now I'm in for it

[Dogmama]

I don't think leg speed is dependent on the size of the legs. I do think that as you get more leg speed, you will lose weight on your legs - so yeah - maybe the cart before the horse.

Sounds like you've found a gem of a class! Please be sure to keep us updated on your progress. I bet when you get back on the bike, you're going to fly!

Veronica, I usually think about circles on lower cadence. If you can concentrate on circles at a higher cadence, my helmet is off to ya! I just concentrate on not blowing out my knees!

[latelatebloomer]

I completed my first week in the House of Pain! It's hard work but I think I did well, and the trainer must think so - last night he said that I had worked really hard and could take easy for a couple days! I also feel like I "belong." People are chatting with me and a world champion even asked me to show him the shoulder stretch I was doing! "Our" bikes stay set up in "our" room (no one else uses them) and the gentlemen on either side of me, racers both, sweat and groan and fret same as me! One even mentioned, without me saying anything about my worry, that he didn't think he could hit 140 cadence when we get to those drills, but that we'd do our best and improve, which was the point, really. Was he reading my mind?

After the session I feel really strong - tired in one way but full of life-force and self-esteem in another. Must be endorphins....

What wise woman said that the thing that scares you is the thing you MUST do? (E.Roosevelt??) I SO wanted to back out of this training, and I'm very glad I didn't.

[Dogmama]

Latelate - thanks so much for posting this! Next time I'm whining in my spinning class, I'm going to think of you!

[latelatebloomer]

Two weeks in "The House of Pain" and I'm loving it. Totally challenged and totally loving it. Most of us show up quite early to warm up and stretch. Then the training starts. We do a half hour of serious warm up with intervals of increasing cadence, and then an hour or more of (for this month) low cadence, high resistance segments. They started at 6 minutes and are increasing each week. We use resistance to drive the heart rate to 85% and then beyond. We are sweat-saturated slimy messes at the end. Tonight, my 85% target was 172, and I was able to drive it into the 180's toward the end. We have music AND a metronome to help us keep rhythm, and at the last effort, when I started to flag, I opened my eyes and realized I could team up with the racers on either side of me, they were just w/in my peripheral vision - and they kept driving me hard. The guy on my left has really taken me under his wing.

I'm very proud of myself tonight.

[latelatebloomer]

Hey, everyone - I haven't been posting, or even visiting much at all. I couldn't afford the time, and the posting of accidents was having a neg. effect on me, so I went away. Missed you and thought of you all often, though. I just wanted to let you know that LLB has done herself proud though this whole indoor training season, to the point that the trainer said the "R" word to me last week. As in, save this date (May 26) for your first race. Ok, many of you know how just about 2 years ago, I was struggling to do 3 miles on my hybrid! Will I really race? I don't think so, but I'm not saying no. My road skills are still newborn-fawnlike, but if Chip is willing to give me some road training....well....bicycles = miracles, eh?

[Dogmama]

Hey LLB!

I haven't been here much either - full time job + full time puppy + full time husband.

I think just working towards a goal is good! If you race, great. If you don't race, great. You've had all of that training behind you!

Covert Bailey says that people who train for a marathon and never run it are much healthier than those who run it. People who actually run it (according to his research) come down with more colds, etc., after the event.