Hello everyone. This is my first time replying on this forum (or any forum for that matter!). I started biking in the last month, after spending the last 25 years as a distance runner - anything from the mile to the marathon. Now that I am older (43), I have developed structural foot pain and have chosen to bike since running everyday is painful. Duathlons next summer are my goal and I must say - thanks to my sister in law, I LOVE BIKING!!! It's nice to get excited about something again and look forward to seeing what I can do on a bike. Anyway.....

The cadence issue is something I also struggle with sometimes. Most of my rides are anywhere from 75-90 or more but I often feel like I sacrifice mph in order to keep the cadence at a reasonable level. Most winter training I have researched as said to ride a lot of miles in the 80-90 rpm range to build an aerobic base. But I sometimes don't feel like my heart rate gets very high (may be because of all the running), and I am switching gears often, especially when I come to a long hill, in order to keep the cadence. Am I OK doing this for the winter to build a base, or should I also add more resistance and slow down the cadence some in order to gain power? I have tried both, and when my cadence was lower and I felt like I was giving it everything because the resistance was higher, my legs were spent very quickly. At 80-85 rpm, I can go 20-25 miles very easily, and follow that with a run.

Since I am new to this whole biking thing, is what I am doing OK, and then in the spring adding some intervals of very high cadence, and some of low cadence and high resistance for strength? Any help anyone has would be great. Having run and coached runners, I am thinking that doing some of the same types of workouts, only geared for the bike, will help increase my overall speed for the sprint duathlons next year.

I want to say that it is very refreshing to see answers/information presented in a way that doesn't make novices like myself, feel like our questions are ridiculous. It is especially nice to link up with so many women who are passionate about the same things. I thank you and look forward to reading more about you all in the future!

"See in yourself not the limits, but the stars"