Day two with the builders, but yesterday I wasn’t “home alone” with them. Today, I was. That meant a lot of checking up on them, being interrupted with taps on the window, being on brew duties, the works.
Around 11am they told me they were going for a break, back in an hour.
Perfect, thought I. Time for my ride.
So I got my kit on, shoes, shorts, set everything up. I typed up my out-of-office message, picked my workout, and then *calendar meeting noise* played from my laptop, and darn, I had a 1.5 hour meeting I’d forgotten about starting just minutes away.
The meeting went on… and on.
Just as it finished, who arrived back?
Yes, that’s right, the builders. Or plumbers. Whoever they are.
Needless to say, I took off my kit and called time on trying to get in my regular lunchtime workout.
Fast forward to 4pm and I thought I might do my ride after work. I had the builders to say goodbye too, as we are now firm friends. Well, so long as I keep paying and watering them, I suspect.
Then the kids needed some attention.
But come 4.30, I was finally on the bike. Hurrah.
I’d already loaded up the workout I wanted to do at lunch, so it wasn’t a difficult choice. I opted for a Video Workout. The first time doing this sort of thing.
The coach for the ride would be Si Bradley. On his profile picture he looked like a boss I had about a decade or more ago, who I stayed with for 11 weeks. I hated that job so much, and he wasn’t a fan of me, either.
Not the best sign.
Fortunately, when the workout loaded Mr. Bradley looked absolutely nothing like his profile picture. Well, they were both male, I suppose.
Due to some technical bodgery, I didn’t hear the first ~30 seconds of the video. That was my fault – my speaker system is Jerry rigged to about 4 computers, and I hadn’t set it up for the right one.
Fortunately the video stopped when it realised I wasn’t pedalling. Hell, I wasn’t even on the bike.
As you can see from the screenshots, the video plays in portrait mode, taking up most of the left side of the screen. It’s hi-res, and doesn’t need any preloading. Or, at least, it didn’t for me. I guess that’s why the latest MyWhoosh patches are multiple gigabytes. Those videos must be on-disk already.
Off we went, and I was surprised to learn Mr. Bradley was a scouser. Only mild, but still, an interesting accent for worldwide consumption. Subtitles might have been useful, honestly. Not because he’s scouse. No, because with the fan on, at times I couldn’t quite hear what he was saying.
The workout I picked was called 30/30’s Anaerobic #1. No idea if there is a #2 to follow up, and if there is, whether it, too, is a video workout. This was mentioned as “coming soon” in the video. But I think the video was filmed a while back, as there were some out of date references to other parts of MyWhoosh involved.
I actually really enjoyed the video. It felt like something like a spin-class, but rather than it being one like you’d find on YouTube, it was ‘perfectly’ timed to the ERG mode workout. I say perfectly, but there were a few little glitches. Nothing major by any means, but it wasn’t seamless. Still, pretty blooming good for the price (free!)
The session itself was “comfortable uncomfortable”. The 30/30’s were tough, but not overly so. I bumped up in the in-ride FTP to 214w for the first 4, then 224w for all the rest. That felt like the right spot for me.
Having an on-screen coach was decently motivating, and him constantly reminding me to relax my shoulders was also helpful. I realised how tense I hold my upper body fairly frequently without reminders that’s for sure.
In short, I really enjoyed this one.
The only downside is I got a sore right knee by the end of it. I think that’s a hazard of the high intensity into very low resistance issue when using ERG mode. The sudden spike and drop, I’ve had this before. Hopefully it will be recovered by Saturday.
I’d definitely do another one of these video workouts. I’ll look what else is available for sure. Highly recommended.
Based on this, I think it would be really fun to try one of their live group workouts, too.
Nice work MyWhoosh!
