Y’all have heard me sing the praises of Cadence Revolution as a great way to get pre-mixed playlists for my Spinning classes.  While it has been a while since I used them, mostly because I am in the middle of my maternity leave, I still like checking out their mixes and finding new musical inspirations from their site.  This week, they began offering “the workout” — a very loose profile based on exertion levels — to accompany their mixes.  What a great way to cut down prep time even further for busy instructors who need to put it all together fast!  The workout provides very general cues, which can be taken as good or bad, depending on how much hand-holding you need.  If you are looking for a pre-choreographed, just-read-the-script kind of ride, this isn’t it, but if you just like some easy suggestions that you can take in any direction you see fit, then I think you’ll really like this new feature.   So, take a look at their latest release and see what you think! 

The Tour de France is here!  If you are looking for a great way to add some spirit to your summer classes, the tour is a great way to do it.  Today, we’ll take a look at several resources available that will help you bring the Tour to your classes.

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Today’s profile is heavily influenced by a ride I took at Florida MANIA.  It was called “Ultimate Time Trial” and it was presented by Schwinn Cycling Master Trainer Keli Roberts.   Keli is an avid road racer and had a great deal of personal detail to share with us about racing and time trialing.  It was very inspiring to be taught the technique of racing by a rider who has won road races.  Not only that, but Keli is an absolutely charming lady with great coaching ability and a constant smile.  Even at the high point of the race, she was glowing and cheering us on.  Quite motivating.

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This is the third ride in a series that started with my post about a teaching plan I used for the month of January, 3 Weeks of Intervals.  Ride #3, which I affectionately refer to as “Even Stevens” was my favorite ride.  The music was a super-fun mix of Hard Rock and Retro Pop that was inspired by a mix I got from a CD Tree. 

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This is the second in a series of posts of profiles I used for my 3 Weeks of Intervals in January.   The first ride was 1-1 Intervals.  Today, we continue with the “Attack and Sustain” idea, but we double the time spent sustaining.  Much more challenging than Ride #1. 

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This Intervals ride was used as part of the lesson plan I described in an earlier post, 3 Weeks of Intervals.  It is the first ride in a series of increasingly difficult Intervals rides that were designed to get my group into some harder Strength Rides.

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This isn’t really a profile, as much as it was my teaching plan for the month of January. When I can pull the music together on iTunes and Napster, I’ll be posting actual profiles on my website.  Time is a huge issue for me right now, so you are just going to have to accept that tease from me for now, I’m afraid!!  

Even without the playlists, I hope you get something out of this concept.  First a little background:  I am very much into having a plan and knowing WHY I am asking my students to do something.  Are they improving or growing?  Does the ride have a purpose?  To that end, I developed a class plan for my regular Tues/Thurs morning group who have progressed so far I had to stretch my teaching muscles to figure out how to challenge them more…. 

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update:  I’ve added the playlist on Napster!  Enjoy!

note:  The ride is actually *not* an “over and back” ride.  It is a progression of four hills that I named incorrectly.  However, rather than destroy the links created for this title, I’ll keep it as-is, and just let you know this one is better described as an interval hill progression.  Sorry for any confusion! 

Hey folks!

The new year lasts as long as you want it to…  sort of like Christmas, it lives on in your heart throughout the year if you let it.  This playlist could serve your purpose in the next week or two or bring it out again when you want your group thinking about celebrating new beginnings.  The profile is really simple and quite challenging.  I shortened and blended the music in Acid Music 6.0 to get the timing I wanted, but you can do it however you want, of course!  Enjoy!

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update:  The playlist has been added to Napster!   Songs will have to be burned and edited to match these times, otherwise, just jump from song to song when necessary. 

Typically, and intervals ride goes something like this:  Elevate your heartrate up as high as you can stand it; suck it up and fight through until the instructor says stop; Collapse into the saddle and gasp frantically as you try to chug water and hope that there aren’t any more.  Or, at least that’s what they look like quite frequently in classes I’ve taken and taught before.  While there is some merit to the usual formula, the emphasis is frequently placed on the “Hard, Harder, Hardest” parts of the ride, with little to no attention given to the recovery portion.  That’s not surprising — most folks don’t have to be encouraged to slow down and take it easy for a few minutes.  However, for this intervals ride, borrowing from the Active Intervals Profile posted on Pedal-On as originally presented by Master Instructor Luciana Marcial-Vincion at the DCAC conference, we place the emphasis not on the hard work, but on the smooth transition into recovery.  Our goal is to improve our fitness in a way that provides us with the shortest recovery time possible, leaving us ready and eager for the next interval to begin. 

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Race Day - Spinning Profile

I have been blessed with a great group of regulars who attend my 6:00 am Spinning classes religiously every Tuesday and Thursday morning.  After a year of seeing them twice a week and knowing without question they were ready to Race, we agreed to train and have a weekend race.  We focused on Strength and Interval rides that gradually increased their workload and ability to stay at a high intensity for extended periods of time.  Finally, this weekend we had our race.  It was an exciting event and even though I was nervous to try and teach this Energy  Zone for the first time, the riders proved to me that once again, it has less to do with the teacher and everything to do with the riders.  You guys rock!! 

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