Ipod Touch 4.0 RANT

Read this if you are thinking of up grading your iphone or ipod touch to the new software. I finally upgraded my Ipod from the original software that it came with, which was 2.(something), to the new 4.0 software that is available.....against my husband's recomendation to not do so.

BIG MISTAKE.

This is my story.

Gripe #1:

I use my ipod as my sole method for playlists in my Spin classes. I rely on this thing pretty heavily. I have put hours and hours into organizing my music and making playlists to have a good flow that not only sounds good from song to song, but also creates a mood for the ride and correlates to the movements that we are doing. I think being able to pull together music that has feeling in the ride is what makes a class special, and it has worked for me so far.
Last week, the next day after the upgrade before I knew things had gone badly, I selected a playlist and the class description from my notebook for class that day. Plug it in, and start the warm up. I get the correct warm up song, the correct second song, but wrong third song which was also the last song on the playlist which should have had up to 13 songs. So in the middle of class, they had to sit there while I found random music that could get us through the class. I did not like this one bit. After class, I glance through the rest of the playlists that I had made, and they were all the same. I was going to have to sit down re-load every single playlist that was on my ipod. Just counted them to be sure, and there are 82 playlists.
I'm not happy about this.

Gripe #2:

Back into the Spin classes. In the Settings option, I always select the Gereral>Auto-Lock>Never option so that my screen will stay on for the entire class. Before the upgrade, I just hit the "never" button, then the Home button, and go straight back to my music. Well, it doesn't work that way anymore. And for awhile, I thought I would not be able to use the Never Lock option and would have to constantly Unlock my ipod every couple of minute that I didn't touch the screen. Not Cool At All. But as I sat down and played with it for a little while, I realized if I hit the Never lock option, then go back to the General screen, then back to the Settings screen, then back to Home, then back to my music, that it would stay. Not that big of a deal if I do it before hand, but why couldn't they just use the ease of keeping it the way it was before??

Gripe #3:

The 4.0 software's supposed cool new thing is its ability to organize all of the apps into groups on your first screen so that you don't have 5 or 6 different pages of apps where you can never find what you need. Such as having all your games together in one block, your social apps in one, and your entertainment apps in another. So I took the time to drag all of my apps to make all of the appropriate categories. After I had organized everything, I noticed the Facebook App had a notification. So I tried to open it. It pops up, and immediately shuts down. Do I delete it and try to reistall it, thinking something had messed up when I was moving things, and the same thing happened. Then I try to open another app, and it does the same thing. Finally I tried syncing my ipod to itunes, and then it magically worked. So this was not that big of a deal either, but with all the great "user-friendly" crap you hear about ipod, you never hear any bad press about anything.

Gripe #4:

This doesn't necessarily pertain to me, but Jonas is the guy in charge at his work of helping anybody that has a company issued iphone that has trouble with syncing their work outlook email. Most of the time, it doesn't work the way it had in the past, and he has to go in and change a bunch of settings. He advised everyone at his work to not upgrade at all until Apple puts out a newer version that will import the email so that the average user can actually figure out how to load their own email and won't have to use his IT skills to fix everybody's phones.

Gripe #5:

The battery runs out super fast.


Ok, just to be fair, there is one thing that I do like about the new software. As I was fussing in Gripe #1 where all my playlists were screwed up, I found that if I opened a playlist and pulled it down, that there are now editing buttons and a search bar at the top where the playlists can be edited on the ipod. With the old software, only a tempory "On-The-Go" playlist could be made. But now, I could make several new ones and save them each without having to go to the computer. This is very cool.

So my point in this whole ipod soap-box is that you hear all this crap about how cool and easy and hip it is to have any Apple product, and then you hear all this bad press about any Microsoft product....but WHO CARES??  Well, Apple has its flaws too. And just because you put a bunch of Apple stickers on your Toyota Prius (yes, I'm talking to that jerk that cut me off on I-55 the other day that had 5 Apple stickers on his car signifying all the different Apple products that he owns) does not make you cool and hip.

End of Rant.

Happy Tuesday!

So, a long weekend is now behind us all. We had a big cookout in Mashulaville at the camphouse, as usual. Ate too much, as usual. Some fantastic red velvet cake that was delicious made by Kristie. We finally made it back home on Monday in time for me to do a round of P90X then run to the gym to teach my 5:30 Spin class where we did Stage 8 - high hills.

Tuesday: Same old thing at work. Ate the same stuff as usual. Left to teach spin at 4:30 - Stage 9, high hills. Great class, even if I do say so myself. Stayed for Bootcamp, and burned 1433 calories. yay.

