The iMac is back!

Hey, hey! I am in a particularly good mood this beautiful Friday afternoon.

1. My desktop computer that basically holds my entire life is finally back from "the shop" and we didn't lose any important family pictures or files...thank goodness!! Long story short, we received an email from Apple letting us know that we bought a computer with a messed up hard drive and, this is the icing on the cake, my husband hadn't backed up any of our files in the 3 years we have owned it. It could have been bad. Really bad. Thankfully all is well and now we have an external hard drive :)
2. I received an email Halloween night welcoming me to the Oiselle Running Team. This is an awesome company...the best fitting and flattering running clothes I've ever owned. I am beyond excited (and honored) to represent them around my community and at all of my upcoming races. As the Oiselle birds say, "Go fast. Take chances.".
3. As some of you know, I've been struggling a bit a lot, since the Chicago Marathon. (Basically, my IT band started causing some pretty intense pain around mile 8...) It has taken a few slow feeling weeks to get back to my normal schedule and mileage. The good news is I had an awesome, easy feeling, run this morning. I put in a good 6.1 miles at a 7:20/mile average with absolutely NO IT pain! This makes me sooo happy and I'm starting to feel like running the Jacksonville Marathon December 16th, while probably still crazy, is definitely doable and I may even be able to drop those pesky 51 seconds off of my time. 
4. Alright, alright...this is the last thing on the list, I promise! While it's not brand new, it still hasn't been posted, so here is the newest playlist. Yay!! 

Playlist #12

Here's the breakdown:
Lots of saddle time in this workout. The first set's focus was learning to maintain those faster RPMs (90-100) for longer periods of time. We didn't "flat road" it forever, of course. Set #2, while still in the saddle, we amped up the gear for a couple songs which forced us to slow the RPM a bit and climb. I threw you a bone (you jump lovers, you) on Set #3 we backed it down to a nice 70-80 RPM range and switched in and out of the saddle every 30 seconds. Last up- track cycling, anyone?? Set #4 was a series of full minute ON (anaerobic- this means breathless, heart busting out of your chest, y'all) and full minute OFF (easy pedaling for a FULL minute...I'm too good to you). That was 2 songs worth...I know, most of you thought you were done after the first...it was an awesome evil trick. ;)

The Song List: (on iTunes)

Turn It Down- Kaskade
Tightrope- WALK THE MOON
Serenity (Short)- Melnikov Project
In My Heart- Moby
Animals- The Cast of Cheers
You'll Find A Way- Santogold
Breezeblocks- Alt-J
Oh Missy- Woolfy
I Wonder- Matt & Kim
La Grange- ZZ Top
Guess What- Archie (direct downloads from www.thissongissick.com)
Madness- Muse
Longevity- Yeasayer

Lastly, good luck and safe travels to all the Oiselle birds running the ING NYC Marathon this Sunday! I wish you all the best and hope your travels to the starting line are a breeze. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Friday!!!

Alt-J

The rain showers have driven us indoors this afternoon and it has given me a few minutes to sample some new music. Sooo, what did I find? A band by the name of Alt-J. Their music seems to be relatively new to the States and their album An Awesome Wave was just released yesterday. The song below is being offered for FREE on iTunes right now... head over and download it asap (sample the rest of the album while you're there, of course). Good stuff. 

Fitzpleasure - Alt-J

Playlist #11- Rolling Hills and Cheers Elephant

I'm finally posting my Rolling Hills playlist that was put together a couple of weeks ago. Let's just say August was a busy, busy month. My four year old started Pre-K, we celebrated my husband's birthday...the big 3-0 and we had a big Labor Day weekend with family in town. Now I am just trying to get back on schedule!

