I Heart You!
February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Birthday blog! I cannot believe it has been a year since I officially (and somewhat tentatively) started this little blog. And my how it has grown….
As of this evening I have had a grand total of 19,564 hits (I love you, thank you for visiting, and come back again). And to think, I was worried no one was going to visit.
A GIANT thank you to my top three referrer (is that even a word?) websites: Spinning Music, Leave It On the Bike, and Spinning Mixes (click on the names to visit their individual sites, ‘cause they rock!)
A little reflection: Since starting this blog I have picked up another Spinning Class (Tuesdays 6:15am WSC-Alexandria)…Participated (and successfully completed) Body Pump training…
…now teach 2 Body Pump classes (Monday 6:30pm WSC-Alexandria & Wednesday 6pm WSC-West Springfield)…finished my Fitness Nutrition Course…and as of this evening completed an AFAA Group Exercise course (the verdict is still out on whether I passed this or not…have to wait a whole 6 weeks for test results).
I owe it all to you, thank you for checking out my blog and leaving comments and inspiring me to be a better instructor. Thank you for all of your music suggestions. Thank you for putting up with my prattling about all things vampire (but seriously, how amazing was Thursday’s Vamp Dairies?!?!). Thank you….okay, okay, before I get all mushy let’s get to Saturday’s playlist. Find the complete playlist on iTunes at Spinning Spincycles #46 .
The goal of this profile is to mix up some cardio-inspired intervals with some heavy muscle-building strength work. You know what that means…speed surges and climbs. Gotta love it!
Bohemian Like You—The Dandy Warhols (3:32) Warm up with an easy spin
Murder City—Green Day (2:54) Bump up the intensity. Strong, consistent out-of the saddle jog. Medium resistance, medium speed.
Kiss With a Fist—Florence + The Machine (2:04) More resistance. Fast climb to scamper up our first hill. At 1:30 (instrumental) drop a little of the resistance, have a seat and spin fast downhill.
Major Tom—Shiny Toy Guns (4:22) Warm-up resistance in the saddle for 1 minute. Progressively add resistance every 1 min. Stay strong in the saddle and climb. Slower cadence this time.
Day ‘n’ Nite (Crookers Remix)—Kid Cudi (4:41) Flat road. Start to pick up the pace. Medium resistance. Bored? 1 minute in the saddle, 1 minute standing run.
No Sleep Tonight—The Faders (2:59) Add another gear. 3 Speed surges at: 0:33—in the saddle, surge at 1:20—in the saddle, surge 2:19—out of the saddle and hold the speed until the end of the song
Floating Vibes—Surfer Blood (4:00) Another hill. Add a big gear and stand with hands in 3. Slow and steady. Find your groove and settle in. Advanced riders: add a gear at 2:00.
We Used to Be Friends—The Dandy Warhols (3:20) Medium resistance. Speed at: 0:45—out of the saddle (sit after the surge is over), 1:23—out of the saddle, and 2:44—in the saddle and hold the speed until the end of the song
When You’re Ready—Kate Earl (4:10) Heavy resistance in the saddle, slow down your pace. Progressively add resistance every 1 minute….stand and climb on the chorus.
Top of the World—The All-American Rejects (3:24) More speed work. Drop off the resistance a little (just a little) and have a seat. Fast spin. Advanced riders: add resistance after each speed surge…0:45 surge—in the saddle, 1:45 surge—out of the saddle, and 2:54 surge—in the saddle all the way to the end of the song
Ten Million Slaves—Otis Taylor (4:10) Last push to the top. Heavy gear, find your inspiration. 1 minute out of the saddle, alternating with 1 minute in the saddle to really burn your quads. Can you handle it? Add another gear each minute.
Love—Matt White (2:50) Cool down
Glitter In the Air—P!nk (3:48) Stretch off the bike.
Next on my radar– WSSC 2010! Woo-hoo! I am so excited, despite the fact it isn’t until June. Let me know if you are going and we’ll make plans to meet up. It’s going to be so great, I just know it! Watch out Miami, here I come!
–Spin on!
SpinCycles 
I have a lot of fun with your spin mixes and appreciate the effort you put in. I live in Canada and, as such, the iTunes mixes aren’t available to me. (Don’t know why!) Would it be possible for you to list the total time for your work out in your blog? Sometimes I look for mixes with specific times… If you have the times posted and I can’t see them, could you let me know?
Thanks! Theresa
Hi Theresa,
First of all, thanks for checking out my blog and for your kind words! Second of all, I had no idea those of you in Canada don’t have the same access to iTunes as those of us in the states. Weird! I love your idea of posting the times of my mixes and I will definitely start doing that. Most of them are around 45 minutes as that is the time allotted for Spinning classes at the gym I teach. In fact, this most recent playlist is a grand total of 46.1 minutes.
Please let me know if there is anything else you would like to see included in my posts…and if you have a chance, share some of your favorite Spinning songs.
Thanks again for your suggestion,
Darcy
Just wanted to say thanks for posting your playlist
and profiles. Having them on itunes makes it so
easy. I started teaching spinning last summer
and am loving it. I will intersperse your songs
and ideas with mine. I tend to pick slow songs
and I like this playlist with a quicker tempo.
Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I’m so glad to hear that you love teaching spinning (I obviously do too.) I agree, it’s always nice to hear what other instructors are playing…it can help you mix-up your own playlist a little. I’m always checking out other blogs and classes listening for different music, otherwise you would just get mixes of Weezer and Green Day songs from me all the time (boring). But now you’ve peaked my insterest….you must share some of your slower song choices with me. What’s your favorite or default song you love to play?
–Darcy
Well today is was Adagio with strings
from Parade of Athletes off of itunes.
Lots of emotion and then I tend
to use the slower beat when there is
a choice.. climb climb climb
that is me and my default activity.
I cut up Mausam& Escape from
Slumdog Miilionaire and made
it twin identical peaks(loop?
repeat the exact climb just when
they thought they were done.)
I am loving the new song on the Nike
ad w/ Lance Armstrong called Ali
in the Jungle> I cut off the part
when it starts talking about
Lazarus. Last playlist my main
mtn was Baba O’Reilly around
super bowl time and then we
kind of went turbo time @ the end…
super fun.
These are great ideas! Thank you for sharing, I might have to incorporate them into my next few playlists. Love the idea of riding twin peaks! By the way, what program are you using to “cut up” your music? Is it Mixmeister? Thanks again. –Darcy