Gear Review: Bike Trainer DVDs: Spinervals and Carmichael Training Systems

Since I promised it in my last post, and I tried out my new DVD today, I figured I'd do the trainer DVD review. I have a pretty small collection, but hopefully this will help if anyone is looking for a good trainer workout.

Trainer DVDs are pretty useful for getting in a good bike trainer workout, since it can be difficult to push yourself on the trainer alone. It's far easier to push yourself with training partners or a coach yelling at you than solo. Even on a treadmill, you're unable to let up your effort unconsciously, something that can easily happen on a bike trainer. The bike trainer has a tendency to be somewhat boring, and things that you may do to pass the time (TV, videogames, book, etc) also cause you to dissociate and may cause you to drop the intensity. That's fine for easy days, but not so much for quality workouts. DVDs, on the other hand, force you to associate with the workout. Having the coach on the video yelling at you keeps your mind in the workout and the intensity up. Additionally, it's a structured workout with appropriate intensities and recovery, so if you're unsure of how to create a workout (or would just like some additional ideas), a trainer DVD might be a good idea.

Gear Review: Kurt Kinetic Road Machine

As you've no doubt figured out (assuming you've been reading my blog), I've been on the trainer A LOT. At some point, I must have adjusted the roller too tightly too, because it seems I've worn a groove into the roller. 

Anyway, the thing was was a hassle to actually mount the bike on, and the resistance felt unnatural...generally the problems you encounter with a mag trainer with a cheap clamp. Well, seeing as the flywheel is in pretty bad condition, I figured it was time for a new trainer (and an early Christmas present).

P90X = Hungry

I eat a lot of food. Probably because I run 90 miles per week normally, and even when I can't run (like now), I try to put in a good amount of time on the trainer or lifting or whatever. Two weeks ago apparently involved 27.5 hours of physical activity, between the bike trainer, lifting, and physical therapy. That's like professional triathlete style, right there. And wholly unnecessary...I won't be doing that again. Last week only consisted of 18 hours of working out, AND Monday was a totally off-day. And this week will probably be around 20. But anyway, that should serve as adequate explanation for my dietary habits. However, since starting P90X, my appetite has gone into overdrive. Normally, I eat like a normal, athletic person who works out but doesn't run 90 miles per week throughout the day, and then sometime around 9pm, I decide I want a loaf of bread and half a jar of peanut butter. Most nutritionists recommend against that, but that's just the way my appetite works. However, this last week, I've wanted a loaf of bread and half a jar of peanut butter for breakfast, again for lunch, and again for dinner, and then I still want a box of cereal at 9pm. Well no, that's not quite right, since I haven't gone through more than one jar of peanut butter in one day, so I guess it's not a half a jar every meal, but I digress. And there's a little bit of variety in my diet. Today I had several bowls of oatmeal, polenta, some cinnamon raisin bagels, and a sweet potato, along with the bread, cereal, and peanut butter. So as long as carbs count as variety, I'm golden! Anyway, I cut back on cycling since starting P90X, so I'm down to about an hour of cycling and an hour of P90X per day. And there's no way P90X is harder than 10x1600, so I have no idea what's going on. It's possible that I'm finally starting to build muscle on my skinny little Tyrannosaurus Rex arms. However, it's more likely that I'm just getting cycling quads and my arms are remaining T-Rex-like, since that's what the mirror is telling me. Of course, neither muscular arms nor cycling quads are useful for running.

The Runner's Trainer Dilemma

Apologies to anyone who reads my Athleticore, since this is just a longer version of today's entry. But considering there's like five people on my "allow" list, chances are you haven't seen this yet.

When I first started cross-training, the trainer kicked my butt. Mentally, it was torture. Thirty minutes on the trainer meant thirty minutes of being bored out of my skull and doing the thirty minute countdown. And no matter what I did, I couldn't get my heart rate up and I was never breathing hard, even though my legs were pushing about as hard as I could manage.

Stress Eating and Bike Trainers

Ugh, stress eating. I hate it. It's all I've been doing lately. From 7pm on, all I do is stuff my face. It's usually cereal, but there's no more cereal left in my house, so today it was pretzels and cashews. I don't even like cashews very much (almonds > cashews), but I ate an entire container anyway. Started feeling sick, but that didn't stop me. So now I'm sitting here sipping tea and trying to keep everything down, because the only thing I can think of that would be less pleasant than stress eating itself would be puking pretzels and cashews onto my keyboard. Wonderful. I feel fat and soft and gross. In actuality, I've probably gained half a pound, if that (just a guess, since it's been a few since I've weighed myself), and no one is ever going to notice besides me. I just hate looking at myself in the mirror right now, and I especially hate the way I look in cycling shorts. I'd also love to know when my internal clock got messed up. Not that it was ever great, but it wasn't "Go to bed at 2am, wake up at noon, and end up screwed when you have to wake up to go to work" before.