Speaking of schedules. Most of you know that I have also been training for the (October 7th, 2012) Chicago Marathon. I am happy to say that it is almost here and I am almost DONE! Throwing a marathon training plan in with my cycling schedule and life as a mom (chasing around a 2 year old and 4 year old) hasn't been easy. When it started I was super excited and couldn't wait to get into my first 20 mile run...I have since run 20 miles (or more-I ran 25 once) three times. Yeah. Waking up at 4am to get in a 20 miler before 8:30am got old pretty fast. Don't get me wrong I LOVE to get up and run, but having a strict plan to follow each day is tiring. I miss the days of getting out there and just running to run. You may be wondering why did she even signed up to run a marathon and my answer is simply because I've never done one. So here I am and I am going to do it. I may never want to do one again and I'm fine with that, but at least I'll know that I gave it a try...who knows, maybe after all is said and done I will love it and sign up for many more. At this point that seems unlikely, but you never know. I'll just throw this out there, if by some miracle I happen to BQ, (qualify for the 2014 Boston Marathon) all of my previous statements will be thrown out and I will probably be addicted. I will let you know how it goes. Alright, back to playlists and awesome bands!

Drumroll please, my 11th playlist, Rolling Hills:

iTunes Ping - Sample and/or purchase songs HERE.

Olympians- Isles of Wonder: Music for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games

Keep Forgetting- The Cinematics

Temporary- White Rabbits

Shadows- Lindsey Sterling

I Bought My Eyes- Ty Segall Band

Flutes- Hot Chip

(Druun)- DIIV

Ping Pong- Bassnectar

(Druun), Pt. II- DIIV

BC- Cold Showers

Let's Go- Matt & Kim

C'mon C'mon- The Von Bondies

Fineshrine- Purity Ring

Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion- Oliver Tank

Hope you enjoy the list! Unfortunately, I couldn't find many of the songs on Soundcloud so you will have to click on the link above to sample the music on iTunes.

On another note, has anyone heard of Cheers Elephant? I came across them while listening to an indie radio station on my phone. I'm going to end up buying their whole album...I already know it. I'm loving their sound. Keep an ear out (open?) for them in my upcoming classes.



Have a great weekend!!

A little foot for thought...

Source: dailyinfographic.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

Writer's Block.

I can not believe how long it is taking me to put together another playlist! A serious lack of inspiration here. I wish the new Bloc Party was out already. You can go here and listen to their new album, Four, in it's entirety. Do it. You will most definitely be hearing it in my classes after it is released on August 21st. (Don't worry, I will be making a new playlist before then...hopefully I can have it finished by tonight. )

I will leave you with a little Charli XCX. I have blogged about her music before here.

V Magazine recently published an article about "three female musicians on the verge", (Sky Ferreira, Grimes and Charli XCX). Their names are linked to their iTunes page for your sampling pleasure. 

Parlez-vous français?

To answer my own question, no, I do not speak French, but I love listening to French music. I have used music by the French artist Yelle in past workouts and this week a spin class regular (Megan) posted a great remix of one Yelle's songs, "Que veux-tu", on Facebook. What better time to listen to it than the final week of Le Tour de France! Originally I wanted every song on the new playlist to be by a French artist, but that didn't quite work out. I did keep it more electronic so it still has somewhat of a European feel.

As an added bonus today, I threw in my favorite cycling parody videos. I downloaded the songs from iTunes, but decided not to use them in the workout. You really need to have watched the video first to appreciate the lyrics (I especially love when he smokes a cigarette, chomps on a baguette and chugs a bottle of red wine on his bike in "Le Velo"). It also helps if your're somewhat familiar with road cycling or maybe you know some cyclists. Anyway, let's get on with it.

"Le Velo"- MC Spandx

"Performance" - MC Spandx

Playlist #9- Sample and purchase songs on my iTunes Ping Playlist. 

*Not all songs were available on SoundCloud so I linked those to YouTube instead. 

*Octopus - Bloc Party

*Jai Ho - Bond







*Queen of a Sad Land - A Silent Film



*Keep it for Your Own - POP ETC






The cool down song, "Le Tour de France" by Haik Naltchayan, came from the documentary film Chasing Legends. Official movie trailer below:

VIVE LE TOUR! 

A shout out to my beloved, Ryan Finnegan :)

Enjoy!!

Trouble in Playlist Paradise...

