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Is there a cloud hanging over my head this week? First the flats, now, today I head out on my lunch break to run some errands and get food.

All three things failed. Post Office was closed–well, I sorta knew that in the back of my mind but it didn’t come to the front until I pulled up in front of the PO and realized they’re closed today. Next, pick up chlorine and shock treatment for the hot tub. They’re closed too. Next, grab my favorite salad from Legend’s Cafe. They’re STILL closed–after being closed all last week I thought they’d be open by now. Sheesh.

Screw it. I splurged and got a Roma’s sub. Best sub ever. THEY were open. The owner even cut me a break and didn’t charge for the hot peppers (’cause he knows I’m a good customer). Finally a break. I sat in the car, savoring each bite of that delicious sub and listened to my latest book-on-CD.

So what does the “Spinervals” title have to do with this post? Well, my inquisitive reader, read on… Here is a review of one of the popular Spinerval training DVDs by my good friend Anthony.

Yesterday, I ran through the “Have Mercy” workout. Putting it quite simply, Coach Troy has lived up to his reputation as being a very evil, wicked, mean and nasty man. This is hard, real hard. The intervals and exercises were non-stop with short rests between. There was a lot of changing gears, acceleration sets and high-resistance sets. It went on and on for 116 minutes–that is right, two bloody hours of sweat, suffering and self-induced semi-consciousness. At times, felt as if I pushed any harder, I was going to get seriously woozy. The last set was particularly well timed if Coach Troy intended to make you want to cry. With my legs feeling like Jell-O in a microwave, he gave one final task prior to cooling down, 45 seconds of 15 seconds at 95%, 15 seconds of 97-98% and 15 seconds of 100% (no rest between ramping up) then 30 seconds recovery and repeat two more times. It was sheer hell, but exhilarating at the same time. I almost saw stars, let me tell you.

From this workout I learned to appreciate the heat-dissipating properties of a concrete basement floor. Lacking the will to go upstairs and immediately get in the shower, I laid down on a t-shirt on the floor downstairs and allowed the cold floor completely suck the heat out of me for about 10 minutes. That felt soooooo good. I had no desire to move from that spot. I jokingly yelled up to my wife that if she came down and found me asleep on the floor, to leave me there. Were my basement door left open, it is almost certain that there would be a heard of deer roaming through to take advantage of the recently created salt-lick. It was that rough. Even with two water bottles downed during the workout, I weighed in four pounds lighter after that two hour torture. It was awesome!!!

I would recommend this be done no more often that every two weeks unless you are race ready. It is ultra-demanding, intense and truly makes you question your resolve to finish. This workout receives a 9.5 out of 10 with the half point being taken away for the sound track. If you want to test yourself to see what you can take, this workout rocks. If you are not in shape, take it in smaller bites and aspire to do an additional set the next time, but set a goal of completing this workout. I have no doubt that you will improve as a cyclist.

This entry was posted Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Cycling. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.