She got hot, they did not

Ah yes, The Vampire Diaries, it was only a matter of time before I wrote about this fine Twilight substitution.  Of course I’m watching the series…but purely for musical research purposes only.  I promise! It has great music (see Saturday’s cool down song).  Sure, I could skip the actual viewing process and just visit this website.  But really, where’s the fun in that, and miss all that Ian Somerhalder?  No way!

Must make a small confession here…I may be getting too old for all this teenage-angst/vampire lore.  As I watching this past week’s episode I kept thinking to myself “where the hell are all these kids’ parents?”  Ugh.  Now that’s some serious old-lady-speak.  What’s next…mom-jeans? Noooo…    

For Saturday’s profile expect to travel up and down hills as well as experience brief time trials on the flats to help improve mental discipline and recovery time.

WARM UP

The Girl Got Hot—Weezer (3:15)  Warm up.  RPE 3-4: easy, feels perfectly comfortable.  It’s new Weezer!  And yes, if you were wondering, my Weezer snuggie is ordered and should be making it’s way to me!

ROUND 1

‘Till Death—A Brand (2:52)  RPE 5: moderate, conversation requires some effort, the work is beginning.  Increase overall cadence, small accelerations on the chorus.  Focus on pedal stroke while establishing a rhythm and smooth breathing pattern.   (I couldn’t find this MP3 on Amazon, you’ll have to check it out on iTunes.)

U + Ur Hand—P!nk (3:34)  RPE 6-7:  moderately hard, conversation requires effort, feeling “comfortably uncomfortable.” 30 seconds seated flat alternating with 30 seconds running with resistance on the chorus (“I’m not here…”)  Add resistance for the run & a reduce it slightly for the saddle

East Jesus Nowhere—Green Day (4:35)  RPE 7-8: difficult or very difficult, conversation requires max effort, light burning in the legs.  Add resistance for a seated climb.  Establish your rhythm, breathe, and focus

Last One to Die—Rancid (2:24)  RPE 8: very difficult.  Add more resistance for standing climb….1 minute only.  Make your legs talk to you!  Then find a RPE 4: moderately easy.  Drop the resistance.  Seated flat recovery for remainder of song

ROUND 2

New Moon Rising—Wolfmother (3:46)  RPE 5-6: moderate, conversation requires effort.  Increase cadence as you head into a fast flat road for 2:15.  Transition to RPE 7: difficult, uncomfortable by adding resistance and maintain cadence in the saddle for the rest of the song

Are You Ready—Three Days Grace (2:46) RPE 7-8: difficult, feel a light burning in your legs.  Seated climb alternating with jumps on a hill on the chorus

This Heart’s On Fire—Wolf Parade (4:00)  RPE 4: drop the resistance for a brief downhill as need to reboot your legs x 30 seconds.  RPE 6-7: difficult, conversation required a lot of effort for a Seated Climb x 1 min 30 seconds.  RPE 8: light burning in the legsRun with resistance x 30 seconds. RPE 7:  comfortably uncomfortable standing climb x 1min 30 seconds….Stay focused!

ROUND 3

Square One—Coldplay (4:48)  RPE 4: moderately easy for a 2 minute seated flat recovery.  Find RPE 6: Moderately hard, conversation requires quite a bit of effort and begin a long climb in the saddle, find a pace you can build from.

Back Against the Wall—Cage the Elephant (3:48)  RPE 7-8:  very difficult, light burning in the legs, now add resistance and climb strong!  Jumps on a hill during the chorus….stay focused

Broken Man—The Von Bondies (2:09)  RPE 4:  moderately easy Seated Flat to recovery for 1 minute.  Then back to work with REP 6:  moderately hard Seated Flat.  Increase both cadence and resistance

Bastards of Young—Against Me!  (3:40)  RPE 8-9:  Peak effort, cannot talk (only hit 9 during the running with resistance drill.)  Finish the ride with a small Standing hill alternating running with resistance.  Power through this!  (once again, I’ve come up empty-handed with Amazon…)

The Weight of Us—Sanders Bohlke (5:35)  RPE 3-4:  Being to bring the heart rate down and move into stretches off the bike.  Thank you Vampire Diaries for turning me on to this haunting song.   

