Spinning and Dead Legs

Right now my legs feel D...E...A...D -- flat, toasted, loaded-up, whatever. It all started yesterday when I decided it was a good day to go to a Spin class after work. It had been at least five years since I'd done any of those, so I can't say I didn't know what I was getting myself into. In fact, I was determined to keep the resistance relatively light and my hard efforts short and sweet.

So around 6 pm I put on my mountain bike shoes, throw a towel and water bottle in my bag, and hop on the commuter bike for the short ride over to Tulane's Reily Center. I turn off of the 6-lane South Claiborne Avenue onto the 23 mph speed limit Ben Weiner Drive toward the Center and think, "this really feels nice." (Yes, the speed limit is 23 on this one stretch that passes the sports complex - everywhere else on campus it's 15. There's a story behind that involving LSU.) It's cool, but not yet cold, and as I pass the big practice field I can see the marching band, and maybe the cheerleaders too, out there. As I'm locking my bike they start playing the Tulane fight song.

When I arrived at the Spin room, the prior class is just finishing. Lawrence is the instructor for that earlier class, and I say hello and we compare notes about the lingering effects of Christmas chocolates as I get the bike set up. My particular session was pretty good, with three or four fairly long "climbs." I was being careful the whole time not to go too hard. It may have been a long time since my last Spin class, but I remember well how much damage I can do. Even so, it's hard to avoid putting in a few good efforts along the way. One thing I'd forgotten was how soaking wet I end up after these things. Luckily, my ride home is a pretty short one, because otherwise I would have frozen despite the fact that I had brought a fleece pullover and vest. Anyway, I did enjoy the class, and it was a nice change of pace too. I'm hoping to be able to work in two or three of the evening classes each week for the next month or so.

So anyway, I went out this morning and immediately noticed that my legs felt really flat. The group up on the levee wasn't very big, but it included Diego and Rob and Woody and Donald. I started out pretty much as normal, but as the ride went on my legs just started feeling worse and worse. I'm sure I wasn't quite recovered from the weekend rides, so adding that Spin class to the mix must have pushed my legs over the edge. I spent much of the return trip sitting on wheels since there were three or four guys up front who wanted to go a couple mph faster than I did. When we finally got to the playground I sat up and spun in the last few miles in a low gear, just trying to limit the damage. It'll be interesting to see how the legs feel tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to recover enough to get back to normal.