might do some yoga.. but depends.. recovering from first dose of cymbalta... long story... nap andmaybe yoga..hugssss,sarah

Last night was "race day" on the spinning bike. The lady who teaches Tuesday nights is the state champion time trial rider for her age group (and the one below hers). She is also a race official for lots of local races, so she does a great job describing an imaginary race atmosphere while we are riding.

The idea of "Race Day" is to really stretch your aerobic engine and go all out for longer intervals and higher intensities. Normally, the profiles are set to take you up and down from an easy pace (~65-75% of max HR) up to your lactate threshold (~85-87% of max HR), with occasional excursions up to your max aerobic capacity (~90-95% of max HR). On race day, the idea is to spend most of your time very near your lactate threshold, with longer periods spent above that at or near your max aerobic capacity.

For our ride, we did about a 10 minute warmup, and then she took us on a "pre-race lap of the course", which was about 10 minutes long and included 2 long hills of varying steepness and some high tempo jumping (pedaling while standing and sitting over and over). After the pre-ride lap, we took a few minutes to recover and then it was race time...3 laps of the same profile at race pace, with all out sprints to end each lap as a "hill top sprint" to the finish line.

The warmup, cool-down, and pre-race lap dragged my averages down, but according to my HR monitor, I did 1 hour and 5 minutes at an avg of 78% of max HR and a max of 94% of max. During the 3x10 minute race laps, I didn't drop below about 85%, and spent most of the time at 87-90% of max. I did feel dizzy after a couple of the sprints and backed off slightly, but I think it was mainly the effort level, and not necessarily anything related to MS, as it went away as soon as I backed off a little.

Going to miss spin class tomorrow night for a meeting of "Because We Can"...our local group for cycling MSers. I will have to catch up on Friday afternoon. Also planning to do a 44 mile ride this weekend benefitting the Independence Fund to help disabled veterans.

Wow txbatman-- you ARE indeed Batman!

A mile today swimming in a cold pool...

I tried out my new Pilates DVD today. It was ok but nothing special. I got 50 minutes of exercise though.

Nice job ewiz

I swam a mile in the warm public pool today. Back to the cold public pool tomorrow.

Ok, tried out another DVD today, Tamilee Web. She's the one who made the "Buns of Steel" tapes way back when. She's about my age, I'm guessing but she make you work hard!

It was stretching, warm ups, abs, arms with weights and some buns, lol.

I picked my way through the sections and tried out most of them. I should feel it tomorrow, especially if I get my H1N1 shot in the morning.

I've been putting on a few pounds since being off work, and I need to get rid of it before the holidays.

Thats great ewiz. I read that exercise doesnt do much to control weight, interestingly enough. So, it might be just cut down on portion size, add protein and decrease carbs?

I swam a mile today. I've been in a minor flare for three days now:sensory stuff, burning in my left leg--blech. What an egg sucking dog of a disease.

Sorry about your flare BBS. I hope it passes soon.

I raked leaves, piled and burned this afternoon. I don't burn all of them, just the excess that I can't fit into the compost pile. I got about an hour of exercise and it was a beautiful day too.

We need a mulching mower so I can try to put the leaves to good use instead of burning them.

Good job Ewiz. Yes, I'm sure the flare will pass soon. I hate MS. BUt, I will go swimming anyway today.

well yesterday I did yoga, and today I will do yoga, and/or a walk, sun is shining bright out there. Might be cold or cool, but bright sun takes me out anytime!!

great job all keep on moving, hugsss,sarah