#tower 26

“When it gets really tough, just break it down minute by minute.” This was Reilly Smith’s coaching tip yesterday, as the Cry Baby House athletes and I cycled through an 8 minute section with peaks at 110% effort. Think Mount Everest on a road bike tethered to a computrainer (see the photo- I am the closest person, head down, praying for strength, mercy and the fan to rotate in my direction).

While I may be breathing sea level air, Reilly creates a course that mimics a combo of flat road and climbs that feel like the Himalayan Mountain Range. Each ride is different, and builds on itself to help me (and all the riders there) get stronger, faster, more efficient. Many are triathletes (pro and age groupers) preparing for a race. I had my mind set on doing the Vineman Aqua-Bike in July, but Ironman just bought the race and cancelled it. I guess they are big fans of running. 

In any case, I am training for an Aqua-Bike event. A few years ago, I trained and completed a few sprint triathlons. At the time I needed to do something intense that would catapult me out of my longing for a third baby. Training was a rite of passage from focusing primarily on mothering my boys to developing more worldly aspects of myself. I loved the process, but training for three events takes more time than I have right now (I started a business this year--www.SAHAJAEssentialOils.com)  so I will focus on the swim-bike. I just have to find one with the right conditions: appropriate distance, clean water without sharks, and a beautiful bike course. Email me if you have a suggestion. Oh, and if there is a great farm-to-table restaurant nearby for the post-race feast, that’s a boon.

So...yesterday, when I hopped on my bike, my legs were already fried from Katherine Ryan’s conditioning class, which I had just completed in the HOT ROOM across the lobby. Katie is one of the three partners of CBH (Reilly and Morgan Smith complete the triad) and her conditioning classes are designed to strengthen all small muscle groups in a relentless succession; core, arms, legs, butt. Katie looks like Sophia Loren with sapphire-blue eyes, thick black hair and flawless olive skin. When you meet her she is gracious, a little reserved with an enigmatic aura. Then you watch her demonstrate exercises in class and realize she is a gorilla in a movie star’s cloak. 

By the time we finished the “chair against the wall” squats for two minutes, my legs were trembling. Katie has a lovely way of guiding you to your max capacity. At just the right moment, when I am about to fall out of the exercise due to quaking muscles, Katie says, “Good, Sahaja” and it feels so encouraging that I don’t dare cave in to the burn. The physical movements are deep and subtle and I am working on training my mind to match. 

My mission in training is to dig deep, create new normals for myself. During the first 20 minutes of the ride, I was bargaining with myself. “Just start riding, and if your legs burn too much, you can get off.” I turned down my FTP (overall power) from 165 to 153, to give myself a fighting chance. During the tough sections (actually the first 25 minutes were sort-of brutal; every rotation felt like the power was coming from my will, not my body. I whined a little (no actual weeping) and Katie said, “Sahaja, you’ve got this” as she walked out of the room. 

All around me, other riders were sweaty, committed, warriors. This is place where people dive in. Goals are taken seriously. As the resistance piled on, I stopped thinking about getting off the bike and I focused on the elliptical path of my pedals. I broke the simulated uphills into 5 second increments. Each breath was 5 rotations and I counted the seconds by focusing on my breath. You can see the whole course on a large screen at the front of the room, so you can anticipate the recovery segments (decreases in resistance) that simulate downhills on the road. At this point in my training, I spend a lot of my ride looking forward to recovery. It’s my sweet treat.

Tower 26/CryBabyHouse Brick

I like to think this is the start of something special between the BOSS, Gerry Rodrigues, and us. He’s been an incredible mentor over the years - how to run a program, how to set expectations, how to go and get them. He’s just a presence to study. I could go on. But this was fun. This was what we set out to create - a swim across town into a bike/strength session...into a brunch where people talk dreams and talk shit. It was great. But it also makes me think about the bigger picture, about how LA could and should become one of the great training destinations on the planet - for amateurs, for pros. The pieces are falling into place...