Spin classes occupy a central place in the off-season training programs of many cyclists and the routines of fitness enthusiasts. Whether you’re training for a Gran Fondo race, or just want the juice to ride up the hill when exiting the Hudson River Greenway at 59th Street, spin classes can improve your fitness level and help you reach your goals.
But here’s a key question that applies whether you’ve been spinning for years or just attended your first class: Are you getting everything you can out of your 45 – 60 minutes in the studio? Is your workout helping you to build your climbing, endurance, explosive power and ability to recover?
For advice, I recently talked with Greg Cook (photo below), a national fitness educator and a Schwinn Master Trainer at Equinox Fitness Clubs in New York City. He’s recently launched a new website and blog, where readers can find inspiration to help fuel their daily workouts.
photo: velojoy
Read more…
Kattie Fragola, an I-Tri team member, rides the race course of the Maidstone Park Youth Triathlon.
Innovative Program Encourages Empowerment
“There’s nothing you can’t do on a road bike.”
That’s how Abby Roden, 14 (photo below), a participant in an innovative triathlon program for adolescent girls based at Springs Middle School in East Hampton, NY, describes her love of cycling.
I first learned of I-Tri and its motto, “transformation through wellness,” when I came upon a group of Abby’s teammates setting off on a training ride with their coaches. A few weeks later, I watched 15 first-time I-Tri triathletes and 8 mentors race in the second annual Maidstone Park Youth Triathlon. What an inspiring experience! I-Tri is a great example of an effort to help empower young women, at least in part, by getting them involved in cycling.
Led by Abby’s mother, Theresa Roden, the group’s founder and executive director, I-Tri helps adolescent girls develop self-confidence and a sense mastery through triathlon.
Abby Roden in the transition area with the road bicycle that she named Blue Lightening.
Theresa, a former teacher who now works with her husband in publishing, says students are invited to join I-Tri based on recommendations from teachers and guidance counselors and on a survey created by the Women’s Sports Foundation to help identify girls who could benefit from participation.
“We’re looking for girls who don’t identify themselves as athletes, and who also have some self-esteem or emotional issues in their backgrounds,” Theresa says.
Building Camaraderie and Self-Confidence
I-Tri focuses less on finish times than on building self-esteem and camaraderie. Abby, in a gesture of solidarity reflective of the program’s heart, ran across the finish line clasping the hand of her teammate Camila Tucci.
She says she was happy to have improved her running time over last year. But Abby still considers bicycling her favorite triathlon discipline, and even named her LeMond Tourmalet road bicycle Blue Lightening. “I like the speed,” she says. “It’s just you and the bike, and the wind in your hair.”
In Blue Lightening, there’s also an important legacy. Abby’s mother road the bicycle in her own first triathlon in 2006, an experience that paved the way for founding I-Tri.
“I felt transformed, from the inside out,” Theresa Roden told the East Hampton Star of competing in the Block Island Triathlon. “I’d gone from being a couch potato to an athlete. It changed everything…I thought that if I’d begun at the age of 12 rather than 35 what a different life I would have had.”
From left, Paige Rucanno and Valentina Sanchez display their medals following their triathlon finish.
Read more…
Selene Yeager, who writes the Fit Chick column for Bicycling Magazine, was in the house at a recent meeting of the New York Cycle Club in Manhattan to discuss her new book, Ride Your Way Lean, and to share training tips with a room-full of cycling enthusiasts.
Yeager says her book was partly inspired by the popularity of TV shows like The Biggest Loser and recent stories of epic weight loss through cycling. However, she wanted to avoid the “lose your belly, butt and thighs” genre of diet book, so Ride Your Way Lean takes a fitness-first approach.
“To me, looking nice in a pair of jeans is a byproduct of wanting your body to be the best machine it can be,” Yeager says. “Moving just makes you feel good and if you lose weight all the better.”
Selene Yeager dishes at NYCC.
Although it’s a stretch to imagine it, Yeager mentions a time in her life when she had to re-think her own eating habits and workout regimen. The story, which appears in the book’s introduction, goes something like this: a male colleague suggested that she drop a few pounds to improve her cycling performance — this as Yeager was sitting on a pool deck in a Speedo.
The author laughs off the tale now, but uses it to illustrate that falling into a rut is an all too common pitfall. A structured plan can help people keep on track and stay motivated. Her book lays out four 12-week cycling plans based on readers’ goals; they range from a “Big Loss” for those who want to drop 35-50 pounds, through shedding a size or a “spare tire,” and conclude with a maintenance program for lifelong fitness. Read more…
Dropped. Left behind. So long. Ta-ta.
For the first time ever, I was dropped from the line during my regular Saturday morning group ride.
Sure, my ego was bruised; I’m proud to pull my own weight. Worse though, was that riding didn’t offer its usual pop; it felt labored and slow. I found in this embarrassing experience a wake-up call and a reminder that, where conditioning is concerned, nothing should be taken for granted.
A fitness bellweather: The Ponquogue Bridge looms in Westhampton Beach.
Here’s what happened: I’d been away from the group for two weekends, busy with summer entertaining. A familiar 55-mile route for Saturday sounded fine. However, about three-quarters of the way through the ride, I lagged on a ascent and that opened a gap. Facing a headwind and minus the benefit of a slipstream, I fell farther behind and ultimately finished by myself.
I tried again on Sunday. 35 minutes into the ride, shortly after a rotation, I knew I was in trouble again. I signaled a break, telling the guys that “I wasn’t feeling it” and would turn back.
“Happens to everyone,” said one.
“We all have days like that,” offered another.
And then, they were gone. Fair enough.
Was it just a couple of “off” days, or was it something more? Only one way to find out: My customary fitness barometer is a nearby bridge connecting the mainland to a barrier island. As goes the Ponquogue Bridge, so goes my conditioning. When I’m in shape, I barrel up the incline.
Sunday’s Ponquogue climb told me everything I needed to know. I had lost conditioning.
Even though I’d squeezed in a few rides during the intervening weekends, the mileage had been short and the pace relaxed. In Manhattan during the week, I’d been commuting locally. It wasn’t exactly the stuff to make a heart rate monitor go pitter-patter, but it could fool a person into thinking they were doing the work. Also, along with summer entertaining came all kinds of indulgences. Forget blood doping; my best performance-enhancer last weekend probably would have been a degreaser to counter the effects of grilled steaks and slices of farm-stand pie with ice cream.
In short, the guys had been improving their conditioning by riding long and pushing themselves within the competitive hive of the group, while I had slid back. True in cycling — same in life.
So it’s time to return to the more disciplined spring training and nutrition programs that propelled me up some serious hills out West in early June and established the foundation for a promising summer cycling season.
‘Scuse me now, I’ve got to jog over to the gym for some climbing intervals on the trainer followed by a bunch of crunches to restore my core strength, and maybe an egg-white omelet stuffed with spinach for good measure. I’ll be back.
Reader: Have you been dropped? Please share your experiences and come-back tips.
