“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you have to keep moving.
Albert Einstein
My Biking Background
Before I became a runner, I used to love to bike places by myself and with our sweet kids who learned how to bike before they turned eight years old.
I also used to bike to Sacramento State University when I did my Masters degree and loved the no parking hassle and getting my exercise done at the same time. I have also done a few century (100 miles) and 100K rides for Diabetes Tour de Cure in honor of my dear father.
Running and Cross-training
Yet, once the bug of running took a hold on me in 2015, I started to neglect my Specialized Women design road bike. With a sticker on the middle bar that reads in Japanese calligraphy, self-moving vehicle, my bike started collecting dust in our garage, because I had found pure joy and more freedom in running, not to mention an excellent way to burn roughly four times more calories. I was thus preoccupied with my running Lunar 8 Nike shoes and my Brooks Cascadia shoes and following my training schedule provided by our racing team coach. At first, I was running 4 to 5 days a week, but then I increased to 6 days a week to cram more miles and get stronger, and yet more prone to injury.
Overusing our muscles doing the same repetitive motion will certainly lead to injury sooner or later, which happened to me last month in March after a tough track workout. Thank goodness, I can now start back running wiser and stronger after my tendon has healed. As I biked 20 miles today, I kept writing in my head, while feeling the wind, smelling barbecue meat cooking on the grills the day before Easter, and watching the swollen and swift American River on my left side.
I even imagined a funny conversation between my bike and I that went this way:
Bike: “So, now I am good enough for a 20-mile spin, because you can’t run in your snazzy Lunar Glide shoes, huh?”
Me: “Uhmmm! You know you have been my first love ever since childhood.”
Bike: “Yeah? And running is your hot lover who gets you high all the time.”
Me: “Nonsense. I just love to run and maybe my Lunar Glide shoes and you can be civilized and share the roads and trails from now on,” I replied while listening to the Runner’s World podcasts.
Bike: “I guess we can… Pedal harder! You can get a biker’s high without getting too tired, or too winded!”
Me: “Sweet! Maybe biker’s high is a little more real than unicorns.”
While biking and not getting tired, I also came up with five reasons biking and running can be best friends:
- Biking is a fast and great way to do intervals and hills with less pressure on our body.
- Biking can be done during a class indoors no matter what the weather is like, or outdoors for more sunshine and vitamin D.
- Biking can be a great training partner during off season, during an injury that allows you to bike, or just as an addition to your rest, easy days.
- Biking will build up your stamina and endurance, as well as provide excellent cardio benefits.
- Biking and running can become best friends and help you with that PR when running your next race.
As for me, I have decided to balance running, biking, playing tennis, strength training, and aqua jogging to avoid injuries. Running 5 days a week should be enough. Running and swimming the same day if I choose so can give me two intense cardio workouts and less stress on my joints and body. It will feel as if I am training for a triathlon and maybe one day, I will actually do one! Cheers! Happy feet! Happy pedaling!
For more info on running and real estate, whether buying or selling, please e-mail me at carmenmicsa@yahoo.com, or call me at 916-342-2446. Running for real estate with joy!