I feel surprisingly decent for a girl who connected with the concrete on her bike ride last night. My pelvis feels much better than I expected to — sudden twisting movements or lunges kill me (good thing I’m not running right now!) but I can walk (yay!).
Plus — NO KNEE PAIN. None! I must admit that the long bike rides make me pretty nervous about my knees because I’m just so used to them hurting after endurance workouts. But NOT with biking. My dad is probably BEAMING as he reads this post because he always wanted me to bike with him as a kid, and I hated it. But no longer! I’m a biking convert, Dad!
I was HANGRY last night, and I was even HANGIER this morning!
My banana oatmeal contained:
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 sliced banana
- Toppings: almonds, cashews, brown sugar, blackberries
Biking Tips
A lot of you have been asking me for biking tips. Now, I’m pretty much a newbie, too, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading on Bicycling.com, which is pretty much like RunnersWorld.com for cyclists.
This article presents a simple plan for getting faster on your bike (including different plans for cold or warm weather).
Techniques for getting faster include:
- Climbing: Find a hill that takes you three to five minutes to climb. Ride up as hard as you can while maintaining a consistent pace. Roll down. Repeat three to six times.
- Simulate a Solo Attack: Stand and sprint for 10 to 15 seconds, sit and hammer for 2 1/2 minutes, then finish with another 10- to 15-second sprint. Recover for five minutes. Repeat four to six times.
- Intervals: On a flat-to-rolling road, ride as hard as you can for 30 seconds and recover one minute. Do five sets. Recover five minutes and do another five sets. When these feel easier, increase to one-minute efforts, doing two sets of five, with two minutes rest between sprints. Then try two sets of 10.
Obviously, these types of speed workouts aren’t intended for your long bike ride days, which are designed to build endurance. But, speed workouts are a great way to make the time fly by and burn extra calories on your weekday rides!
Have a wonderful Monday…. I’m off to tackle a 15-hour day.
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I’m really intrigued by biking. I imagine I might like it better than running! Less impact, with scenery flying by? I like the sound of it.
Hope you have a good day despite the insanely long work hours, and I hope your pelvic injury feels better today!
I’m glad your knees are doing great after the ride and even the impact from falling! i know things like that can tweak muscles and such that you never thought would be afffected!
I’ve noticed the same thing about how easy biking is on your knees. I had IT band syndrome and couldn’t run for 2 minutes without hurting, yet I could bike hard for an hour with no pain!
But I must say I just don’t enjoy it as much, especially when you have to deal with any traffic at all.
Glad to hear that you’re ok after your fall.
Hey girl!
So glad that you are okay. What a scary crash!
I’m also so happy for you that you’ve found a wonderful alternative to running. I’d love to start biking again soon, and seeing your great rides makes me even more anxious to dig out my old bike.
Hope you have a great week Caitlin!
Funny, I’ve been staring at my husband’s bike in the garage, thinking that I should give it a whirl! Thanks for the biking tips
Thanks for all the tips on getting faster- I DEFINITELY need those
I’m glad you are feeling okay after your fall. It’s funny that your knees don’t hurt after biking- mine definitely do, I must be doing something wrong!
I guess I am like you. Mark always goes bicycling and I always say it’s so boring, but I am open to conversion.
I also had nanner oats this morning, but yours are prettier!
Thank you for the bike tips!
Yummy breakfast. So glad you are feeling decent this morning after your fall!
Glad to hear you’re not in too much pain today! Have a great day!
Hope your long day goes by FAST!
I’m so glad you’re okay after your crash – that is so scary! And YAY for no aching knees.
I’m glad you’re ok after your crash! You’re one tough bike chick
glad your feeling okay today .. thanks for the biking tips
I am definitely planning on whiping my bike out of the garage this summer!
Ugh, 15 hour days are absolutely no fun! I hope it flies by!
awesome! it’s great to get to love the bike. i totally take any bike time i can get, including climbing rides around here
i tagged you as a blog i love today! check it out.
Im so happy to hear about your knees! You are really doing the right thing for your body. I love how you just dive into a new sport!
So glad that your knee feels better! Thanks for the biking tips!
Sorry to hear about your bike crash – but so glad you are OK. Just read through your posts through the weekend – looks like watermelon is very fresh in your neighborhood! Now I’m craving some.
Good luck with your long day! Thanks for taking the time to blog/read comments when you are so busy with work.
I’m so excited about road biking right now … my husband found me a used road bike this weekend and we did 13.5 miles yesterday! I’d never been on a road bike before and it was so fun … But my neck is crazy sore today. I was kinda afraid during the ride (of speed, cars on the road) and was pretty tense in my shoulders/neck … Any tips for relaxing, or is this something I’ll “get used to”?
Oh, and sweet pillow pants. My butt area is telling me I might need some of those soon.
carrie – your welcome.
the key is to not hold yourself too tensely. you should be loose in the arms and next. holding yourself stiff is what does your neck in! switching positions helps too. and its not a big deal to take a breather, pull over, and stretch. but yes, you’ll get used to it after a while as well (gotta build up those triceps!)
yeah for no knee pain!!! I so wish I had a road bike!!!
do you wear biking shoes/are you clipped in when you ride? just wondering how that might have effected your fall. i am glad you are OK but that cut on your hand looks like it might have hurt a bit!
Good luck with the long day! Fuel up
http://www.HelpMeghanRun.com
tami – i have sneakers. on my to-buy list are: sunglass, gloves, and clip ins.
Glad you`re not having any knee pain today! I hope to do some biking this summer, you are getting me excited about it!