I Want To Play Outside!

Last night I was too lazy to walk downstairs to get my telephone to set the alarm so I told Drew that he was responsible for making sure I woke up. He woke me up at the appointed time and I didn't want to get up and go. I snoozed for another 25 minutes or so (and at some point, Drew left for the gym). I couldn't figure out why I didn't want to get up and go to the gym. And then I realized that was the issue. It wasn't that I didn't want to get up and work out. I just didn't want to have to do it at the gym.

I don't even particularly love my bicycle. I don't have a pet name for it or anything. I just call it my bicycle (and lots of times I simply refer to it as my bike). But, I miss it! I'm sad that it's already on a truck on its way to California! I want to ride outside and not in the sweaty gymnasium!

Since I didn't have the motivation to get up and go at the crack of dawn this morning, I was running a little bit late to the gym. In my haste to get out the door, I realized that I forgot to eat anything. I grabbed a water bottle, but I forgot to eat. Oh well. It's only the spin bike, how bad could it be?

I got to the gym and hopped on a computerized spin bike and started spinning away. I chose the Interval Program, Level 8. I was also sporting some new tri shorts that I picked up after work on Monday. I just started realizing that there was no way that I was going to make it through this season of triathlon with my sanity intact if I only had two pairs of tri shorts. So, I got two more! One is a pair of Zoot shorts and the other is Pearl Izumi. Nothing too fancy - just basic black shorts, but desperately needed.

I am happy to report that after a couple weeks where it was a bit touch and go, my rear end seems to have re-acclimated itself to sitting on a bicycle seat. Of course, the spin bikes aren't as comfortable as my real bicycle, but sitting down doesn't make me want to yell out in pain anymore, so I think we're on the right track.

I pedaled my little heart out for slightly shorter time today than I would have hoped for, but it was still a good and sweaty workout and I managed to actually do it instead of just griping about missing my bike. Okay, technically, I did still do the complaining, but I worked out too! That's gotta count for something.

Towards the end of my ride, Drew hopped on the (regular) spin bike next to me and he insisted on taking these pictures. So, here I am, hair unbrushed and all sweaty post-spin. And Drew's in the middle of his spin (and also quite sweaty!).


I also took this picture for posterity's sake for my ride stats today:


Again, I'm still so shocked by how high the calories are! Especially compared to what my HR monitor says I'm burning. I don't think any of this is an exact science, but since I usually go off my HR monitor, that's what I'm going to use as reference, even if it's not perfect.

Spin Bike Biking
Time: 52:04
Distance: 16.10 miles
Pace: 18.55 MPH
Calories: 441
Maximum HR: 160
Average HR: 143