Category: Spin

Juneathon Day 27 – Warning: Contains A Bit Of Swearing

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This is what I posted on the Juneathon Facebook Page this morning:

Juneathon Facebook page screenshot

The clean version

When I said ‘scuppered’, what I really meant (and what David was referring to) was this:

Facebook status update screenshot

The slightly more Tourettes version

 

Yes, parkrun fucking well fucked up my fucking challenge that I’d been fucking looking forward to for fucking weeks.

*Non-sweary bit*

In case you don’t know what my challenge was, I’d challenged myself to run my local parkrun at 9am, then get to the gym in time to do a spin class at 10am. Although there are only two miles between the park and gym, given how slow I am at a) running; and b) cycling, an hour – although not impossible – would be cutting it fine but, as long as the parkrun started on time, my challenge would be completed successfully and I could spend the rest of Saturday walking around saying things like, ‘yay, go me and my successfully completed challenges’.

*End of non-sweary bit*

But, did it start on time? OF COURSE IT FUCKING DIDN’T. I got to the park with plenty of time to spare but the introductory talk thing didn’t start until 9:05 and instead of just getting on with it and starting the run, the bloke started doing the crappy clapping everyone thing and so I thought fuck it, this is going to go on for at least another five minutes, I’m going to the gym, as I don’t want to miss spin and so I fucked off from the stupid fucking parkrun and went to the gym and went on the rowing machine and treadmill instead before going to spin.

Stupid fucking parkrun fucking up my fucking challenge.

Bah.

Stats

Running: 0 miles because stupid fucking parkrun
Challenges completed successfully: 0 because stupid fucking parkrun
Cycling: 4 pointless miles because stupid fucking parkrun
Rowing machine: 15 minutes because stupid fucking parkrun
Treadmill: 15 minutes because stupid fucking parkrun
Spin: 45 minutes. Yay for spin

Juneathon Day 6 – An Ultra-Parkrun And A Sunny Spin Class

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Sunshine

Helen left a comment on yesterday’s post suggesting we go to our respective parkruns and give each other a virtual high-five. We did this a while back as we’d both been slacking in our running (she probably had a good excuse like just having had a baby or something and I probably had a slightly less good excuse like just having been to the pub or something) but Helen is now running regularly and recently ran London Marathon, whereas I have done fuck all by way of running for weeks and so I’d only be high-fiving myself which, let’s face it, would look a bit weird.

And, anyway, I’d booked to go to spin and although on a good day, I could get back in time from parkrun for the class, I didn’t think today would be one of those good days so I said I’d do 5k on the treadmill at 9am instead.

However, when I woke up, my legs, shoulders and arms were aching. Plus, it was after 9am when I got to the gym and I didn’t think I’d have time to do 5k on the treadmill before spin so I decided to do 5k on the rowing machine instead. This plan was scuppered (don’t you just love the word ‘scuppered’?) when my heels kept slipping out of my trainers. This has never happened before so maybe along with my recent weight-loss my feet have also shrunk. Still, after pulling my trainers back up for the third time in five minutes, I unsurprisingly lost my patience and abandoned the rowing machine and decided to do 5k on the cross-trainer instead. This took about 20 minutes and I still had time left before my spin class, so I did another mile and decided that meant I’d done an ultra-parkrun. Get me and my highfalutin ultrarunner ways.

After my ultra, I ambled over to the room in which the spin class is taken and found an empty room. ALL THE SPIN BIKES HAD BEEN STOLEN BY FAT THIEVES WHO WANTED TO GET THEIR BEACH BODIES READY FOR SUMMER.

Gits.

Except they hadn’t been stolen – by fat thieves who wanted to get their beach bodies ready for summer or otherwise – the instructor had moved them all outside so we could have a sunny spin class. Yay.

I have decided though that a parkrun/get-back-in-time-for-spin challenge would be a good Juneathon thing and, unless I get a better offer for the morning of Saturday 27 June, this will be happening then.

Stats

Rowing machine: about 5 minutes
Cross-trainer: about 26 minutes / 4.2 miles
Spin class: a sunny 45 minutes
Juneathon’s completed: 4/30

 

 

Juneathon 2014 – Days 25 and 26 – All The Exercise

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Well, I certainly can’t be accused of slacking yesterday, even if I didn’t blog in the evening. I’m not much of an evening blogger – I’m not much of an evening anything, really. I used to blog all the time in the evening as I used to blog as soon as I’d come back from a run, whatever time that was, even if if was straight after a run commute from work. So, yes, my blogging over the years has definitely slacked off – a bit like my running, I suppose.

Anyway, yesterday morning I went for a five mile run, then in the evening I went to the gym and spent 30 minutes on the rowing machine, then 15 minutes on the cross-trainer, before going to a 45 minute spin class. This morning, I had planned to do my body pump DVD (the 30 minutes of it I like, anyway) but I couldn’t be bothered. However, as we all know, in Juneathon slacking is not an option, so I got on with it.

I do need to do some walking later though as I was perturbed to see I’d lost my number one position on the Fitbit leaderboard and after holding the top spot for a few days, I’ve become pettily competitive about it and I want to be number one again. Stupid Fitbit.

The most boring spin class in the world

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How the hell can someone make a spin class boring? I don’t like the ones where the instructor tries to encourage everyone to wave their arms in the air, but I can see that that would be fun for some people, just not me. But today… blimey, that was about as much fun as being stuck in a lift with John Bishop.

I’d booked myself into a spin class today and tomorrow as I’m on my Easter Holidays and therefore have a lot of spare time (if I ignore the fact I’ve got four 2,000 word essays to write). I was looking forward to these classes as it’s with my favourite instructor (i.e. the one who doesn’t try to make me wave my arms in the air and say ‘woo’) but when I got there there was a different instructor, a woman I’d been in a class with but not by. But that was fine, from what I’ve seen of her in the past, she’s warm and friendly but not too lively and energetic (Duracell Gym Bunny instructors aren’t for me) and so I thought, yes, this will be a good class.

It wasn’t. It was bobbins. Either she had the music on too loud or her microphone wasn’t turned up enough but I couldn’t hear anything she said (although she didn’t seem to be saying much anyway, and I like my instructors to talk a lot). The music was rubbish (except for Toxic by Britney Spears. Shut up, it’s a fab pop tune) and we seemed to be doing the same thing in each track. Where was the variation and motivation?

I kept looking at my watch, willing it to be over. Eventually it was and I went home and cancelled tomorrow’s spin class (which the instructor said she was taking instead of the usual instructor). I’m going to go for a run instead, it’ll be more fun.

As I said yesterday, I did try out the Scosche Wireless Pulse Monitor in my spin class. Before doing the class, I went on the rowing machine and upped my heart rate from 120-ish to 130-ish while I was on it and I kept an eye on it during spin where my heart rate maxed at 172 (I don’t know how many calories it said for spin because I kept the monitor on to see what my heart rate did on the cycle home and it gave me a total of 1133 calories for rowing, spin and cycling), but I can hardly say I was making a massive effort during that class. Kind of like the instructor, really.