Music and mud
I could never be a spin instructor. I would kill people. Either because of the frightening choices I make in music, the volume it must be played at to achieve full effect, or the fact that none of it is under 10,000 beats per minute!!! Wanna bet? Look up and listen to "Beast and The Harlot" by Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) or "All Nightmare Long" by Metallica on iTunes. See if YOU could keep up with them. I have an iPod full of stuff just like it and I get to listen to it all winter long. If I'm not faster on the bike by next spring, I will either have given up or I'm dead because my heart blew up. Good GAWD! I need a little Manilow or some Cap'n and Tenille (yeah... that'll happen) to bring me down. I don't purposefully choose hard rock or metal, I just prefer something that has a beat that pushes me. I couldn't sing the lyrics (nor would you want me to...) of any of the songs on my playlist, but they are fast and hard. I need the drive. I have to be careful not to run to the beat or I will actually slow down on slower songs (and destroy myself on the fast ones). I don't run with music much because I like to hear what's going on around me, but when I do I'm always shot at the end of the run! The other problem with running with music is that me wearing an iPod on a run is a dead sure guarantee that SOMEONE will want to talk to me ALL RUN LONG... *sigh* So I mostly use my iPod on the wind trainer to break up the monotony. My son says he can tell when I'm listening to a fast song because it sounds like the wind trainer is about to take off...!
So I've decided that I want to try trail running this fall for something different. I even bought a new pair of trail shoes just for the occasion. I have to admit I'm a little nervous. My ankles are crap and many a running buddy has gone out on these trails only to return bloodied and broken (I'm looking at YOU, Dan). Still, I at least want to try it a couple of times just to see how it goes. I would really like to try an Xterra race next year for the heck of it so the cold and mud will be good training. I'll let you know Sunday morning...!
