Indoor training sucks - doesn´t it??

Once again I got reminded of the training-wise heaven I live in. Arriving from the Catalan beaches and 25 degrees, I hit Copenhagen and -20 degrees, almost half a meter of hard snow - Nordic Mordor. No way we could bike in these conditions - so Louise was kind enough to invite me to her new gym for a double spinning class.

I have only done spinning once, which was a 4-hour beneficiary session with Josef to help poor kids in Spain. It was OK and time flew by since friends kept coming in to participate and chat. Further, Suunto had us all monitored on one big-screen to project our current watts (power produced) and heart rate . Apart from that, my experience with indoor training has been dull 20-minutes interval-runs on the treadmill - I am an outdoor person.

So at 6am, slightly skeptical (and hung-over to be frank), but always with an open mind, Louise, Majeline and myself set off in the darkness - heading to the gym and Spinning chamber already buzzing with a nice and warm atmosphere. The room was packed with some 40 bikes and fresh spinners and coach Anders introduced the class as the Elite Team - and I understood that they were all part of the common initiative that Fitness.dk hosts for their member to train for Challenge Copenhagen 2011!

Got the legs going, felt warm and willing to push hard after recovery week and two days easy running. Some electronic music started pumping and so did I - quickly feeling warm, following the competent instructions of our Drill-Sergent. Sweating hard, we hit the first intervals and I got burned a bit above VO2Max while Anders was screaming "ONE MORE MILLIMETER" !!! It made sense and having somebody asking you to pushing it for another 30 seconds actually works - you have always got that extra millimeter. If you want to get stronger, this is a great place to explore.

The pace got kept high during the two hours. Again and again we pushed harder through 2 and 3 minutes intervals. Playing with high cadence on the static bike I felt a bit elevated above the bike and my knees resembled a Singer sewing machine: "KOM NU!!" seemed to be the main theme of the class - good stuff. No breakfast (purposefully fasting) and no Isotonic/Energy drink started to takes its toll by the end of the session - reminding me that a 2 hour quality ride can actually rock your socks. Big contrast to the long Sunday rides we do with the Argon 18 Mafia.

Between intervals, our instructor was sharing his Ironman experiences on nutrition, gear, trainings, heart rates as well as announcing common trainings for the team (also group swim and run). What a brilliant way to learn, and I feel confident that this team is in very safe hands and will make it successfully to the line in Copenhagen next August.

Ask all good bike riders and they will tell you that to improve your bike leg, you must do the miles in the saddle - biking is a blue-collar job... I agree - later on in your preparations, we all know that 5-6 hour rides will be virtue. However, in the given conditions, these spinning sessions are great bike trainings and you can really build a strong base during winter times.

It is always a pleasure to kill some prejudice and learn something new. I will most definitely take on some Spinning with my Tri-Club in Barcelona. But the most important lesson learned has been riding at very high cadence and the feeling it gave me to push through on the bike for a longer time than I thought possible. I will take this experience with me to the mountains back home - and I am sure I will again hear Anders yell "ONE MORE MILLIMETER!!!".

Best wishes to the team - thanks for some excellent sessions and I will be back during spring! Always feel very welcome to come and train in Catalonia! Hugs - Thomas