I got a new bike last weekend.
My previous bike was 15 years old with cracking tires, a broken braking system, and something about the wires. I glazed over at that point. I did perk up when they mentioned the price of fixing it up for my needs of training. $325. Not kidding. New bikes started at $349. It was pretty easy to make a decision.
I took it out for a test run today. Everything was fine until I left the complex and went out onto the street. I switched gears and heard a clunk. My first thought "I’m gonna die out here, all alone, except for that one car that’s about to hit me". After I realized I was still alive, I noticed that the cadence on my bike computer wasn't registering. So then I thought, "Awesome, I just broke my new bike computer". Maybe that’s what the clunk was.
I did a 3-mile loop in about 16 minutes, about a minute and a half slower per mile than my usual pace. I can’t decide if I was slower because I was only doing a test run to check out the bike, if I just need to get used to the bike and the gears and the gadgets and stuff, or if riding on the road is really a huge difference from riding a stationary bike.
I called the bike shop when I got back and told them the cadence was broken. Then as I mounted my bike onto my car, I moved the cadence sensor into the correct position, since it had slipped, and fixed it. But I still wanted to bring it in to see if they could tighten the sensor so it wouldn't slip again. Oh, they fixed it alright. They used electrical tape. Seriously, from the girl who "fixed" a leaky faucet earlier this year with a maxi pad and duct tape, I could have done that myself and saved the bike shop kid in skinny jeans some time.
The biggest surprise of the evening though; my butt doesn't hurt. New bike 0, Sara 1.
Hi Sara,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment today! To answer your question, I really didn't start running until I'd lost about 65 pounds, and was doing my 5Ks after I'd lost 100 pounds. It can be done at 250+, but make sure you have good shoes - have you had your feet measured at a running store? Just as a heads up, good running shoes cost around $100. Um, also, don't ramp up your running too fast so you can hopefully avoid injury - that 10% rule is important. And (sorry this is so long), doing intervals - like 2:1 or 3:1 will really help, and you won't be that much slower than if you actually ran the entire way. Good luck - I'm excited for your triathlon adventure!
Thank you! I'm still trying to figure out this 10% increase rule!
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