I went along to the class advertised as
being ‘women only’, which was a mighty good decision. The grunts and the wafts
of steam coming out of the gym during the general session immediately prior to the women's session were pretty
intimidating. Every single person in the class was dripping sweat – I’m talking
completely wet head to foot, with a significant puddle beneath each bike. It
was equal parts alarming and inspiring.
What makes this particular gym a cycling
gym is that it’s just one small shed dedicated to static bikes. There’s no
other standard gym equipment. No area for stretching, no mirrors, no pile of
swissballs or free weights. The bikes are Wattbikes, which involve a whole lot of whizbangness and general high-techery. The key part is a graph which gives a live feedback of how you are applying
pressure on the pedals. For me, it was an immediate visual cue that a) my left
leg spends a lot of time as a passenger, and b) I don’t apply enough pressure
on the upward phase. Ideally, you should be pulling up with one leg up at the
same time as you’re pushing down with the other. Obviously, you can only do
this when you’re clipped in to the pedal, so for me (since I’m used to a flat-pedal
commuter bike) this is a new way of riding. And mercy, did my hammies and
glutes feel it. I suspect that doing a few of these classes will really
start to strengthen and engage those muscles, and I’ll see some improvements in my running speed as
a result.
--
Helen’s sessions so far this week:
Sunday: 1.9k swim (medleys)
Monday: 1.9k swim (sprints); 45’ cycling
class (intervals)
Tuesday: rest (I should have done 10k with 3x1600m intervals but skipped it in
favour of the snooze button. Guilty.)
Wednesday: 57k cycle (Warrandyte hills)