Hey friends. Today is a sad day. The iMac (computer containing my entire iTunes library) is down. For how long, I'm not sure. We'll be taking it in to get worked on soon...hoping for an easy fix! It will be difficult, if not impossible, to put together a new playlist until the iMac is up and running. I know I promised some of you something new for next week. I do have a small library of songs on my iPad and my iPod so I will see what I can do with that. - Linds

Last Dinosaurs, Guineafowl, EverythingEverything (plus a few extras) and something new from Matt & Kim

It's been an extra long week of rain, sinuses and absolutely no exercising. Talk about depressing! I guess it gave me an excuse to stay inside and sample some music, which I did.

Here's the list:

Their song "Zoom" is my favorite so far. FREE download of their song "Honolulu" on the UK version of their website. Find them on iTunes.

Guineafowl on iTunes.

Everything Everything on iTunes

Bonjah on iTunes.

We Were Pirates on iTunes.

"Awkward" - San Cisco

Not a great selection of their songs on Soundcloud. Find them on iTunes.

Lastly, Matt and Kim with the first single from their upcoming album, Lightning (not out until the fall). Find all their music on iTunes.

"Let's Go" - Matt and Kim

Have a great day! 

Dig it.

Drum roll, please...

Introducing playlist #8, very appropriately titled, "Dig It". To those of you who had the pleasure (and the pain) of experiencing "Dig It" this last week, you know what I'm talking about.

I focused this workout on climbing. Out of the saddle climbing to be precise. More commonly referred to by cyclists as "digging". I carefully placed three very large hills into the ride. Each of these hills took about 4 minutes to climb and were much too steep to grind out in the saddle. We had a nice, gradually building, warm-up in the beginning leading to our first hill challenge. After our "American Baby" climb, we descended into a lovely fast flat to flush out some lactic acid buildup and then we hit it on some intervals (Tabata style). Finishing off the intervals with our one and only active recovery of the workout. Then, it was back to the hills. Bringing it all to an end with one last burst of speed and energy, a sprint to the finish line.

How's that for an incline? Ouch!

BTW, the 2012 Tour de France begins 6/30/12

I had positive feedback from many of you so this ride is officially a keeper! Also,  I would like to thank you for those comments and compliments. I really appreciate each of you making time for my classes and I always enjoy hearing what you think.

Playlist #8 - Dig It.

Sample and purchase songs here:iTunes Ping Playlist 
The first two songs are not available on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the links below.


Love No (Delorean Remix) 


Suzie- Boy Kill Boy


Old Yellow Bricks- Arctic Monkeys


American Baby- Dave Matthews Band


Be Good- Tokyo Police Club


Rise- Tabata Songs


In the Morning (Album Version)- The Coral


Santo Domingo- Rodrigo Y Gabriela


Fell in Love with a Girl- The White Stripes


Reptilia- The Strokes


Funny Little Feeling- Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers


Map of the Problematique- Muse


Woman- Wolfmother


Remind Me- Röyksopp


Light Through the Veins- Jon Hopkins

I'm still alive

Hey, hey! Just a quick post to let you know that I'm still alive, my friends. My week of vacation proved to be much more busy than I had expected, thus the delay in my playlist production. I have one in the works...almost done!

Until then, here is my favorite tune of the day :)

Animal Kingdom - Strange Attractor

Grilled Pizza and a Playlist

Here it is again. Sunday night. The saddest night of the week. 

I guess I can't really complain. I've had a pretty delicious weekend. My husband tried his hand at grilling pizza and it was a complete success. I mean, so good, it's all we did all weekend. Ate grilled pizza for every meal. Luckily, I chose a healthy-ish recipe and finally got back to my Sunday running group or I would be feeling a little guilty right about now.   

Pizzas from front to back; 

pear, gorgonzola & carmelized onions

veggie heaven, no cheese, no sauce- multigrain crust

standard margherita 

and 

BBQ chicken 

Other than chopping all of the toppings this meal was a breeze. Said the one who wasn't cooking. We, I mean, Ryan used fresh dough from our local Publix bakery, rolled it out, plopped it on the grill and topped it with our favorite things. About 6-9 minutes later, they were done! I definitely recommend trying this. You will love it. If you would like a beverage suggestion, I thought the meal paired well with this...

 I meant this... :) 

Victory's Golden Monkey. All kidding aside, it's a really good beer. 

