Monday, January 08, 2007

Get On Your Bikes And Ride!

Last Thursday night Rob and I invested our hard-earned Christmas gift money in ourselves by buying a recumbent excercise bike, henceforth known as The Schwinn.

Friday night, I attempted the Fitness Test - a program designed to gauge where the rider is at physically or something. Rob had given the manual a read-over and told me about the program, but I hadn't looked it over myself. I just hopped on and started riding, making sure to keep my hands on the bars that 'read' my heart rate. About 20 minutes in, I asked Rob if he remembered how long that particular program was; he didn't, but he looked again. It didn't list a length. Not wanting to move my hands, I had him scratch my nose. He suggested I stop, because we weren't clear on what was supposed to happen and he didn't want me to overdo it.

A while later, I looked at the elapsed time.

"I've been riding almost 40 minutes. Do you think it will be ending soon?" The resistance was getting harder and harder, and I was getting thirsty, but of course, I didn't want to move my hands. Again, Rob encouraged me to stop.

"But what if I'm almost done?"

However, a couple of minutes later I gave up, gradually slowing my pedaling for a few minutes to cool-down. I sat there for a couple of minutes, waiting for the screen to cough up some result of my efforts. It finally shut down from lack of use. Hmph!

I flipped through the manual later and I think I discovered my error. Based on my age and weight, it determined what my target heart rate should be; once I had reached it, it would have kept me there for three minutes and then would 'score' my fitness level. When I was riding, I was trying to pace myself because I didn't know how long I'd be riding. So, I should have ridden like the wind or something.

Rob warned that my legs would be hurting the next day, and I was a little concerned about that too, so I walked around the basement for a while and did some stretching. The next day was E3's family birthday party and we had 20 or so guests coming by to celebrate with us.

The good news is - my legs didn't hurt! The bad news? My lower back is killing me! I thought it might be because I hadn't adjusted the lumbar support, but after riding again yesterday (With a towel padding my lower back - I did the fitness test correctly this time and completed a short 'ride in the park') I think it might be due to poor posture while riding - especially all that time I was leaning forward a bit to keep and eye on the screen.

Sadly, one of the reasons I was interested in a recumbent bike (besides being inspired by Mel) was because so many reviewers said they were easy on the back. I hope it's a short-term thing and that my body will soon adjust. For today, I went back to my Pilates on the Ball work-out, and I've been trying to stretch my back when I can. If it's not feeling considerably better by tomorrow I'm off to the chiropractor.

Flying to Hawaii with a painful back might be a little uncomfortable, don't you think?

3 comments:

Lisa said...

I kept thinking you guys were already in Hawaii for some reason...

Congrats on the new piece of equipment!

Glenda said...

How's the back???

I've never liked recumbant bikes, but then I don't find any bikes comfortable . . .

Nancy R said...

My back is much better!