Indoor Cycling Week 2

Day 1 (1 hour)
Tuesday's class consisted of some new intervals.  It started off similar to the others we've done; five minutes warmup, 70% effort for a minute, minute easy, 80% minute, minute easy, 90% minute, minute easy.  After that we went full-out effort for 30 seconds and easy spinning for 30 seconds, repeated 20 times for the set.  Then five minutes easy spinning and a repeat of the 20 intervals, finishing with a 5 minute cool down.

I noticed my wooden block slipping again.  I slowly (but firmly) tried to rotate my front tire with my hand, as though to pull the block under the tire more.  Instead of the block moving, my entire bike rolled forward.  Which again was fine, because I was centered on the block.  Unfortunately, my wife wasn't so lucky.  Her blocks few out from under her front tire with a clatter.  But like a trooper she just kept on spinning.

Day 2 (1 hour)
I wanted to put an end to the slippery antics so I went shopping.  I picked up two CyclOps Riser Blocks.  Unlike other blocks, they have three different levels.  Apparently both blocks can be combined to simulate many climbing positions.  I also picked up some cushioned interlocking mats.  The mats would help with the slippery sweat mess in addition to providing some dampening of vibrations.

Today's class started with an 80% effort to warm up, then we went right into Individual Leg Training, or ILT's.  In a nutshell, you start pedaling with one foot then switch to another.  While pedalling you concentrate on how to make circles with your pedal stroke. It sounds easy enough, but I actually found it pretty difficult.  I had my bike set for little resistance and was using an easy gear, but found my heart rate up while doing the ILTs.

The last intervals were interesting.  Each set was nine minutes.  The first 2 minutes were at 80% effort and the third minute was at 100%.  Then minutes four and five were at 80%, then minute six at 100%.  Then minutes seven and eight at 80% and finally the ninth minute at 100%.  We did this three times with a 5 minute cool down in between.

Day 3 (1.5 hours)
Last Saturday I was low on liquids so I thought I'd be better prepared this time.  In addition to my Polar 24oz water bottles, I also brought along a bottle of Powerade.  My bike doesn't have three bottle holders though.  I used a small bungee cord to fasten it to a sane spot on the front of my bike.

For this class we did more over-unders.  First a warm up to bring us to our Functional Threshold Power (FTP).  After a five minute cool down, three minutes were 90% of FTP, then 2 minutes 105% FTP, another 3 at 90% and another 2 at 105%.  That's ten minutes of cycling like a madman.  We did that particular set five times, with five minutes of cool down in between.