So back to blogging about playlists. Here's the most recent workout. This is not the 55 minute playlist. If you want that, just let me know. This list is a version of the 55 min, I just slimmed it down to 45. Also, if you're on Facebook, please 'like' Belle Velo's new page!

Playlist #8- Sample and buy on iTunes.

No Sleep Till Brooklyn (Disoriented Mash)- Beastie Boys- FREE from Steady130

Seventeen Years- Ratatat

Mean Spirits- Silversun Pickups

Heavy Chevy- Alabama Shakes

Tabata 4- Rise

Northside Gal- J.D. McPherson

Archie-Leto (Radio Edit)- Archie (Find it, and a few others, HERE)

Heavy Cross- Gossip

Spiralling- Keane

Breakn' a Sweat (Zedd Remix)- Skrillex and The Doors

----------
Coming Down- Dum Dum Girls
Nude- Radiohead

Just to make this Sunday night a little bit sweeter, I will leave you with the newest song in my library. Enjoy!

SBTRKT- Wildfire

Treat your mutha right

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Thought you might enjoy this awesomely awful video.
Mr. T you have out done yourself on this one.

Happy Mutha's Day.

Freebies!

Who doesn't love a good freebie? I realized today that I have forgotten to share with you a few good tracks that I was able download for FREE. Thanks to Amazon and Converse for being so generous!


I am lovin' this song. Good Lawd! So much soul. Find it, as well as a few others, on Amazon's Artists on the Rise.

Alabama Shakes - Hold On

Next up, a collaboration from Kimbra, Mark Foster (Foster the People) and A-Trak. Download HERE.

Kimbra, Mark Foster & A-Trak - Warrior

Here we have another collaboration, thanks to Converse, from The Gorillaz, Andre 3000 & James Murphy. Definitely not YMCA appropriate, but it has a great beat and I've always been a fan of The Gorillaz. BTW, the video is weird and I'm not sure I understand what it has to do with the song, but it is The Gorillaz and Andre 3000 so I think weird is implied. Download HERE.

The Gorillaz, Andre 3000 & James Murphy - Do Ya Thing

Have a great day and enjoy your freebies! 

Links n' Stuff

Hey there! Just some fun links today. A new playlist is in the works...hopefully I'll have it ready to post later this week.

1. For the 'roadie' who enjoys following professional cycling. PEZ Speak: Italian for Cyclists an article from PezCycling News.

2. Love this snack graph I found on The Kitchn's blog. Very useful information.  

3. The song in my head this morning: Reunion- M83

4. Crazy ab workout video from Equinox.  Rick, if you're reading this, I'm glad this guy doesn't teach our core class. I wouldn't survive. 

5. The Leg Matrix: a workout that always kicks my butt, literally. To the point of being almost too sore to sit without a pillow. Here's a break down of it. I usually do the full Leg Matrix x2 with a mile run (5K pace) between. A great workout that takes less than 30 minutes. 

6. Jack White, from The White Stripes, released his new album Blunderbuss just a couple of weeks ago. I'm really enjoying it. 

Jack White - Freedom at 21 (Amex UNSTAGED)

BTW- I've picked up a extra class this week. I'll be subbing for Darryl at the Winter Park YMCA this Friday night @ 6pm (55 min class). Come see me!

You're up, and you'll get down...

Hi friends! It's a music video kind of day. Here are some of my recent favorites...

The Look- Metronomy 

I downloaded this song a week ago and I can't. stop. listening. It's super catchy. What do y'all think? Unfortunately, it doesn't have a great beat for spin class. Could be a pre-warmup song, I guess. 

Here's another song that I can't seem to get out of my head. This song (video included) is heavily influenced by the 1980s. Yes. In case you were wondering, the 80s are back in style...big hair, ugly clothes and all. While I'm not a huge fan of stone washed jeans and backcombed wave bangs, I do love me some 80s tunes. BTW, Charli XCX is an artist from the UK and her music is not available on the U.S. version of iTunes. You can, however, download this song for FREE from her website. 

Nuclear Seasons - Charli XCX

Last, but not least. While it's not "new", the video is still captivating. Plus, it's one of my all time favorites. There is no denying that Thom Yorke is a very strange little man. Luckily his talent out weighs that, but in some ways, it's the strange that makes him all the more interesting. Some of the most talented and gifted people in history were also known for being very strange... 

