It's over, man. Let her go.

At the encouragement of my high school friend who is a spin instructor and my PT doc, I stayed late and took a AFL (all fitness levels) spinning class.  My HS friend has been telling me for years to try spinning, that it was a great workout, etc.  I've just always preferred running and I'm not a big gym class kinda guy.  I feel awkward when doing weights or other workout/stretching in the gym.  Running on the treadmill, I don't mind, anything else I'm generally uncomfortable.  But, I figured I needed to give it a shot since my foot just wasn't letting me run like I want to.

I got to the gym and was surprised to see a half circle of the spin bikes out in the main gym area.  I changed and went and chatted with the instructor, Lauren, one of the gym employees. She's cool and she knew me since I (used to) come in there all the time and she knew I had done the running class.  She explained that we had to do the class out in the main area since they were short of staff and "if someone went down she would be there."  She explained the bike functions and a little about the class.  She told me that the first class or two is usually a new experience for people and to just do my best.  Sounded like a good time.  I adjusted the bike and warmed up a little while a few others joined us.

The class started and I thought it was just a sit on the saddle and spin fast, slow, increase resistance, yadda yadda.  What's up with all this "up to jog for 8, then down for 8" stuff??  When we got down to "up for 2 then down for 2", I was shot...and it was only 10 mins into the class!  Crap!  I kept working it though, trying to keep up.  By about 25 mins, the quads were burning, the calves were cramping, and the foot was killing.  The cramping was the worst.  At this point, I looked over at the lady on my left and asked how long the class was.  She said 40 mins with a 5 min cool down and stretching. This was a serious Oh Snap moment!  I thought about hopping off at 30 mins and hitting the treadmill but I wasn't going to wimp out.

The last 10 mins dragged on and were the toughest of all.  I think Lauren was a little concerned I might be the one to go down since I did close my eyes a few times working through the pain and I saw her keeping an eye on me.  I wasn't worried though...I had my RoadID on.  I had plans to run a few miles before class but my meeting ran late.  I got off the bike and started walking over to the treadmills.  My legs were like Jello!  I don't think my legs have been this dead or cramped even after my Halfs.  Maybe that means I didn't work hard enough on my races...  I started walking and between the foot pain and my Jello legs, I wasn't going to be running, so I just walked a mile.  AP: 20:45

I'll definitely have to do the class again.  It was a great workout and showed me I have little to no leg strength.  I was humbled because I actually thought my strength was OK.  Not awesome, mind you, but OK.

I didn't really appreciate being made fun of: