What a fantastic weekend!! – I was still buzzing from the Spinning Showcase well into Wednesday!!
After signing in and scoping out the grounds, all of us cyclists/instructors headed off to our various rides or lectures. First up was a battle between attending the lecture held by Michelle Colvin on Endurance Training or riding Mark Tickner’s (Michelle’s partner) Tour de France ride with footage on a big screen to motivate you as you rode!! A tough call. Personally, I wanted to learn more about endurance training and making spin programs that weren’t immediately considering boring if in the endurance zone – this is unfortunately the perception that most cyclists have of endurance training so off to the lecture I went. I knew that there would be other rides to be had.
There were so many great rides and informative lectures and sessions, it was truly very difficult to decide what to do. In then end though, every person has their own particular interests and so you attend those lectures that spark your interest – for me, it was endurance training, interval training, make a difference with metabolic assessment, the ultimate training for weight management, learning about the importance of sleep, strength training for cyclists, learning about the proper fit out of bikes (all kinds) and the importance of weight training. The biggest thing that I took away was that I do indeed need more sleep to allow my body to repair and rest, I should take a day off from training or at least recovery train and that I need to do more strength training and in the week since the conference, I have been trying to introduce these changes into my routine.
The climax for me was definitely Saturday night – we were all kitted out in our spin shirts – we looked great. A big thank you to Sandro for designing these lovely shirts. I can only imagine how we all looked riding together, as one unified team. The funds from purchasing our shirts were directed to the charity and I tell you what, Sarah really set the scene with her music selection – the first sounds we heard were that of a helicopter coming in to rescue injured soldiers. I certainly had a tear or two and I am sure that I wasn’t the only one. I love knowing that our spin bikes are scattered over the globe helping injured people to get back on their feet. I still have that chant in my head – body and bike, body and bike….there’s not much that’s separates us.
Sunday was the second day of the conference and well, I needed to ride so I rode the first three classes back to back. Truly enjoying every moment. First up was an amazing class by Sarah to gently wake everyone up with the rising sun and moving mountains, I followed this with Sandro’s 2 Fast 2 Furious (I couldn’t resist it – the titled grabbed me) and then I followed this up with Michelle’s Race Day – part of an ironman event and this really tested my ability to stay about 80% maximum heart rate but I did it. The Activio heart rate system was fantastic – I really loved this and found it to be very accurate. The best thing about this system is that it is anonymous and easy to follow with the zones represented by colours in a dial. You really do work harder and smarter when you know that you need to be in a particular heart rate zone. There is so much truth in the words used by both Michelle and Sarah – it’s easy to work hard but it is hard to work easy!! I so wanted to ride Mark’s To the Beat of the Drum – another catchy title – but I decided I best not as I had a 7am spin class to tackle first thing Monday morning. I felt like I could ride all day though!
Everything ran so smoothly – I honestly couldn’t fault the weekend. Some great organisation invested into this weekend. I think that Sainsbury’s and Starbucks at Fulham Broadway shopping centre were certainly increased over the weekend!! Everyone ventured off there at lunch time before returning to the stadium to sit in the sun.
It was disappointing not to win the incredible spin bike that was being raffled but I am sure that this went to a worthy home.
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