Lotus Flower - Radiohead

Here are some moves if you're feelin' dancey ;)

happy hump day!

Yep. New Music!

This post is going to be short and sweet. New music. New playlist. Here it is. Bam. iTunes Ping Playlist

This song is not available on iTunes, but you can download it free here Gotye- Eyes Wide Open (Remix)

I will leave you with a video that Schwinn Cycling posted on their Facebook page. Impressive, although, I'm not sure about his headband and dangly earring...

This guy has his own website and everything. He describes himself as this:

'MON-STER'  noun /man - star/

       Example: "The Master Monster" see Michael Macneal

       Sound: "HELL YEAH!"

1. A Legend, extraordinary, one who deviates from normal, acceptable behavior.

2. A force of positive energy, strength, & drive.

3. An imaginary creature; like a centaur or unicorn.

Yep. That about sums it up. 

- Have a great rest of your week! Enjoy the new tunes :)

New Playlist

Hey y'all! So my New Year's resolution to post once a week didn't work out so well. I guess it's back to posting when I can get around to it...which happens to be now! I received some good feedback on this workout from last week so I'm going to go ahead and list it for you. Find them all on iTunes HERE.



1. Weird Fishes- Radiohead (Easy warm-up. Medium to low gear- 80 to 100 RPM) Btw, I'm obsessed with watching Thom Yorke perform live.

2. Levels- Avicii

3. Watch Out- Chris Cornell (Sorry for the lame video...it's all I could find.)

4. Rock and Roll- Led Zeppelin ("Let me get back, let me get back, let me get back..")

5. Natural Blues- Moby

6. Banquet- Bloc Party

7. Hate to Say I Told You So- The Hives

8. I Turn my Camera On- Spoon -Great slow and steady climbing song.

9. Punkrocker (Album Version)- Teddybears feat. Iggy Pop -Love this.

10. Feel So Close (Radio Edit)- Calvin Harris

11. Turn Up the Music- Chris Brown-I know, I know...Chris Brown finds his way onto another playlist. Total guilty pleasure. I can't even help it.

12. The Cave- Mumford & Sons -Great song to bring it all home to the finish.

Cool Down Songs-

Eyes Be Closed- Washed Out (I can't watch this video with a straight face...so weird. Great song, though.)

Passenger Seat- Death Cab for Cutie

Hope you enjoy! Some of the videos are a little on the creepy/weird/what in the H is wrong with these people side, but if you can look past all that, the music is still pretty good. I will try to post again soon. In the meantime, remember, you can send me song requests for class anytime. Just shoot me an email, lbfcycling@gmail.com

Updated Schedule and Crosby's New Bikes!

Hey, hey! Look who's posting again...it's me! So far I am sticking to all of my resolutions. It has only been fourteen days, but I am fairly confident that I will keep it going. Confidence is the key, right? Speaking of confidence, I forgot to mention that my little almost four year old is now riding a bike without training wheels! We've had him riding a balance bike since he turned two and this Christmas we (Santa) bought him a bike with pedals. Turns out learning to balance first really paid off for him. It took just one afternoon for him to get the hang of it and he just keeps getting better and better. My husband and I are so proud. Way to go Oliver!




Okay, back to indoor cycling stuff. This week I was pleasantly surprised with the new Keiser spin bikes all set up in the Crosby indoor cycling studio. Yay! I have really enjoyed teaching on them at the Downtown Orlando YMCA so I couldn't wait for Crosby to get them. The fact that you can set your resistance to an actual number (1-24) instead of taking a 1/4, 1/2 or a full turn on a knob is pretty sweet. You still have to account for everyones individual abilities, though. A gear level 15 at 75-80 RPM is not going to feel the same for me as it would for someone that is just starting to take indoor cycling classes. It's nice to be able to give the members in my class an idea of where I am at with an exact number vs turns on a dial. From there they can decide what gear feels right at the RPM range I've given them all the while working at the correct RPE (rated perceived exertion, I've pictured below). Very cool.





So, a couple of things on my To-Do list:

1. Start an email sign-up sheet. This way I would be able to send out email reminders about class times, schedule changes, substitutes, etc.

