Spin Class Intensity Question

Same here: oft injured 50+ runner, though never in your league with those PRs.😯 Due to my chronic injuries (I'm a heavier runner with a sprinting background), I've had to form a reluctant relationship with a spin bike at a gym. I go twice a week for cross training, and more often when injuries start creeping up. I try to make each session a hard effort @ 290-300 watts for 45-50 mins at 90-100 pm. I find that I maintain race fitness by doing these workouts. IMO, you can hit the bike at a high intensity regulary because it's non-weight bearing, and obviously doesn't beat the legs up like speedwork & racing does when you're over 50. Whether it's sustainable probably depends how quick your quads recover between workouts.

With those impressive PRs, you've got some good genetics and I assume you're a lighter weight runner (?), so how did you become "oft injured?" I thought that only happens to us heavier slugs.😄

When in doubt, take some easy days. You should have figured this out by now.

I would recommend checking your pulse as a measure of physical effort not "watts" which really means nothing.

sock puppet wrote:

Oft injured 50 year old runner, 15:15 5000, 32:20 10000 2:42 marathon PR's. I haven't run 50 miles over the past 3 years due to injuries. A new spinning studio opened near my home that tracks watts and each class has a leader board based on performance. It's 90% overweight sorority girls or the house frau with a fupa but there are some dudes that show up and it can get pretty competitive. I go 3-4 times a week and I damn near give a 100% effort over the past 3-4 months (220 to 260 watts). Is this type of effort sustainable or should I be taking some easy days?

220 to 260 watts??? You're that condescending about the sorority girls and house (do you mean Haus?) Fraus and that is all you're doing? Lol. Maybe you're oft injured cause some little guy pasted you.

You can handle more hard days of cycling than you can running, but I'd say that 3-4 is about the max. You kind of have to figure it out for yourself, as you're not going clearly overboard, but it might be too much for some. I wouldn't be able to do it, but I've always needed less density of intensity.

You could experiment working in some easy days. That said, the whole point of going to spin class is that it's supposed to help you get a hard workout. I think it would be a bit weird to go to spin class and do a recovery day. That'd be like going to a track workout and jogging comfortably with the slow group while they crush themselves. It almost seems disrespectful. If you want an easy day, just do some easy spinning on a stationary bike on your own.

Same boat as the OP. I started doing spin due to a running injury and after several years of not really being able to run hard, i've adopted spin as my "speedwork".

The guy that says use HR is dead on. Since i used HR with running, i now classify my spins as easy and hard days based on HR. It took a while to get the HR up high enough to make it an easy run day. Now i spin at a HR that would be an easy run and it's not terribly hard on the quads. I also found that i can get my HR up higher on the bike than i had been able to running since i was younger.

You can go harder more often on the bike vs running but i find that i still need 2 easy days between 45-60 min hard spins. It becomes really obvious on the watt meter when you are doing too many hard days.

I go hard as hell on a bike workout in my shed once a week.

Its the only speed workout I need for the slow ass ultras I do nowadays.

I am 40.

I think 2 hard efforts and one long effort a week is pretty good.

But it depends on, what are you goals? You know you can't win a spin class right? I also agree HR is more important than watts.

Run Doctor wrote:

I would recommend checking your pulse as a measure of physical effort not "watts" which really means nothing.

"watts" means everthing in cycling 😨The pro cyclists always train and race by watts. Some of the top GC pro's will pull 400+ plus watts on a major mountain climb in a GT. Find a good spin bike with a power meter on it and push some hard watts and see how you do 😉

sock puppet wrote:

Oft injured 50 year old runner, 15:15 5000, 32:20 10000 2:42 marathon PR's. I haven't run 50 miles over the past 3 years due to injuries. A new spinning studio opened near my home that tracks watts and each class has a leader board based on performance. It's 90% overweight sorority girls or the house frau with a fupa but there are some dudes that show up and it can get pretty competitive. I go 3-4 times a week and I damn near give a 100% effort over the past 3-4 months (220 to 260 watts). Is this type of effort sustainable or should I be taking some easy days?

Nice humblebragging.

runalongnow wrote:

sock puppet wrote:

Oft injured 50 year old runner, 15:15 5000, 32:20 10000 2:42 marathon PR's. I haven't run 50 miles over the past 3 years due to injuries. A new spinning studio opened near my home that tracks watts and each class has a leader board based on performance. It's 90% overweight sorority girls or the house frau with a fupa but there are some dudes that show up and it can get pretty competitive. I go 3-4 times a week and I damn near give a 100% effort over the past 3-4 months (220 to 260 watts). Is this type of effort sustainable or should I be taking some easy days?

220 to 260 watts??? You're that condescending about the sorority girls and house (do you mean Haus?) Fraus and that is all you're doing? Lol. Maybe you're oft injured cause some little guy pasted you.

Point taken but I should point at that I go to CycleBar and their power meters have been estimated to be at least 50 - 75 watts low.

You know you can't win a spin class right?

We'll....CycleBar has a scoreboard every class and they keep points for the month and year so yes, you can win at spin class. It's very difficult to show up and not go full throttle.