Nanci
11-25-2005, 06:36 AM
I started road biking seriously in July of this year. Since then I have lost 35 pounds. A "fun ride" for me is 70 miles, and I can finish a hilly Century.
I used to be a long distance runner. I was never very fast, but I could go forever- ten hours and beyond. At short distances, 5k, 4 mile, I could occasionally place in my age group in a not-well-attended race, and I once won Women's Masters at the four mile distance.
But as a few years went by, even though my mileage was increasing, so was my weight. (I wasn't changing my diet at all.) My per mile speed dropped drastically. I was also diagnosed with a condition called exertional compartment syndrome, in which the calf muscles swell bigger than their sheaths allow, and get strangled, and hurt like CRAZY. I was going to have surgery to fix it, but the doc had a heart attack, and even though he survived, I chickened out, and then fortunately discovered road biking. (I had mountain biked for about five years.)
For the last year or longer, I haven't really trained for running, just slogged my way through races up to marathon (26.2 miles) distances just because I liked the event and wanted to participate. I also did a couple short triathlons. My running had sunk to an all-time slow, 15 minute mile if I was lucky.
Now, I haven't run since my second triathlon, Labor Day weekend, a three mile run. "Run."
This Thanksgiving, I went to a 6k race, and ran almost as hard as I could. I knocked 20 minutes off my last year's time, and increased my pace from 13:38 minutes per mile to 10:38 minutes per mile! I am _so_ excited about this! Not counting my fastest mile ever, 8 minutes, downhill, my fastest speed was a 9:37 minute mile in a 5k race for an age group second, in 2000!! I'm only a minute/mile away from that now!!
I am hoping that, even though it's all different, road biking is indirectly letting me run faster, probably by a combination of weight loss (though I probably weigh what I weighed in 2000, now) and CV conditioning and increased endurance and stronger leg muscles.
What I am really hoping is that I will be able to participate in any running event I choose now, without having to worry about time cutoffs.
The next couple months are marathon season in Florida, so I will probably be going along with BF as he does them, and running half marathons, just to keep my foot in the door.
But what I am really, really excited about is a 200k Brevet coming in January. I _know_ I can do the distance as long as I can maintain my current level of fitness through the next cold and dark month and a half. I foresee weeknight rides getting fewer and shorter, but hope to be able to maintain with two long weekend rides. That's the plan, anyway.
I am so thankful I discovered a love for road biking.
Nanci
I used to be a long distance runner. I was never very fast, but I could go forever- ten hours and beyond. At short distances, 5k, 4 mile, I could occasionally place in my age group in a not-well-attended race, and I once won Women's Masters at the four mile distance.
But as a few years went by, even though my mileage was increasing, so was my weight. (I wasn't changing my diet at all.) My per mile speed dropped drastically. I was also diagnosed with a condition called exertional compartment syndrome, in which the calf muscles swell bigger than their sheaths allow, and get strangled, and hurt like CRAZY. I was going to have surgery to fix it, but the doc had a heart attack, and even though he survived, I chickened out, and then fortunately discovered road biking. (I had mountain biked for about five years.)
For the last year or longer, I haven't really trained for running, just slogged my way through races up to marathon (26.2 miles) distances just because I liked the event and wanted to participate. I also did a couple short triathlons. My running had sunk to an all-time slow, 15 minute mile if I was lucky.
Now, I haven't run since my second triathlon, Labor Day weekend, a three mile run. "Run."
This Thanksgiving, I went to a 6k race, and ran almost as hard as I could. I knocked 20 minutes off my last year's time, and increased my pace from 13:38 minutes per mile to 10:38 minutes per mile! I am _so_ excited about this! Not counting my fastest mile ever, 8 minutes, downhill, my fastest speed was a 9:37 minute mile in a 5k race for an age group second, in 2000!! I'm only a minute/mile away from that now!!
I am hoping that, even though it's all different, road biking is indirectly letting me run faster, probably by a combination of weight loss (though I probably weigh what I weighed in 2000, now) and CV conditioning and increased endurance and stronger leg muscles.
What I am really hoping is that I will be able to participate in any running event I choose now, without having to worry about time cutoffs.
The next couple months are marathon season in Florida, so I will probably be going along with BF as he does them, and running half marathons, just to keep my foot in the door.
But what I am really, really excited about is a 200k Brevet coming in January. I _know_ I can do the distance as long as I can maintain my current level of fitness through the next cold and dark month and a half. I foresee weeknight rides getting fewer and shorter, but hope to be able to maintain with two long weekend rides. That's the plan, anyway.
I am so thankful I discovered a love for road biking.
Nanci