Three Things Tuesday – The Bike Version

May 27, 2014 Faux Runner Comments 0 Comment

Screen Shot 2014-05-25 at 9.10.21 AM — We will be running Dopey together, so I suppose starting out on an insane bike distance (for me) is a good start to our training.

While I ended 2013 with the best of intentions to continue triathlons, about 2 months into this year I decided that I was going to focus on running instead. I love the 3 sports individually but putting them all together freaks me out, especially the bike! And then there is a little matter of cross fit that I’ve taken up. So the bike that was put on the trainer in winter gathered dust and cobwebs … until my running buddies persuaded me to bring the bike out to see daylight.

I still don’t know why agreed to – maybe it was realizing that I could never *ever* ride my bike again unless I got over my fear of the clipless pedals.

So, this week’s “Three Things Tuesday” are all related to my adventures on that first bike ride of the year.

1. Don’t trust your over enthusiastic buddies when they say “its just another 4 miles”.

My original plan was to just go about 10 miles on the bike to get the feel of the clipless pedals and more importantly, to try and not fall. When we got to the turnaround, they said coming out for just 5 miles was pointless and I could easily do 4 more. Umm …. ok. Those 4 miles turned out to be 7! And by the time I reached their turnaround, I was wondering at my insanity. I did make it back (without falling) from my longest ride EVER, but wondering if I was pushing myself at going 23 miles on my first ride of the year or if I was wimping out when obviously I’m in decent cardio shape (as long as it is slow ..).

2. Sitting on the saddle for the first time … OMG.

Enuf’ said!
2 days in and my bones still hurt. I had tri shorts on, which is what I used all last year. But I suppose when you ride for almost 2 hours (remember, I’m slow even at biking!), it’s time to break out some diaper butt shorts/skirts.

3. Eating everything in sight for the next 12 hours might be normal (or not).

On the day of the ride, I was constantly hungry and I ate so much more than the 23 miles allowed me to. An entire hummus-endamame sandwich for after-ride brunch, 2 tall glass of protein shake at home, 1/3 of Ghirardelli Butterscotch ice cream as ‘snack’, and more nachos than decently allowed and 1/2 flan at dinner.

This article from LiveStrong says “Running at an easy 12-minute-per-mile — or 5 mph — pace burns the same number of calories as cycling at a slow speed of 12 to 13.9 mph. If you weigh 125 pounds, either activity will burn about 240 calories in 30 minutes. If you weigh 155 pounds then you can expect to burn 298 calories with a half-hour workout. In 30 minutes these activities will each burn about 355 calories if you weigh 185 pounds.” So I probably burnt about 1200 calories in my 2 hour ride. But I ate far far more! Yikes!!

Do you have a Three Things Tuesday/Thursday post? Post your link in the comments for some link-love! (I still haven’t figured out how to have a link-up!)

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