It's Thursday. Last night I got three hours of sleep. Just couldn't sleep. It happens. It's already noon and I've been teaching classes since 5:45AM. I'm tired, but I'm about to teach my favorite cycle class and I'm excited to see my friends... I mean, the members that take my class. I get to work five minutes early and take my time filling up my water bottle. When did Josh put that dorky sticker on his car? I say hello to Mavel and Cody and grab a towel before walking to the cycle room. For the first time in weeks, no one is waiting outside the room for me to open the door; however, like my cat knows the second I pull out a can of cat food, my cyclists know it the moment I walk to the door. Within thirty seconds, Barry, Dave and Lydia are already setting up their bikes. Sweet! I love it when they come to my classes! They encourage and entertain me so much during my class.
I walk to the closet to pull out my power zone boards. Barry starts talking to me about my reasoning behind power zone training. He wants to know what else I can use watt training for. He starts to ask about the method we use at my other gym. How and where did I discover power zone training? I'm getting distracted. I want to keep talking to him, but there is a new girl in the corner and I have to make sure she knows what she's doing.
A mom walks in with her eleven-year-old daughter Katie. "My daughter is going to take your class today. She's eleven but the front desk says it's okay. Are you okay with it," she asks politely.
"Oh shoot," I think. "I have to try to explain the watts to them. I hope she understands. Shoot! Two minutes until class starts. Well, it's going to be a challenge, but here it goes.."
"Alright, my class is a little different. We work with..." I begin, but don't get far before being interrupted.
"How do I tighten her cages," Katie's mom asks.
"Oh, the strap is put on wrong. Let's set you up on another bike."
"Friend," I hear a familiar voice behind me. Sophia is here! Yay! But shoot, I need to get class started. And this little girl is getting on a new bike for the third time. Uhmm... Alright, it's time for class. I'll just have them warm up while I set up my bike. "Oh hey, Ethan! Long time no see! Grab a bike!"
"Alright, start with a 90 cadence or higher, gear 9-13. We will warm-up for five minutes," I get them started while I hop on. No way! I totally forgot to turn on the fan next to the closet. "Keep warming up," I yell as I hop off my bike. I jump back on my bike.
"You didn't turn your fan on either," teases Dave. Where is my head?
"I'm sorry! Okay, in one minute, we will do one minute right leg only, one minute left leg only, three times each leg."
"What zone should we be in," questions Barry.
"No zone, just extended warm-up. If you're new to class or if you've forgotten, my name is Ashlee and I will be with you for the next hour. Get excited! Alright, everyone put your hands up in the air. Wave them in the air. Great, now we've shaken hands." I crack up. No one else laughs. Ouch. Tough crowd. Then they get it. Ohhhhh now they chuckle.
"Is your middle name Cornball," Barry asks.
"No," I respond as my eyes light up. "But that would be awesome! Make sure you finish your water bottle before the end of class. If you don't, you have to do 15..."
Dave and Barry chime in, "Push-ups!"
I explain the average watt test to my new students then tell the other members, "While they test, you will come out of the saddle for thirty seconds with a 70 cadence, then follow it with 30 seconds seated at 90 or more cadence. We will do that 5 times, so five minutes total extended warm-up."
"What zone," Dave asks.
"Still warming up. Just keep the cadence, gear 11-15."
"Hey Ashlee," Dave starts. "You know how cigarette packs have a warning lable on them saying they are hazardous for one's health? You should have a warning sign on the door saying, 'Warning! This is an Ashlee class'." I laugh. Hard. Thank you, Dave, for making me feel like a stud.
Two and a half minutes into the test, the sound on my phone gives up. The music won't play. I try restarting the program. That doesn't help. I restart the phone. Nothing. "Does anyone have an iPod with appropriate music? Sophia, do you have your iPhone," I plead.
"Yeah," she give me a glimpse of hope then quickly shuts it down. "Oh, no, I don't."
Oh no! I'm panicking. "Does anyone have music?!" Okay, relax, Ash. There are always the lame back-up CDs in the closet. Why-oh-why did I forget my iPhone in the car?
"I have an iPod in my bag if someone wants to grab it," offers Ethan. "I would get it, but I'm testing." Atta boy. You keep testing, Stud.
Mike walks in.
"Mike!!!!" The class seems excited to see him. "Grab Ethan's iPod out of his bag," demands Dave.
"No, no. Mike, here's your power card. Grab a bike. I'll find the iPod," I tell him. I dig through Ethan's entire bag. Where is this thing?!!? Ugh... finally! I don't even know how much time is left in the test. Eff.
"Last thirty seconds," I comment. Oh man. This class is no good. Why am I so off today? Oh yeah. I stayed up late reading. "Sorry guys. I've gotten six hours of sleep the past 48 hours." I need to start going to bed earlier.
We start getting into the workout. "Take it up to zone 3 with 100 RPMs and get comfortable," I command. "You're here for three minutes. Get excited." A weak "woooo" come from the mouths of Yolanda and Kashmira. I laugh. "Well, at least two of you are excited. Let's go!" And zone three we dominate. Zone 3 is followed by an 80 cadence in zone 4, which is followed by one minute in zone 2 with a cadence of 110-120. Two minute recovery and repeat three times.
Dang. My legs are tired. I am not even supposed to cycle today. Honestly, I have got to stop overtraining myself!
"Okay, now it's time for the real fun," I inform the class. "We will be working in zone 5! Get excited!" The right hand of the room lets out some "Wooo's". "There we go! Let's go 15 seconds zone 5, 15 seconds recover. Thirty seconds on, thirty off. Forty-five on, 45 off. One minute zone 5. Yup, one minute. One minute recovery. Here we go!" Off we go! "Dig, dig, dig, dig! Woooo! How you feeling!?!" Shouts and cheers come from the cyclists in front of me. "What happened to this side of the room," I ask Yolanda and Kashmira.
"I'm in zone 5," comes Yolanda's excuse.
I love it!
We finish the class and stretch out. Perfect! And class is dismissed. Goodbye, my little cyclists!
And that is the end of our tour. Thank you for coming and have a wonderful afternoon. Make wise choices!
Hahahahaa taking a trip in the mind of Ashlee... we better prepare ourselves!
ReplyDeleteOh how I would have loved to be in that class... and who knows, if you were lucky I could have lent you some of my awesome music!!! hahahahah
After reading your blogs i keep telling myself over and over that I am going to try another cycle class or try to make a habit of going 1-2x a week on my days off... we'll have to see where that goes, but I'm sure if you were training at my gym i'd be in there in a heartbeat... and from what I hear, probably unable to walk for a few days! hahahaha!
come visit me!!!
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