Halloween Spin

My Monday morning spinning class fell on Halloween this year, so I decided to make it fun and planned a special Halloween spinning class.  Everyone was invited to dress up, but only one person (one of my besties) did besides myself.  I came as Richard Simmons - the ultimate fitness instructor ;)!  I made a playlist of Halloween-ish songs.  This took a TON of time, since most Halloween songs are corny and don't really give that "pedal to the medal" feeling that you need to keep you going for 45 minutes.  But, I put this together and it ended up being AMAZING! 

Halloween Spin!

1.     Beast – Warm-up. 

2.     Thriller /Off with your head – Reverse sprints

3.     Black Cat (4:50) – Seated climb.  Increase and stand at chorus.

4.     This is Halloween (3:22) – Start seated at level 7.  On chorus, stand alternate standing and sitting every 15 sec. increasing each time.

5.     Toxic (3:18) - Sprints 

6.     Haunted (3:05) – Standing to seated climb.  Heavy.  Seated at chorus

7.     Disturbia (3:58) – Jumps

8.     Monster (4:09) – Start at level 6, increase every 30 seconds

9.     Kill your Heroes (2:58) – Seat down. Runs in 2nd at 0:43-1:01; 1:23-1:43; 2:01-2:41. Seat in between the runs while trying to keep an upbeat cadence.

10. Beautiful Monster – Surges. 

11.Zombie (5:06) – Climb. Start at level 7.  Stand in third at chorus, increase each time.

12. Death Valley (3:47) – Sprints (0:42-1:09) 25 sec (1:47-2:13) 25 sec (2:58-3:28) 30 sec

13.                         Sally’s Song – cool down

Make-up tutorial: Contouring

You Can't Crash On a Spinning Bike

Yesterday I went mountain biking at Tamarack.  It was their last day of having the chairlifts open to take the bikes up the mountain and ride their trails down.  I was excited, but mostly scared, since I have only mountain biked at Tamarack one other time, about 10 years ago (ewww that makes me sound so old)!  I also can count on one hand the amount of times I have been mountain biking, period, since Marlee came around.  So, to go and spend all day riding down this mountain was a little intimidating.  I do love mountain biking, but I am DEFINITELY out of practice, and at a place like Tamarack, there really weren't very many trails that I could even attempt.

We started on the easiest trail.  I was feeling pretty good, maybe just a little tense, but was nearing the end of the trail thinking I was doing pretty good the first time around. I'm nearing the end of the trail, and all of a sudden there was this steep part, followed by a sharp switchback, combined with lots of loose dirt.  It didn't work out for me.  I literally have no idea what happened, but it was painful.  I just remember flying off my bike, trying to catch myself with my hands, and my bike landing on top of me.  I was all by myself but was still embarrassed for me!  It hurt pretty bad, but I am actually thankful for the pile of loose dirt, because if it had been a harder landing I would probably be in much worse condition.

After the crash I was pretty timid and shaky, so unfortunately I don't feel like spending a day there really improved my skills much.  Possibly made them worse.  As I kept riding the trails down, scared to crash again, I realized that is one of the many reasons I love spinning!  You can't crash!  You have great music, great friends, a great workout, and no crashing!

This is me after the crash, filthy dirty!  At least I'm standing!

This is one thing you can't get in spinning class...the view!  So gorgeous!

Skinny vs. Fit

One of the most important lessons I have learned is the difference between being skinny and being fit.  After I had my first child, it was very difficult for me to adjust to the change my body had made.  It wasn't the same.  I couldn't eat like I had before, and I had gained weight from sleepless nights and stresses of beauty school.  When I finished school, I remember looking at a picture and realizing what I really looked like.  I wasn't happy with what I saw, and only being 20 years old, I wasn't going to do it.  But I wasn't smart.  I made a good choice and started exercising, but I was really desperate.  So along with running miles and miles a week, I was eating VERY, VERY little.  We are talking 500-600 calories a day.  This is less than half what a healthy diet for my calories being burned through the day should have been.  I kept this up for a long time, and every time I looked in the mirror, all I could see were the fat rolls (all in my head).  It wasn't until I looked at a picture of me and noticed that I looked like a skeleton - bony, sunken in eyes, no color to my skin, dark saggy eyes) that I realized it was a problem.  Ever since then (at least ten years) I have worked hard to find what healthy really is.


On the left is me at my lightest weight (about 105 lbs.)  On the right is me a few weeks ago (about 115 lbs.)  When I look at these photos it is clear to me what I would rather be.  You can't go by the scale to determine how "fit" you are.  Muscle definitely weighs more than fat, and looking at the number on the scale can play mind games that aren't really true.  I only weigh myself every other month or so, because I have discovered that being in tune with how you feel is more important.  By being disciplined and paying attention to what you are fueling your body, changes will happen!  I'm eating about 1400 calories a day of pure whole foods.  Of course I cheat sometimes...and that's ok!  It's all about balance!  Hopefully in my posts I can help give some pointers on how to do that!

I made this profile and we did it in class on Monday and it was seriously awesome!  Everyone pushed themselves so hard, including me!  We had to make up for no class this coming Labor Day Monday!  Here is the profile with the entire playlist for anyone wanting to try it out.  It hurts...but so rewarding afterwards!

Killer August Spinning Workout
*Click on the link for complete Spotify playlist

1.     Crash (3:31) – Warm-up.  Start at tempo.  On chorus, turn up resistance and increase speed. 
2.     Preacher (4:07) – Start at level 7, turn up resistance at chorus and stand.  Sit back down and keep resistance and pace.  Continue each chorus. 
3.     Let It Roll (3:14) – FAST!  Keep the pace.  When song picks up, increase pace.  Stand at “Come on and run” and run it out. 
4.     The Wonton Song (4:09) – Start at moderate/heavy resistance.  Increase resistance every 30 seconds.
5.     Crank It Up (3:12) – Start at tempo.  “Crank it up” to 80%, then sprint last 15 seconds. 
6.     Enter Sandman (5:31) – Reverse sprints….start seated, heavy resistance.  Take of resistance and sprint standing at chorus.
7.     Lights (4:54) – 30-20-10.  (30 second rest)  Repeat.
8.     Marry the Night (4:24) – Start seated at level 7.  Stand and  increase, sit and increase, alternating every 15 seconds during chorus. Sit when chorus ends, decrease resistance for a short break. 
9.     How I Feel (3:20) – Sprints.  30 seconds.  Flat road, keep tempo.  Build up when no words.  Sprint(0:45-1:15) (2:00-2:30) SHORT BREAK!! (2:45-3:15)
10.  Morning After Dark (3:51) – Jumps with moderate tension 16 second counts.  Seated for 16, third for 16.  Take a short seated break.  Finish last minute at counts of 8.
11.                        Move like a Soldier (3:02)– Surges.  Heavy tension (9).  Pedal as fast as possible at chorus.
12.                        The Kids Aren’t Alright (4:20) – Cool-down