Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Trainer try-out

I've expanded my activity list by 100%! Today I got my (so wonderfully awesome) road bike set up on my borrowed trainer up in the loft, and took it out for a spin. Initially I was like, Hell no this is way too hard, then Tom came along and said, Gee, it might be a little easier if you had it in a lower gear . . . yeah. It was quite a bit easier and, really, more than I had hoped for. I popped in the Spinervals with Iron Girl DVD and proceeded to spin along in the easiest gear at a snails pace for, oh, 15 minutes. I'm sticking with the Gently, gently train of thought, even though I really wanted to pound out those intervals I just pedaled along slowly. If all goes well, next time I'll bump it up to a half an hour.

I'm pretty impressed with the trainer. Even though I only rode for 15 minutes, and easy at that, my heart rate was up and I busted out a little sweat. I can see how you could really hammer on the thing. I can also see how you could get real bored real quick, but I guess that's what TV is for.

So I've got the little cadence thingy that goes with the Garmin Forerunner, and will get around to putting that on, along with a heart rate monitor, before my next ride. I know my cadence is lousy and I'm always pushing too slow in too high of a gear, and I'm hoping the cadence monitor will help with that. Plus, another gadget! Makes me happy!

3 comments:

Runner Leana said...

Yes, the cadence thing totally helps out a lot! The trainer can be very boring to ride, but with a good workout you can get past it. I actually probably get more bored on the "less technical" rides where I can watch (and pay attention) to a movie.

Stuart said...

Sweet set up, get that Cadence thingy up and running and you can start racing the virtual partner...mind you with a Spinervals DVD, now that's compulsive viewing!

Chic Runner said...

Wow that is quite the set up. I am bike challenged. Anyways... That was the funniest comment ever about GARY your GARMIN! I can't believe that, ha ha love it. Glad that he keeps track of you but doesn't overdo it. :)