Strength and Bike/Cadence workout plus Playlist; Louisville Ironman link!

First of all – if you’d like information on what I’m going to do next year, here is the link for a TV presentation of the 2009 Louisville Ironman. This will show on Thursday. OK, maybe I shouldn’t watch, I’m already signed up!

Today, I tried a trick that Iron Mel mentioned to me when we were carpooling to the weekend workouts. She said to do the Strength Training FIRST, so as to not be completely knackered after the “main” workout. So that’s what I did. Duh! It was SO MUCH better! I will put both the Strength Workout and the Bike/Cadence Workout at the end of the post, for those who are interested, and my experiences with them. Most folks seem more interested in my Playlists, so here we go!

Playlist for Today:

When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down), Great Big Sea – courtesy of Erin at Tri N Reality – I LOVE THIS SONG! I put this into “Genius” and this is what I got:
Scar That Never Heals, Jeremy Fisher – this was courtesy of Kelownagurl – I love that Genius “found it next” because I love this song too
The Authority Song, John Cougar Mellencamp
Solsbury Hill (Live), Peter Gabriel – I actually was at the concert at which this was recorded, pretty cool
What I Like About You, The Romantics
Space Lord, Monster Magnet
Crazy On You (Live), Heart – I saw Heart when they came on stage and said “We have a song we wrote last night,” and it was “Barracuda” :-)
Last Train To Clarksville, The Monkees – Guilty Pleasure Guilty Pleasure
Blaze of Glory, Jon Bon Jovi
Cryin’, Aerosmith
Free Ride, Edgar Winter
Ramblin’ Man, Allman Brothers
The Guide, Borne
We’re An American Band, Grand Funk Railroad
Zaar, Peter Gabriel (from The Last Temptation Of Christ soundtrack)
Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’, Journey
Love Me Like A Man (Live), Bonnie Raitt
The Stoke, Billy Squier
Kashmir, Led Zeppelin

Strength Training Was:

4×10 ea single leg squat: I did this off of what looked like a stool an elephant stands on (how prophetic) at the gym. Had to hold the wall.

4×10 ea split squat: Wow this is not my favorite. Had to hold onto the counter

2x standing horizontal cable row: I pretty much like this one. Feels good on my shoulders. Did this on a machine with 15 lbs.

2x overhead squat: The idea is to keep your hands @/behind your ears, & stretch out the shoulders. Could barely squat, but felt good on my arms.

4x 10 ea single leg row: This is standing on one leg, rowing with the opposite hand. Used the same cable machine, but no weight. BAD balance!

4x 10 ea single leg rotations w/touch: You’re supposed to stand on one leg and touch the opposite hand to the floor outside the opposite foot. HA HA HA. I can reach the outside of the opposite knee, and I’m still falling over and touching down for balance.

4 sets 30 secs Hamstring Bridging: This is making a “bridge” (shoulders down, butt up) – not hard. Did it for 60 secs on the last 2.

30 secs each side Side Plank: Did this on knees and elbow – didn’t feel so bad. Still not strong enough to do it on “feet” instead of knees.

45 secs Plank: Felt really strong and was on a good song, so did this for 60 secs. Ooooo-rah :-)

Bicycle/Cadence Drills:

I did this on the stationary bike. It shows your RPMs, as well as heart rate, miles you have gone, all that jazz. Warmup for 10 minutes, instructions said “on middle-middle rings,” I did it at Level 6. Then the instructions say “stay in big ring up front shift to 3rd largest ring in back.” I figured I would put it at Level 7. Then you do a steady RPM of 80 for 5 minutes, then 85 for 5, 90 for 5, and finally 95 for 5. I did that at Level 7. Then, the instructions say “switch to the 5th from smallest in back, should be noticeably harder gear than the first set.” I put it on Level 9. It was the same drill – 80 RPM for 5 minutes, then 85 for 5, 90 for 5, and 95 for 5. By the time I had completed 85 RPM for 5 minutes at Level 9 on the bike, I was up at 190 BPM. That is SERIOUSLY stroke range. I am so far outside of the way that Stu Mittleman tells us to train (e.g., don’t pant, don’t get to the point where you have a fixed focus, etc.) that it’s ridiculous. My “range” from the tests that Stu ran is 142 on average. I haven’t hit that except speeding by it on the way up. I’m “averaging” more like 165. I think I blogged about this before – H and I figure that this has GOT to be working my heart and expanding it in a big way, but I’m WAY outside of my aerobic zone, and totally anaerobic. Not quite sure what to do there. I personally switched back down to L6, and did the 90 RPM/5 minutes and 95 RPM/5 minutes there,  then did the cool down at the same Level 6 for 10 minutes, at 80 RPM (which felt fine and right). This totaled 1 hour and 15 miles.

OK, so that’s only FIFTEEN miles. These were my gremlin thoughts on the bike:

At 33 minutes: I am SO OVER THIS. I am going to quit. No one is watching. Just get off the damned bike.

At 42 minutes: What the heck. This isn’t so bad.

At 59 minutes: GET ME OFF THIS BIKE! I AM SO DONE!

When I left the gym, I realized I had NO idea where my car was. Since I’ve been to the gym THREE DAYS IN A ROW training (!!!!), my “memory” of where I thought the car was was all out of whack. THAT cracked me up. A month ago, I would have TOTALLY been able to find my car, because “on average” I got to the gym like once a MONTH (for a nice steam…) (laugh). What a change! Guilty Pleasure, had a gigantic handmade dark chocolate-dipped coconut macaroon (and a bottle of water) on the way home. I wonder if coconut macaroons (and of course Snack Pack chocolate pudding) are Ironman fare? Hmmmmm…..