Well, I also decided today that I am tired of logging my calorie count every day. So, I will do today, then I am done. For now anyways. Whenever anything else exciting happens, I'll report. Until then, here goes my last calorie count!

CALORIE COUNT:
Cereal - 337
Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers - Grilled Basil Chicken - 270 (not good at all) but supposedly has 20 grams of protein, though I don't see how since there were barely 5 small pieces of chicken. I'm not happy that there are 3 more of these in the freezer at home. Should have stuck with my bbq chicken pizza.

*Pictures can be deceiving!*








Fuji Apple - 116
Pure Protein bar - 200
Chocolate Skim Milk - 200
Pasta -  appox 590
peanut butter - 100

Total Calories Consumed - 1813
Calories burned - 1433
Calories remaining for the day..............380

Spinning - Stage 7: Tournus > Station Des Rousses

Here is the profile for the Stage 7 ride that I did last night in class for anyone who may be interested. I used both the profile and the route to design the ride:

The Route:

And the profile:

We start off with a long flat road with a very gradual increase, followed by 6 increasingly harder hills. I used the route to determine when we would need to get out of the saddle for jumps or runs, used the brief downhills for short recoveries, and used the super steep hills as markers for using a 3rd position climb.

Playlist and Notes:

1. Clash (Junkie XL) – (5:06) warm up and describe class: Max HR = 85%

2. Hello Again (Dave Matthews Band) - (3:56) flat > alt flat and run or slow jumps to increase heart rate to 75%

3. Not Myself (Christina Aguilera) - (3:25) moderate climb for 3 minutes, @ 3:00, 1 passing jump (**a passing jump is when you move to third position to pick up speed (not quite a sprint) for a brief period, then sit back in saddle keeping climbing pace up - I queue "get ready to pass somebody!")

4. Stockholm Syndrome (Muse) - (4:05) flat recovery for 1 min 30 sec >@1:30 moderate hill, @ 2:30 gear down low hill

5. Fight For Your Mind (Ben Harper) - (3:41) flat road recovery if needed, maintain high cadence @ 1:00 add every 30 seconds to standing climb

6. Mr. Brightside (The Killers) - (3:41) gear down to low hill for 30 seconds
@ :30 jumps on flat for 1 min (to mimic going around the turns)

7. 999 (Lords of Flatbush) (< Free download!) - (4:21) seated flat 1 min, run 1 min, saddle 1 min
@3:00 find hill in saddle

8. Mercy (Duffy) - (3:40) jumps on hill through sharp turns to top - sets of 4, 8-count jumps
add a little gear last 30 seconds - Ask if anybody is crying for Mercy yet!

9. American Woman (Lenny Kravitz) - (4:21) flat road 1 min,
@1:00 run 1 min, @ 2:00 back to saddle for a fast flat
@3:30 low hill

10. Invaders Must Die (Prodigy) - (4:55) gear up for last 2 passing jumps, finish with strong climb to the end!

COOL DOWN! Take at least 5 - 10 minutes here if they will stay in the saddle that long....And my people really like it when I take a map of the ride I am doing, so they can visualize what is going on or where we are going. It seems to give them a goal. Sometimes I tell them that there is a pool bar waiting ahead they can all relax in once we get there.

Calorie Count for Wednesday, 6/30/10:

Breakfast - 337

Leftover hamburger and potatoes - 420

Banana - 100

Handful of Zapp's Voodoo Gumbo chips - 120

Pasta for Dinner - 550

Sierra Nevada - 190

Total Calories Consumed - 1717

Total Calories Burned - 911 (which includes spinning + weight lifting afterward)

Total Calories Remaining for the day...........................806

Spinning Stage 7 + Bootcamp

Finally I am finished with the "plains" stages of the Tour de France! Doing Stage 7 this afternoon: Tournus > Station Des Rousses:

Hills! Whooo! Although I LOVE hills in class, I'm suddenly a little cautious about teaching them today of all days since I have to teach bootcamp afterward.....but the temptation looks like so much fun! My solution is to throw together some tunes for the class, and see how many people show up. If it is low numbers, I'll repeat Stage 6 from yesterday, and do this Stage 7 tomorrow. If I have a big crowd show up, we'll do this Stage today and Stage 8 (even BIGGER hills!!!) on Wednesday!

Ok, back from the gym, and I stuck with repeating my class from Monday since I had a low crowd and wanted to save my legs for bootcamp. Bootcamp went well for my second time teaching all by myself. But it was good practice and I loved doing it! Thank goodness some of my peeps were there to cheer me on. :)

AND I now have a nice hill class for tomorrow. Yay!

