A story of going from being a non-runner to planning for a marathon in three years...

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Bike Brick

Photobucket



You may have been wondering after my North Shore Half Marathon report about Jason's new bike. I mean, I've been the one talking about getting a bike. What's all this about my husband getting one?

Well, I have news. Let me introduce the special guest star of my workout last night:

My new bike!


This past Saturday, after driving all over creation, we finally went back to the very first bike store we visited two weeks ago and purchased our bikes. I decided that I liked the Giant the best. It's a little bit heavier than all the other ones I tried (Specialized, Felt, and Trek) which I think makes it a little bit more stable. Perfect for a road bike newbie. We also bought helmets, locks, and a tire pump.

Last night I took it on its inaugural non-test-ride ride and rode the 1.5 miles from my house to the running store where we start our Monday night runs. The bike rode perfectly but I admit I was nervous to get out there. My biggest fear? Traffic!

Growing up I either rode my bike on the sidewalk (bad) or in low-traffic residential neighborhoods. I never learned the bike hand signals and I had no idea what to do if I needed to turn! The ride to the running store was a little nerve-wracking but I made it in one piece.

The run itself was nothing special. I was supposed to do a tempo run with 2 miles of warm-up, 2 miles at 9:05, and then a 1.5 mile cool-down. However, everyone I was running with had raced some distance the day before (or was nursing an injury) so we were all dragging. I think I had one mile that was close to 9:05 and I ran incredibly positive splits.

But then I rode my bike home and since there was much less traffic I was able to build up quite a bit of speed. Bike riding is fun!

I'm really, really looking forward to signing up for some duathlons next summer. But first I have to get through marathon training. At least now I have a bike to use for cross-training!



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Activity
Route:--Elev. Avg:628 ft
Location:Forest Park, ILElev. Gain:+3 ft
Date:06/14/10Up/Downhill: [+22/-19]
Time:06:36 PMDifficulty:2.0 / 5.0
Performance

Distance: 5.40 miles
Time:0:50:40
Speed:6.4 mph
Pace:9' 23 /mi
Calories:636
Map
 
Elevation (ft)
 
Pace (min/mile)
 
Splits
MilePace (min/mile)Speed (mph)Elevation
Gain
actual+/- avgactual+/- avg
19' 17-0' 066.5+0.10 ft
29' 04-0' 196.6+0.2-9 ft
39' 20-0' 036.4+0.0+3 ft
49' 29+0' 066.3-0.1+7 ft
59' 57+0' 346.0-0.40 ft
end9' 26+0' 036.4-0.0+3 ft
Versus average of 9' 23 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hopefully the guest star will make a regularly scheduled appearance! ;-)

Jessica (Bayjb) said...

That is one damn gorgeous bike! Goodness!! I'm jealous and my $50 bike from Target is jealous too.

Anonymous said...

I thought the guest star of your workout was gonna be your hubby!

Andrea (Off Her Cork) said...

Oh fun! I admit that would be my hesitation as well, riding on the road. Cars make me nervous!

Anne said...

That is a gorgeous guest...hope it decided to stick around! Have fun :)

Jamie said...

Riding in high traffic areas makes me nervous too. Enjoy the new ride!

Tasha said...

I'm a new reader and LOVE the bike! Traffic is definitely scary! Be careful out there! :-)

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