2. Get some business cards. I need something that lists my email info as well as La Belle Velo's web address. I frequently get asked about music I play and sometimes members like to email requests. It would be nice to hand out a business card with all of that information, rather than scrounge around for scraps of paper in the indoor cycling studios.




Since I have yet to collect everyones email I will go head and post my schedule. It's the same every week. :)

Monday- 10:30am, Winter Park YMCA

Tuesday- 8:00am, Winter Park YMCA

Wednesday- 12:15pm, Winter Park YMCA and 4:30pm @ Downtown Orlando YMCA

Thursday- 12:15pm, Downtown Orlando YMCA and 5:30pm @ Crosby YMCA

You can contact me by email here: lbfcycling@gmail.com


Now, for my favorite part...posting the newest playlist! I put this ride together late in the week so only my Thursday classes were lucky enough to experience it. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday people will get their chance this coming week. (Preview the songs available on iTunes HERE.)

Pretender - Miike Snow (Easy Warm Up)

United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom) - DJ Earworm (I don't play/have a lot of pop music, but I found this remix of all the top pop songs of 2011. I thought it was appropriate since we just celebrated the New Year.)

Lonely Boy - The Black Keys

Babe, it's Time 4 Stew (Chicago vs. Green Day vs. Led Zeppelin) - Ryan Nellis Mashups

Wild Ones (Sex Ray Vision Remix) - Flo Rida feat. Sia

What the Water Gave Me (Remix) - Florence + The Machine

Take on E.T. (Pop Pants Mix) - Katy Perry vs. a-ha

Turning Into Stone - Phantogram

Howlin' for You - The Black Keys

Sad Sad City - Ghostland Observatory (May change out this song. Beat was just a bit too slow. Good song, though.)

Blood Pressure - MuteMath

From Finner - Of Monsters and Men (My son calls this the "pirate song".)

Born to Die - Lana Del Rey (Got this song for free on iTunes and decided to throw it in the cool down portion. Pretty good.)

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Happy New Year! (Eight days later...)

So the Holiday season kind of put a cramp in my blogging style. I've got to do better than once a month posting! It has been another crazy weekend. No company, but I completely reorganized our house. I am just now sitting and it is already 9:30pm...there went the weekend. Oh well. There is truly an amazing sense of accomplishment that comes with cleaning out junk drawers, over-stuffed cabinets and overflowing toy bins. Ahhh....a place for everything and everything in it's place, that is, until my kids wake up tomorrow and make it look like an exploded mine field.

I am typically not one who does the New Year's resolution, but this year I decided I would challenge myself. I didn't just choose one either...here they are.

1. Post on Belle Velo more regularly...dare I say, once a week!? We'll see. I'll do my best.
2. Exercise more outside of teaching spin. I received an awesome Garmin GPS running watch and some New Balance shoes for Christmas...gotta start running again! No excuses.
3. Focus on consuming a more micronutrient rich diet. It happens every year. Starting with the Halloween candy, then the Thanksgiving dinners (leftovers last for days!), Christmas cookies, more candy, New Year parties, etc.... By the end of it all my body is officially trashed and I feel disgusting. I don't have a meal plan set out just yet, but maybe I will try to post a little on that as well. At least the recipes that I think are worth making it in the good old recipe box.

Well that's about all I've got for tonight. I'm starting to lose steam and the longer I stay up the more I want to eat nachos and chocolate. I will leave you with my newest workout playlist. Find them on iTunes HERE.

A New Year:
New Year's Day - U2. ( I've also used Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men)
Shock of the Lightning - Oasis
Nature of the Experiment - Tokyo Police Club
Flathead - The Fratellis
Salute Your Solution - The Raconteurs
Rockaway Beach - The Ramones
Bulldozer - Cold War Kids
Nobody's Accusing You (Of Having a Good Time) - Hot Hot Heat
Balloons - Foals
Cousins - Vampire Weekend
Post Physical - Pictureplane
Cool down songs:
Intro - XX
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths
Second Song - TV on the Radio
Eyes Be Closed - Washed Out

Hope everyone has a great Monday! Goodnight.