CALORIE COUNT
Cereal - 337
leftover pasta from last night - 475
Protein bar - 200
Burger on onion bun with cheese/ketchup and new potatos for dinner - 675
peanut butter - 100

Calories Consumed - 1787
Calories Burned - 1487
Calories Remaining..........................................300

Tour de France Stage 3: Wanze > Arenberg Porte du Hainaut

"NEWSFLASH!!! Exercise doesn't make you gain weight. Consuming more food than you burn makes you gain weight ....period!!!"
- Chalene Johnson

 I saw that quote by Chalene on Twitter and loved it! Having balance in your life is all about what you take in, and how you burn it off. It's pretty simple, actually.

Keeping in line with the Tour De France theme in Spinning, I am working on a Stage 3 ride for today. It goes from Wanze Arenberg Porte du Hainaut. Here is the profile:

Mostly flats with three small inclines. This will definitely be a fast one with fast music! We will also try to stay at our threshold, or 80% MHR.

Music profile for the day:

1. Ain't That Cold - Bodega Girls (6:10) - warm up

2.I Need To Know - Tom Petty (2:23) - engaging in flat road, picking up cadence

3.Fell Down A Hole - Wolfmother (5:04) - hitting that first hill here, we'll make it about 3 minutes then back to a flat

4. Let It Rock (Cahill Remix) - Kevin Rudolf (3:36) - maintaining flat, move to standing to keep HR up if needed

5. Why Must You Always Dress In Black - Ben Harper and Relentless 7 (4:43) - hitting second series of small hills, climb 1 minute, flat 1 minute, climb 1 minute 30 sec, finish out with a flat

6. Go Faster - Black Crowes (4:03) - flat road but progressing with accelerations every 30 - 45 sec

7. Get On Back -  Tishamingo (4:32) - decrease gear for 1 min, add back and run during "Get on Back"

8. Crazy On You - Heart (4:54) - flat road surges during chorus to get to the front (add resistance while maintaining cadence)

9. Paint It Black - Rolling Stones (3:46) - last small incline, we'll climb for 2 minutes

10. Love the One You're With - Stephen Sills (3:06) - finish strong and fast!

11. Awe - Citizen Cope - 4:11 - Welcome to Arenberge Porte du Hainaut! Cool Down

After class, I stayed and went to Colleen's bootcamp (which I am subbing for next week if any of my people are reading!) It was brutal!

Calorie Count

Breakfast - 340

Leftover Pasta for Lunch - 440

Banana - 105

Protein Bar - 200

After-workout shake - 280
Dinner - 325

Calories Consumed:- 1690

Calories Burned: 1495

Calories Remaining for the Day............195

Spinning: Tour De France Stage 2

"Counting calories may not be popular but neither is balancing your checkbook. Both are necessary!"

- Chalene Johnson

Time to get back to the real world. Although the Food Challenge is over for me, I'm going to continue to try to keep up with my calories at the end of every day. Didn't sleep well last night (even had to drink some coffee this morning), and I'm thinking it is from the lack of training from the weekend. Plus I stayed up reading that book, only giving me 7 hours of sleep instead of the 8 that I prefer.

So another Spinning instructor at the gym had a great idea to mimic rides from Tour de France in our 4:30pm weekday afternoon classes. He printed out a map and a schedule of the type of rides, the start-finish, and the distance/time of each stage. I know I could just use some older rides that fit the description of each stage, but I'm a sucker for making themed rides, so today, I'm going to work on a ride for Stage 2, Bruxelles to Spa, about a 40 minute hilly ride. So we will do fast varying hills, will little breaks. Heart rate range should stay between 75 and 85% for the majority of the ride, which will consist mostly of flat roads (seated and standing), and mostly low to moderate hills, with two or three steep hills that may require a break at 3rd to get over, staying somewhere between 75 - 110 rpm.

This is what we are going for. This stage is actually scheduled for July 5.

Now, the trick for me is to find some music on my ipod that I haven't used lately because I have not gotten any new music in the last couple weeks. My plan is to find about 3 or 4 faster songs to get through the first 1/3 of the ride on a flat road, then we'll slow it down a bit with some power songs for the hills.

