Spinning Day One

Yesterday was the inaugural "Base Camp" spin course kick-off. In previous years (this is my fourth run) we've started our Sunday mornings at the leisurely hour of 11am. Ride for two hours, stop for pho on the way home, call it a day. (Or make the mad dash to get ski gear all ready and head to Blue for the night, whichever.)

This year, we've changed start time to 7:00am. I think I am actually in favour of the switch, despite first impressions experienced at 6am Sunday morning.

1) While the TTC doesn't run that early on Sunday, there IS free parking on Bloor, right up to 1pm. And no traffic.
2) By the time I actually wake up, spin class is already half over.
3) When you start early, you finish early. Home by 10am, leaving plenty of time for a nap, two lunches and then the traditional 2pm departure for Sunday-Nights-At-Blue.
4) Forces me to behave myself on Saturday nights.
5) Another feather in the cap for green smoothies which are the perfect pre-spin fuel it turns out.

Also, everyone's different but my body is happiest in the morning I think. So my workout went very well. For our first session, we completed 2x8 minute tests* at race pace to log averages and come up with a "basement" and a "ceiling" heart rate for our base miles. We also completed some single leg drills and kept a mostly steady pace for a total of two hours.

Then I got home where my lentil soup was just finishing in the slow cooker, and my kitchen smelled amazing. I had a bowl, caught up with Athena who's eight-months-down-one-month-to-go from the most beautiful physical test of all, and tended to my crops in Farmville. An hour after lunch one, I was ready for lunch two and whipped up some whole wheat pasta to go with the turkey-pesto-meatball sauce I'd made in the slow cooker the day before. Then it was off to Blue Mountain for night skiing.

Who told everyone about Sunday nights?! Snow was mostly great, line-ups were aggravating but with our little posse we had no trouble killing the time. Too bad about the cold wind waiting when you disembark at the top though. brrrr. That's why night-skiers are tougher. Who's in next Sunday?

And so, tired and sore, I start another week. On the menu: book club tonight (only 50 more pages to read before then ... eep)! yoga, training, and of course our next spinning class Thursday night! Still room if you're interested in joining. Contact Mike at RPM, 416-761-9717



*The "industry standard" for testing is the famous [dreaded] 20 minute test. But Lance Armstrong's coach, Chris Carmichael has found that in the early season, when athletes are not yet at their prime (or anywhere close to it), the 2x8 minute test will usually produce the same results as the 20 minute version, without straining capillaries, muscles and tendons that aren't ready yet.