It’s 47*F in Baltimore and sunny. I took advantage of the weather to go out on a slow recovery ride (1hr 20min). Yesterday I ran 7.5 miles on tired legs and this was the best break I could imagine. Since it was a recovery ride I brought the Nikon P5000 and stopped a few times to grab some shots. I thought they might serve as sketches to remind me of the scenery. I’ve watched these potential images go whizzing by during training rides before, but never stopped to capture them. Wearing my yellow tinted sunglasses always makes them look even more appealing.
Last year I didn’t start putting in milage on the bike until early March, so I had come up with a plan to ride 6 months and run during the rest of the year. I planned on cross training so I wouldn’t go completely out of riding or running shape during the year. I knew that I needed to keep up some running as it’s my best option for fitness during business travel. In October I switched over, putting the bicycle aside and started building mileage. As I finished up 3 months of mostly running, I had built to a 12 mile long run, taking me just about 2 and a half hours. My fitness, at least for running was measurably increasing.
My most important realization was how much I was gaining from higher intensity intevals approaching VO2 max. And with running, it was easier to get there given the weight bearing nature of the exercise and my low efficiency as a runner. Running is great during the winter because I feel comfortable running at temperatures and in weather conditions that keep me off the bicycle.
Having taken a few months to focus on running, I’ve decided to try to take January, February and March to build a base that will have me ready for intervals in April through May when the weather is better, but time is often short.
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