Tuesday Night Spin - Pace it Out

When it seemed that everyone skipped from using Walk-Mans straight to iPods, I was the last person clinging to my portable CD player. My friends had to convince me years after they'd join Facebook that I should leave MySpace. Only just now, in 2012, have I gotten a grasp on this whole tweeting thing.

At the time of her passing, Ivy Bean had 57K Twitter followers and 25K pending FB friend requests. Clearly, I have some catching up to do.

So it should come as no surprise to anyone that I only recently became privy to the awesomeness that is StumbleUpon.com, which in turn, brought me to Jog.FM.

Not that I ever sat down with a stopwatch and metronome to time the pace of the music I run or spin to, but I've always chosen songs based on what's worked best for me to work out to or songs that I see pop up often on other peoples' playlists. Come to find out, there's this magical website that has compiled songs by running pace AND beats per minute (bpm)! And as it turns out, a whole bunch of songs I already use fall perfectly in that 7:45-8:00min/mile range.

Of course, this discovery would come after reading an article in Runner's World suggesting to its readers to take a "tech time-out," pointing to a study that suggests that music loses its motivating effects over time. Has that ever happened to you? Maybe I'm alone in this, or just very simple-minded and easily entertained, but "Hive" by 311 makes me push just as hard now as when I ran with my old CD player. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" seems to always give me goosebumps when it hits its crescendo with the choir and the organ. I can't ever listen to "The Pretender" unless I plan on launching into an all-out sprint.

Personally, I think music lends itself perfectly to the principle of specificity:

Definition: Specificity is the principle of training that states that sports training should be relevant and appropriate to the sport for which the individual is training in order to produce a training effect. (about.com)

Not that I wouldn't ever run an 8:00 mile without Eminem or Gorillaz, but the fact that I already gravitated toward certain songs for my runs probably means that they did help me remain on pace, even on days when I felt tired or unmotivated.

So with all this in mind, I'm doing a pace/bpm-specific workout tonight. I designed this playlist to really help riders focus on how each cadence feels and the kind of effort they should be putting forth with each drill. This is a pyramid-style workout, where the cadence will drop as the resistance increases, and vice versa. We'll start quick with some runs, slow down with some drills out of the saddle, take it way down to 60 RPM for a big long hill, then quickly pick it back up as we work our way back down and race toward the finish.

And don't worry, even if you're not as hip and with it as I clearly am, I've found some music to suite each generation (and those of us who are happier to be left behind).



4/17/12: BPM Blast Spin

"A Little Bit of Riddim" Michael Franti (feat. Cherine Anderson) [102 bpm] - flat road, warm up alternating leading with the right and the left legs.


"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" Jet [105bpm] - add a gear, alternating positions 1, 2, and 3 with the verse, bridge and chorus, respectively, giving all muscles of the leg a chance to thoroughly warm up.

"Disease" Matchbox 20 [115bpm] - first set of sprints, stay at light resistance (a gear or two above your flat road), pick it up to match the beat on the chorus.

"Get Back" Ludacris [86 bpm] - first little hill, adding another gear, then an additional gear each time we take it up to position 3 on the chorus, maintain your cadence throughout!

"Lonely Boy" The Black Keys [83 bpm] - take it back to medium resistance (my frame of reference for "medium" is that you feel like you're pedaling in sand when you sit, but it's not too challenging when you stand). Stand and jog in position 2 to recover on the verse then go double-time on the chorus in position 3.

"Sugar We're Going Down" [81 bpm] - quad isolation drills (don't forget my disclaimer on my "spinning" page for those of you new to cycling). Pedal easy with the beat at medium resistance on the verse, take out the bounce on the chorus.

"Cannonball" Breeders [75bpm] - time to really slow it down and add it in. Add 2 gears from your medium resistance for the start of this climb. Stay in the saddle and on the beat.

"Ready to Go" Republica [65bpm] - dial the resistance back a hair for a quick break, then add it back in 1 gear at a time with each chorus until you feel the hill get nice and steep.

 "Livin on a Prayer" Bon Jovi [56bpm] - seated climb to the max: If you are already working as hard as you can to stay on the beat, or if you get most of the way there but must stand to maintain your cadence, do whatever it takes to get to the top. If you have to take off a gear or two to keep from mashing the pedals, you can do that, too, just don't forget, you're almost to the top!

"Wheels" Foo Fighters [81 bpm]  - take off a couple gears and start off in position 3. With each chorus, take off another gear and sit, repeating until back to light-to-medium resistance.

"Fighter" Christina Aguilera [95bpm] - time to pick up the pace and push toward the finish! Stay at light resistance (to protect those knees) and do a nice solid pick-up in position 3 on each chorus (stay seated and recover for each verse).

"Devil Drums" Scooter [140bpm]  - sprints- 3X30s at 90% with equal recovery, break, then 4X15s all out with equal recovery. NOTE: Please don't worry about actually reaching 140bpm- 120 is a better, and safer, goal, if you're following a monitor on your bike. If there's no monitor, go by how you feel for this last-ditch effort to make that HR climb.

 cooldown
"21 Guns" Green Day