Group Cycle May 25th

Today I taught a class, different from any other that I have taught.

I started with a brief warm up then took the class on three loops around a lake. I teach on the Keyser M3 bikes, so I was able to challenge them to beat or match their distance for each loop. Each loop was 10minutes long followed with a minute of active recovery. After the recovery I had them note their distance and restart the computer. I think that they all enjoyed doing more with the bike. I had the class work on a scale of 4-9 for the duration.

5 minute warm up and stretching
3 minutes into the wind 7-8 with ups and downs that I attributed to wind and mud
1 minute standing at 8-9
2 minutes with the crosswind 5-6 (ups and downs of course)
2 minutes wind at your back 4 high RPMs, 100 or higher
1 minute with crosswind again 6-7
30s 8-9 sitting I said it was muddy
30s 6-7
one minute active recovery
repeat the loop two more times

TABATA drills 20s fast legs 10s standard pace with resistance x8

cooldown and stretching

My play list was:
Franz Ferdinand - Dark of the Matinae
The Fratellis - Cuntry Boys and City Girls
The Hives - Hey Little World
The Heavy - How do you like me now?
The Killers - Smile like you mean it
Kings of Leon - The Bucket
Metric - Stadium Love
The Kooks - See the World
Kings of Leon - California Waiting
OK Go - Here is goes again
Vampire Weekend - Horchata
Chixdiggit - Spanish Fever
Chixdiggit - Thursday Night
Ray Lamontagne - Empty
Ray Lamontagne - Be Here Now

Group Cycle May 17+18th

I wasn't the slightest bit creative this week, just no time and I'm feeling less than inspired lately. Oh well, it was a good workout and it let people do their own thinking.

Warmup 5mins
Cadence pyramid on a hill: start on a moderate hill 60RMP. Increase by 5 RPM every 90s going up to 90 RPM. Keep resistance constant.
1 minute active recovery

Longish hill: start at bottom of you hill, stay for 2 min, increase every 2mins with 5 increases 12 mins
1 minute active recovery

Shorter hill: start higher than you did on the last hill, same hill but 3 increases, or try to reach a higher point than you did on the last hill
1 minute active recovery

TABATA: 20s fast legs on a moderate hill, 10 sec standard pace x8
Cool down and stretching

My playlist:
Beck: Gamma Ray
Against Me!: New Wave
Blondie: Heart of Glass
Cold War Kids: Something is not right with me
Vampire Weekend: Holiday
Coheed and Cambria: The Suffering
Kings of Leon: Crawl
Queen: Under Pressure
White Stripes: We are going to be friends
Dragonette: Pick up the Phone
Metric: Gold Guns Girl
Tegan and Sara: Alligator
Ramones: Sheena is a Punk Rocker
Ramones: Rock 'n' Roll high school
City and Colour: Confessions
City and Colour: Sensible Heart

Hopefully I find some inspiration, FAST!

Bullies

Remember when you were younger, and there was always that kid, that guy or girl who just irked you. They may or may not have been overly mean, but they made you uncomfortable, they made you think twice about doing things with certain groups of people. Or maybe they outright made your life miserable. Maybe you were unfortunate enough to bully who stole your lunch money, pushed you into bathrooms, or lockers, or pushed you down. Either way most of us remember this type of person. Most likely your parents, teachers, caregivers always told you it was because this bully was jealous of you. Why do parents lie like this to their children? Some people are just plain mean.

The trouble with the idea that these people are just plain mean is that its not something that is every going to go away right? Usually these mean people have a desire to rise to the top, no matter what. Anyways, so my point is just that it's too bad that you will usually always find a bully in your life. They will live on your street, go to your gym, ride in your carpool, shop at your supermarket or worse, work in your office. Sigh.

Calgary Folk Fest

A couple of years ago, I had heard of the folk fest but never attended. I was shocked in that year to read the lineup, Blue Rodeo, Nikko Case, City and Colour, Hawksley Workman, Rufus Wainright, etc, but those were the names that stood out for me.

Lets fast forward now through the past two years, and even this year. I appreciate full well that this event tried to introduce us to music that we have never heard before but might enjoy, but why not also consistently try to pull in artists that have general crowd appeal? Stars? Really?! Really? I couldn't even tell who was supposed to be the headliners when I looked at the list of artists, no offense to their fans or to the bands that will be there. I loved the Smalls, I still love Corb Lund, but I could see him three times a year if I wanted so he's not going to be enough to get me down to the grounds to spend my time and money. Who knows, I may have a change of heart, or maybe my one year of folk fest was just a flash in the pan, never to be seen again.

