A Double Double, Please

A steaming Tim Hortons coffee.*

Joy here...There's a Canadian coffee shop called Tim Hortons that originated in Hamilton, Ontario (the place where my 30km race is held!) back in 1964.  In recent years, this coffee shop has become some sort of Canadian symbol, with Tim Hortons coffee being shipped to Canadian troops deployed all over the world as a little taste of home.  I've even toyed with the idea of opening up a Tim Hortons franchise right in downtown Kuala Lumpur so that all the Canadians living in Malaysia could get their nostalgic freak on whenever they wanted.

One of the typical "Canadian" Tim Hortons' items is a "double double," which is simply a coffee with double cream and double sugar.  And while that particular drink sounds like it might be a heart-attack in a little, paper cup, the "double double" has entered the Canadian lexicon in all sorts of places.  In fact...I'm going to use it right now.  And while my "double double" may just have given me a heart attack, it couldn't have been more different from a Tim Hortons "double double" than a Malaysian January is from a Canadian one!

My "double double" was my double workout on Thursday.  I've done a double workout a few times before - doing two runs in one day or running and then going for an easy bike ride - but it's neither normal nor routine for me to do two workouts in one day, and when I've done it before, one or the other of the workouts (or both) have been pretty easy.  Well, not so for yesterday's "double double" Joy-style!

Yesterday, I took my first ever spinning class.  Spinning involves riding a specialized stationary bike indoors, and Wikipedia describes it in the following way:  Participants set goals based on their heart rate, which can be measured by hand or using a heart rate monitor and ride simulated variations in terrain by altering resistance and cadence [...] A typical class involves a single instructor at the front of the class who leads the participants through routines that are designed to simulate terrain and situations similar to riding a bike outdoors. Some of the movements and positions include hill climbs, sprints and interval training.

One of my friends who I have run and cycled with this past year (and who is a real fitness role model for me to aspire towards when I'm 60 years old), decided to sign up for a spinning class every Thursday from January until April.  And I figured "okay, I've never done anything like this before, but I'm trying to get myself into shape for running and cycling, so I might as well give it a shot!"  So I signed up too, and Thursday was our first class.  It was 60 minutes of seriously hard riding - basically trying to keep our heart rates at 80% of our max for various intervals - and I was drenched with sweat at the end.

And then I came home, showered, worked, and got ready for another 75 minute run with 6 strides, just like Tuesday's run!  That was my "double-double!"

I was a bit nervous about heading out for the run after such a workout on the bike in the morning.  And the snow was falling in a light dusting as the sun set as we headed out the door all equipped to run into the darkening evening.  My legs were heavy like they've never been before.  My quads hurt, my shins hurt, my calves hurt, and my feet even hurt!  I began to be thankful for the snow cover, because it made the surface more forgiving to run upon.  We trundled down roads and pathways that we normally don't use in our routine runs, ones that we usually save for the summer weather when we can be sure of the trail condition, but yesterday afternoon/evening The Man and I had a friend run with us, and as a long-time local of the area he assured us of the route.

And he was right!  About 30minutes into a run that was stretching my mental and physical abilities to their limits, I began to feel just fine.  And so about 50minutes into the run when we finally came upon a pretty safe patch of road to run strides on, I was game as ever to pound out those 6 sets of speedy bursts.  And while my strides weren't as speedy as they'd usually be, they weren't as slow as you might think they'd be with a spinning class in them!

Remember:  It's better to keep your light dusting of white stuff
on the ground rather than on your donut!

All in all, my run stats are:
Ran for a total of 1:16:37 for a distance of 11.67km with an average pace of 6:34min/km.

As you can see, I wasn't all that fast - partly due to my heavy legs and partly due to the snow-covered terrain - but at least my "double double" of a spinning class and a run in one day has left me feeling accomplished.  My Thursdays from here on in will be my "double double" days!

Over and out,
Joy

*I'm using this photo in keeping with "fair use" guidelines so don't come and sue me over some copyright infringement.  Heck, you're getting free advertising!