconds seating 

Sympathy for the Devil 6:28 Rolling Stones - alternate legs, one minute right leg does all the work, second minute left leg does all the work, third minute work both legs, even it out, repeat

Sunshine 6:01 - Rolling hills, one minute on with tension, one minute off  with a faster pace

Do you love me 2:55 - Rest song, easy pace, easy tension( flat road) people can choose to stand during this time

Insomnia 6:45- Rolling hills as above

Let my love open the door 2:45 - Rest song

Howlin 4:16 - progressive slow hill building for this song and next, add tension every 2 minutes

Swamp 5:16 -

Zocalo 8:37 - Nice strong 75% hill, release the tension, flat road, breathe and work, let the muscles move you, drive your legs with your breath. 

No Surrender 6:37 Cool Down

Home 3:29  Stretches

Back in the Saddle

Simple concept
Warm up song, preferably over 4 minutes
 2 sets, complete 2 times
 1 minute up, 1 minute relaxed, repeat ( total 4 minutes)
 2 minutes up, 2 minutes relaxed, repeat ( total 8 minutes)
 3 minutes up, 3 minutes relaxed ( 6 minutes)
 4 minutes up, 4 minutes relaxed (8 minutes ) This is your first set total 26 minutes
 Repeat again (26 minutes) cool down song Spin class over, presto!

Now for the details I tried to relate the concept to energy, the whole world is energy, you putting energy in, you taking energy out, people stealing your energy, negative energy, positive energy, restorative energy, etc, etc. I talked about how much energy you put out on a daily basis, to friends, spouses, co-workers, children, animals, traffic jams, how much exertion you push out to the world, the whole time you are awake. How do you take that energy back? How do you refuel? Exercise? T.V? Eating? Silence? We often don't spend as much time, or energy, putting energy back into ourselves, we need to. You can't just put energy out, and not put it back, it will be exhausting and often you will slip further in the wrong direction, then the direction you were intending to go. So this mix is all about energy, or the BALANCE of energy. What you exert out, I want you to try to pull back in.


 One minute : One minute up out of the saddle, hard cardio push, should have enough tension to run at, strong, One minute back in the saddle, breathing pulling the energy back in, relaxing the shoulders, breathing REPEAT
Two minutes: add tension, in the saddle, smooth, strong pedal strokes, Two minutes at the easy tension, (your flat road tension) REPEAT
Three Minutes: Three minutes add tension, in the saddle, push, maintain for three minutes, then three minute relaxed pace ( flat road )
Four Minutes : Four minutes, 2 minutes up hard, 2 minutes in the saddle with tension, still pushing Four minutes at a relaxed pace
REPEAT WHOLE THING
One minute:  I did the first 1 minute intervals the same see above
Two minutes: I changed it to an increase in pace/cadence vs adding tension, so 2 minutes fast race pace, 2 minutes relaxed, REPEAT
Three minutes: Three minutes First minute standing at a fast pace, fast jogging, then next minute fast race pace in the saddle, last minute standing again, 3 minutes relaxed ride
Four minutes: First minute up running, second in the saddle race pace, third minute up running, fourth minute in the saddle race pace
 Done, cool down, stretches
 PLAYLIST:
One thing 4:40
Mad World 3:29
One more Night (Sticky K Remix) 3:57
Remember When(Push Rewind) 3:14
Love Generation(feat. Gary Pine)8:53
Tonight, tonight, tonight 8:50
Every Teardrop is a Waterfall (Coldplay vs Swedish House Mafia)5:12
You Make Me Feel...(Disco Fries Remix)
Scream & Shout(feat.Britney Spears)5:31
Faster Kill Pussycat(Club Mix) 7:59
 Between the Raindrops(feat. Natasha Bedingfield) 4:45