STAGE 2 PROFILE - BRUXELLES>SPA:

0:00 - 4:18  Scream My Name - LMFAO (4:18) - begin warm up, explain ride's purpose: 75 - 85% MHR, 70 - 110 rmp, flat roads that turn into small hills at an aggressive pace. Most of the ride should be aerobic until we hit 3 of our steeper hills at minutes 19, 35, and 40

4:19 - 8:00 I Need More Love - Robert Randolph - (3:42) - Second song of flat road, with small increase about half way through, but should still keep riders on a flat road. Begin to increase RPMs all the way through.

8:00 - 11:50 Ex Lover - Friendly Fires - (3:50) - Third song of flat road. Maintain high cadence between 90 - 110 rpm. Alternate between seated and standing flat.

11:51 - 15:19 The Small Print - Muse - (3:29) - This song has 2 elevations at :50 and 1:55, so we are adding a little resistance each time, slowly building up our first hill.

15:20 - 19:37 Seven - Dave Matthews Band - (4:17) - Add resistance to a moderate hill for 2 min. 30 sec until we roll back to our flat road, maintain high cadence once we are back on flat road and check HR. Get ready to hit our first hard hill at the next song...

19:38 - 23:09 Shame And Fortune - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (3:31)- Crank up resistance to a moderate/moderately hard hill for 2 minutes, and move to position 3 to power over. At the 2 minute mark, lower resistance just a little, but keep climbing.

23:10 - 27:37 - Showdown - Black Eyed Peas - (4:27) - short flat for about 30 seconds (break here if needed), then add resistance back for a moderate hill at position 3 for 1 min 30 sec, then move back to saddle without changing the gear. Focus on pedal stroke!

27:37 - 33:39 - Assassin - Headman - (6:02) - back to flat road for 1 minute. Recover if necessary, or keep high cadence and light resistance before next hill. Back to a moderate hill for 2 minutes, staying in the saddle. Roll back into a flat road for 1 minute. At 4 mins into the song, go back to a moderate hill with switchbacks to gain speed through the end of the song.

33:40 - 38:10 - More Human Than Human - White Zombie - (4:29) 1 minute Recovery. Second big hill, moderately hard at 1:00 into the song for 1 min 30 sec, then roll back to a flat road for 30 seconds for a brief recovery. at 3:00 into the song, prepare for short accellerations on a flat road, adding resistance every 20 seconds without losing speed.

38:11 - 41:03 - Bacchus - Galactic - (2:53) - Our last steep hill (mod/hard, at 85% MHR). Climb through song.

41:02 - 44:55 - Armistice - MuteMath - (3:53) - Finish with two minutes engaged in fast flat road, and begin to slowly decrease resistance to cool down.

Calorie Count for the Day:

Cereal for Breakfast + multi- vitamin - 337

LC 3 Meat pizza for lunch -  390

Pure Protein Chewy Chocolate Chip - 200

Dinner:- 650 (pasta with wheat noodles instead of my spaghetti squash)

Calories Consumed - 1577
Calories Burned at the Gym - 945
Remaining calories for the day........................632

Day 7 of Food Challenge, and Spin Cure for Cancer!

It's Saturday, but I got up at 6:30, had my cereal (337 calories) and vitamins, and headed over to the Madison 51 Courthouse for the Spin Cure for Cancer.

I got there at 7:40 am, and hopped on a bike. While taking just a few breaks off the bikes, I stayed with it until 11:00 am! What a long morning! But it really was fun. I probably had 6 Poweraids, at 60 calories each (360 calories). Around 9:30, I had a protein bar (200 calories). At the end of the ride, my HR monitor said 2500 even, and was constantly going up as I was just walking around.

And yes, I did come home with an awesome tan line!

Came home, had a tablespoon of peanut butter. 95 calories, then a Lean Cuisine BBQ Chicken Pizza, 340 calories.

Jonas has frozen wings in the sink, so looks like we'll have wings tonight! In the meantime, I have another tablespoon of peanut butter (95 Cals), then a slice of turkey (25 cals), a slice of cheese (60 cals), and a 1/4 cup of pecans (200 Calories).

Around 5:00, I was falling asleep and Jonas was bored, so we decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and play buzztime. I have two Blue Moons - 680 calories - yikes! And we split a grilled chicken quesadila, 400 calories.

We finally get to cooking the chicken wings. He did 3 different sauces, hot honey mustard, blazin', and jalapeno lime. I think I only had 4, one of each and another honey mustartd. Not really hungry after the BWW trip. 180 Calories + 20 calories from the sauce.

Cereal - 337
Spin Cure for Cancer - (-1940)
Lunch - 435
Snack -  375
BWW - 1080
Dinner - 200

Tally for the day - 487.....oh yeah!