How bout them Habs?

Wow. Just wow. Who saw this team coming from behind, not once, but twice in a row?

Most of that we can pin on a hot goalie, Halak, but you also have to have scoring to win a hockey game. Let's all give a holla out to Cammallerie! As an Oilers fan, I can revel in his success and hapiness. Those Flames fans in my life? Ya, they're not very happy right now. Not at all.

Oh and did you know, a recent report says that 83% of Canadians watch hockey every week? This girl is not surprised, but I know many who will be.

Anyways, back to the les Canadiens. Hopefully they play Boston in a classic original six battle, it makes me think of the '71 Stanley Cup finals.... ah, memories of things I have read about in books.

Vive les Habitants!

Week of May 10th Group Cycle Class

I'm still a fairly new cycle instructor and I find myself searching online for class ideas, so I thought why not type my classes up? I teach a Monday morning 6am class and a Tuesday night 6pm class, so I use the same class plan for both classes. I do feel like I'm cheating a little, but it takes a long time to time the drills, and then match music by mood, tempo and time.

Anyways, here's what we did this week:

Warmup 6min
Low hill with speed: 90s at each interval followed with a 30s speed up, three increases = four intervals
1 minute active recovery

Low hill with jumps: 60s at each interval followed by 60s of 4 count jumps, three increases = four intervals
1minute active recovery

Speed pyramid : 60/45/30/15/15 with 15s between each set
1minute active recovery

up down hill, change gears every minute 2up, 1down for 12min; a grand total of a 7 gear range
1 minute active recovery

TABATA drills 20s fast legs with resistance 10s slow x 8 this works on increasing your VO2 Max, and its a great way to use up the rest of the gas in your tank

Cool down and stretch.

Technically, my class is 45 minutes, but by the time they finish stretching an put away their bikes, its 50-55 mins.

Here was my playlist:
Airborne Toxic Event: Does this mean you're moving on?
The Whigs: Like a Vibration
Vampire Weekend: Holiday
Dropkick Murphies: Shipping out to Boston (my homage to Bobby Orr)
Hall & Oates: Maneater
Franz Ferdinand: Darts of Pleasure
Eagles of Death Metal: I want you so Bad (Boys Bad News)
The Fratellis: Chelsea Dagger (for the Blackhawks tonight!)
The Hives: You've Got it all Wrong
Kings of Leon: Red Morning Light
The Killers: For Reasons Unknown
Lenny Kravitz: Are Gonna Go My Way
Stevie Wonder: Superstition
TV on the Radio: Wolf Like Me
OutKast: B.O.B.
Blue Rodeo: Bad Timing
Blue Rodeo: To Love Somebody

Its unofficially Bobby Orr day, because I say it is

I love my Edmonton Oilers, but I place hockey higher on that pedestal. So that is why I am able to appreciate what today is for the Boston Bruins, their fans, Bobby Orr fans, and fans of hockey.

If you were a child wanting to play in the NHL back in the six team league you knew that you had to be pretty special and that the competition would be fierce. Imagine for a moment what it was like for 12 year old Bobby Orr, being not only scouted, but courted by the Boston Bruins at 12 years old. Young Bobby handled all of the pressures that came along with being a star and a celebrity much better than anyone does now; likely because these are different days, but I like to think it was because Bobby was not only a fantastic hockey player, but also because he is a fantastic person.

Can you imagine a world where hockey player salaries weren't known, or where they were barely making enough to live off of simply because there were only so many teams, but plenty of players willing to play for less. Bobby Orr helped to change the treatment of players, for the good. Should hockey players be making as much as they are? Well what about the owners, we have to take a look at the numbers they are bringing in before we start spouting off on players, well that's what I think at least.

If you haven't ever read "Searching for Bobby Orr" by Stephen Brunt, I highly recommend that you pick it up, its well worth the read.

Tonight is a big game for the Bruins, they have a chance on the 40th anniversary of "the goal", Bobby Orr's flying Stanley cup winning goal celebration to close out their series against the Philadelphia Flyers. Whether or not you are a Bruins fan I think that you can still look back in awe at what happened this day in history. Appropriately Bobby has a statue outside of the Gardens now, as a Canadian I can appreciate that, as a hockey fan I can celebrate that.