Is Running Considered Training for Bicycling?

Despite my lack of posting every intimate detail of my thoughts about my goal of riding my bike across the state, believe it or not, I am still convinced I can do it. The first week that I decided to ride from the TriCities to Seattle and back I spent a lot of time thinking about what route I am going to take. Questions such as, can I legally ride on the shoulder of the freeway? And do I really want to ride across the Cascades with cars speeding by me at 70-80 mph? These questions danced in my mind for days, even weeks, and some I still don’t have answers to; however, I have put those questions aside for now and focused on a more important aspect of this trip, training.

It seems daunting when I think about the shear mileage that I must cover if I am going to succeed, but when I break it down, it seems more reasonable; still insane, but just slightly less so. So you may ask, what have you done to start training? The answer may be a little surprising. It turns out I really am a lazy cyclist because instead of jumping on my bike and beginning to ride, as some of you might think is the logical first step when beginning to train for a bicycle trip (I know that would be my first guess), I began running with my wife Renae.

Running is kind-of like riding a bike, only at a slower pace. They use the same muscle groups, at least I am sore in the same places, and it is really improving my lung capacity, or so I think. At a brisk pace I can still hold a conversation with Renae. Even if there are a few seconds of breathing between each word. We started training for a half marathon and when we are done, we will run a 10K. I know, that is not quite the same distance, but we are taking baby steps. We found a training schedule for beginners wanting to run a half-marathon in Fitness magazine. If you are interested in learning about the training schedule we use you can find it on www.fitnessmagazine.com. It eases you into running by having you walk a few miles, jog a mile, then walk another two. I think this is a great way to start, but it does take quite a bit of time. You run, or do a work out, 5 days a week. After a short break last week due to the occurrence of life, we will be starting to run again this week. And hopefully, in addition to running, I won’t be so lazy about riding my bike. I do ride it for 30 minutes on the cross-training day.

The Lazy Cyclist

Hi,

My name is Jason Stout and I am a lazy cyclist, but I love it! Now I am not on the same level of some cyclists. I am not a fanatic. I do not ever hope to participate in a world renowned tour event either as a competitor or spectator. I do not worship the 'gods' of competitive road biking such as Lance Armstrong, but I must admit the man is an amazing cyclist. I don't know the statistics for every cyclist and piece of equipment on the market. I just enjoy cycling.

I have been in love with cycling for years now. Ever since I was in high school and rode my bike all around town. It is just something about being on the road, moving yourself along, discovering what is around the bend, or just experiencing the world in a different way. A way that for many Americans is has not been used since they were children riding circles in their parent's driveway. Or maybe I am only in love with the idea of riding.

I rode my bike on an off throughout my first years at college. I attended Central Washington University is a small town called Ellensburg. Now, you can, with the help of a bike, make it from one end of town to the other in a few minutes. So, needless to say, I rode my bike almost everywhere and in most kinds of weather. It was great! No need to pay for gas every two days and I got plenty of exercise. I even joined a bicycling course, twice! It was good to ride with other like-minded people. Working a pace line at somewhere between 15 and 20 mph is awesome and that was uphill. However, shortly after my wife and I were married we decided to move back to my hometown of the TriCities. Now, this was not a disappointment as we were closer to family and my wife was able to find a good job, but the TriCities are much more spread-out than Ellensburg and divided by the Columbia River, so you have to use the freeway/highway bridges to get between towns. This made riding my bike a little more difficult. Still, I vowed to ride. The cities really try to facilitate bike riding by providing well paved trails throughout the area, but I always seemed to make excuses for not riding. The weather it too nasty (not a very good excuse as the weather here is very sunny and warm most of the year), it will take too long, or I will get too hot and sweaty. Whatever the excuse I convinced myself to stay inside or drive the car. No more!

I have decided that I will no longer stand for such excuses. If I love riding, I should be riding as much as I can, or at least as much as my body will allow. No let's not go crazy. I don't think I will start riding my ten mile commute every day, but maybe once or twice a week and move up from there. To go from nothing, not riding at all to riding that distance every day is not good for a person. Please, don't think that I am making an excuse here. I do have magnificent, wonderful goals for the future, and one of them is to ride my bike from the TriCities across Washington to Seattle and back. I know, ambitious huh!?!

So I guess I need to get started, but you might have a few questions. You might say; Jason when do you want to do this? How long is this going to take you? What is your route? Well friends, right now I am not sure myself. Some people may call me crazy, but I prefer to think of myself as driven or motivated, but they are probably right. I am a little crazy and I hope you will come along on this crazy little ride of mine.