Are You Rugged?

Training

Yes, road bikes are all they’re cracked up to be. Unfortunately I had to return my loaned bike yesterday… but not before I had a chance to take it for a spin. Luckily the weather cooperated and it was the perfect day for bike riding.

The verdict? The road bike was significantly more uncomfortable than my hybrid; it was also significantly more fun to ride. Faster, smoother, more reactive- this is why people ride bikes for 100s of miles.

But for now it’s back to the hybrid. Time to focus on running!

When I found out I had a spot in an Olympic-distance tri this May, I wasn’t running at all. I knew jumping back into things too quickly, especially with the motivation of a race hanging in there, could spell disaster for my knee. I decided a 5K at the beginning of April would be my test-run.

If I survived that 5K, I could do the tri. If not, the tri was out.

Well the beginning of April popped up out of nowhere. One day it was dreary, rainy, and frosty; the next it was sunny and all kinds of April. The 5K is Saturday.

I won’t tell you that right now I can only run a mile…

 

Luckily there’ll be some distractions along the course; a chance to give my knee a quick break. And while my knee’s resting, the rest of my body will be doing the work:

rugged maniac obstacle course

rugged maniac greensboro course

You know, just your typical 5K on a motocross track: crawling through tunnels, climbing 7 ft walls, hopping barricades, forging through a jungle of giant swinging truck tires, crawling through the mud, scaling a cargo net, leaping across floating barrels. Yeah, you know.

rugged maniac adventure race 5k

I’m excited. I was really hoping to jump over a fire pit, but I guess a mudslide will do. Winking smile

run through fire pit

Have you ever done an adventure race or mud run? Any hints on making it through unscathed?

Stud vs. Dud

Biking

As someone who’s sidelined from running, it’s getting to the point where it hurts to look at Facebook or blogs or heaven-forbid Daily Mile- especially on Sundays, after everyone’s finished their long run for the week.

It’s only been made worse now that beautiful spring mornings keep popping up. Normally that means it’s time for an early morning run- without bundling up from head to toe.

But this year the warm mornings and chirping birds are just taunting me.

So it’s time to do something about it. Since jumping out of bed and going for a run isn’t exactly going to happen anytime soon, it’s time to pick the lesser of two evils: biking.

Running has always been my first choice- part of the thrill is pushing yourself to cover a longer distance and pumping your legs harder than you think is possible. Biking may not be the same, but it can certainly accomplish both of those things.

Only problem is less-than-stellar equipment.

hybrid bike for triathlonsucky bike

So after alternately dragging my mom and the husband from bike shop to bike shop and bike again {and again}, I’ve finally picked out a bike. I think. Now it’s just a matter of finding it and getting it. {And learning to ride it…..}

But until then I’ll just keep eyeing the candy in the window…

giant avail 1

dolce elite compactfelt zw 4trek lexa slx silvertrek madone 3.1

kuota bike

Ask me about any just-above-entry-level road bike and I can probably tell you something about it. Just don’t ask me to choose one…..

Do you have a bike? What kind do you have? How.did.you.pick.one?!!