No Air Turns

How can it be that each time I take to the Schwinn bike with The Blue Sapphire that this ride is even better than the last? I don’t know why, but again it was true today. I had sent her a suggestion to play The Killers song, Human and without being cognizant, it was the first song she played today during the warmup.  In fact, the first 15 minutes went by in a blink and even though she warned us not to lose it all in the opening moments, I had a difficult time holding back. The choreography couldn’t have been scripted any better than she had on her line up card. I had forgotten just how tired I was from a frenetic week culminating in tag team at Roslyn yesterday in Pam’s Boot Camp and a session in the CS with The Heart of Stone, Cathy Munzer.

There is never a session with Carolyn that looks like the last. She is actively making each hour unique, and in the mix of music and her ride there is nothing formulaic. The jumps today were particularly innovative and by the time we ended that interval, I was gasping in the zone anaerobic. One thing I learned in the beginning from Carolyn, was how to breathe. I was prone to mouth breathing and she taught me that that was the most inefficient way to get oxygen. More air maybe but not air high in oxygen content as nose breathing avails us of. However, it was not easy to breathe in that way as it took tremendous discipline. Eventually I got the hang of it and even in higher resistances I am fairly successful breathing in through the nose, and exhaling through the mouth.

Near the end of our ride The Blue Sapphire had us do a mind bending interval hill climb, using 5 full turns up and then taking it off in the saddle. She spied someone and said: No air turns! AYKM? Would anyone really do that in her class? She gives us her heart and soul, we should give nothing less than our level best and a 1/4 more turn to the right.