Karen writes: On bears and gazelles

I try to go twice a week to spin cycling class at the gym at Formosa. I do have a spin bike at home, it is my emergency backstop for the times when I need to train and cant get out of the house.  I hate it.  I never work hard on it, even when I use one of those grueling Spinerval DVD's.  More often I do things to sabotage any training benefit from pedaling like read a book or daydream.  You cant read books or daydream in a spin class and while the class only lasts for 45 minutes I am sure it is more beneficial than 90 minutes of sitting on the deck with legs turning lackadaisically on my own bike.  My reading suggests that hard spin is also likely to be beneficial in a different way from meandering round the countryside on the roadbike as I am wont to do.

Some days I run to spin and back home, an 11-15km round trip, other days I cycle, usually adding on some extra miles. I pretend these are some sort of 'brick' sessions, and use them as an excuse for not running after the big bike rides like I am meant to.  I mean, I am going for a run after a hard ride...sort of.

While I still feel behind in my bike fitness, I am definitely doing better at spin class than when I first turned up some-time last year. Back then it felt pretty tough and I minimised my effort so as to not impact on the rest of my training schedule, now I am taking pretty much what the instructor throws at us.  Us.  I have to admit that I feel like the odd one out in these classes, the rest of the 'us' is made up of, in most cases, much younger women, they work hard on their bikes, look beautiful and fitly fabulously as they generate a glow with their Nike or Asics or whatever clad legs flashing at higher cadence than I could possibly expect to reach. I thrash away at my pretend bike wearing the old clothes too worn out to use on the road bike. Sweat drips inelegantly down my nose, I huff and gasp. Half the time my shoulders are up around my ears and I'm hunched over not bent from the hips and I forget to pedal 'smoothly in circular motion'. I misjudge the resistance on the bike and can come to a grinding halt occasionally when going from standing to sitting.

I feel like a slow, lumbering old bear among the gazelles.  Ha...Ironbear.

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