Road—Nick Drake  (2:00)  More stretching time if you need it.

Find Saturday’s playlist on iTunes at Spinning Spincycles 11.14.09

I cannot end today’s blog entry without a big announcement:  I GOT A NEW LAPTOP!!  I can’t believe it.  It’s so beautiful and shiny, and new.  It’s like seeing the internet for the first time!  Whoo-hoo!  Excuse me as I dance for joy in circles around my new toy .  La la la la la……

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me… (a day late, if you are keeping track.)  I had a fabulous birthday, and received a lot of really great gifts.  Compliments of my sister and her boyfriend, the highlight of my assortment of gifts came in the form of Edward Cullen.  No, not a personal appearance by Rob Pattinson, but my very own life size cardboard cut-out of Edward Cullen…….

 

Inappropriate for anyone over the age of 15?  No, way!  Though the dogs do not share my sentiment.  They go crazy (complete with fanatical barking, whining, growling & cowering) every time I unfold him to his full 6foot+ height.  And I’m not sure PJK enjoys him too much either.  Or maybe he’s just concerned the rest of the cardboard Cullen family will show-up on our front porch one by one (they won’t, will they Kristy?!?)

Okay, now that you are up-to-date on my newest bedroom, um, I mean home-office decoration, I have some actual spinning news: 

• In addition to teaching my regular 10am Saturday spinning classes I will be substituting for the (60 minute) 8:30am spinning class on Sunday May 31^st and Sunday June 7^th!

See you this weekend!

Confession

For reasons I cannot explain, I am, with my every fiber of my being, (as embarrassing as it is) in love with the Twilight series.  I wish I were kidding. I’m not.  I was a little late jumping on the bandwagon of this book series, so I had the luxury of being able to read one book right after the other.  I found myself finishing one and immediately picking up the next without taking a breath (I think Jenn Lancaster described it most accurately as chain smoking through the books).  I think I lost about a week of my life.  Sure I went to work, but my mind was completely occupied with thoughts of Edward and Bella and Jacob and not at all on my job (well, maybe it was a 50-50 split, I’m sure my employers would not be pleased to find out I was daydreaming through most of my work day).  That week meals were not made, laundry was not done, dishes were not washed, and the house looked like a bunch of single college guys lived in it (complete with empty pizza boxes stacked by the trash, because it’s very easy to read and eat a slice at the same time.  It became all about food I could eat with one hand)…I just couldn’t stop reading long enough to do anything other than take care of the necessities.  And just so we are clear, sleep was not one of the aspects of my life that qualified as a necessity.  I remember one specific weekend I was up until 4am reading these books, slept for a few hours and picked up right where I had left off, book in one hand coffee in the other.    

And we’re not even going to touch my small obsession with the actors (or maybe one particular actor) in the movie….…or the fact that I was at the midnight premier of the movie last November….or that I not only have the books themselves, I also have the audio books on CDs so I could listen to them in the car (because although I have tried, I cannot read and drive at the same time)…ahm, moving on…..

Wait, where was I going with this?  Oh yes, in honor of my adoration for all things Twilight and to celebrate the Saturday DVD release (go ahead, you can ask me, am I going to one of the many DVD release parties Friday night?…maybe…), I would likely create a Twilight-based playlist for this week’s class, if I were teaching that is.  But I’m not…I’m leaving for vacation this weekend (more on that later)!  The 10am class will continue in my absence as I was able to find a substitute and I will probably still create a Twilight inspired playlist in the future, although I might be able to just use the movie soundtrack as it is.   Check it out: 

1. Muse – Supermassive Black Hole
2. Paramore – Decode
3. The Black Ghosts – Full Moon
4. Linkin Park – Leave Out All The Rest
5. Mutemath – Spotlight (Twilight Mix)
6. Perry Farrell – Go All The Way (Into the Twilight)
7. Collective Soul – Tremble for My Beloved
8. Paramore – I Caught Myself
9. Blue Foundation – Eyes on Fire
10. Rob Pattinson – Never Think   (makes me swoon, I love you Rob!)
11. Iron & Wine – Flightless Bird, American Mouth
12. Carter Burwell – Bella’s Lullaby

Thank you Everglow for the photo…and for scratching my Twilight itch!