Sunday thoughts: riding and running

Wow. Rode outdoors today for the first time in about three weeks. It was tune-up time for the bike, so it was in the shop for week and I took the opportunity to go running a few times. I bought new running shoes, some bright orange Adidas, really light but more rigid than the Nike Free shoes I last purchased. The shoes feel good, running feels pretty good.

The problem is, my legs are not at all used to the pounding they get from running. I tried to spend at least some time grass or dirt, and I suppose it helped. Late yesterday I ran for 60 - 70 minutes and I had trouble getting to sleep because of how sore my legs were. I'm glad I'm getting some running in now. Spring Break is next week. We'll be taking some vacation time, and that means no cycling for about 10 days.

This afternoon, I rode for about 2 hours. My goal was to give it a moderate effort, not leave myself too tired. I think I did that, although the extreme wind made it hard to keep a consistent effort. 60 deg F and wind gusts up to 30 mph, according to weather.com.

I'm glad I took the bike for a tune-up. Shifting is so much better than before I took it in. I have to watch my mileage this year. I bet my very worn chain caused some of the trouble I had with shifting. If chains need to be replaced every 1500 miles, I probably should have been on my third or fourth chain; instead, I was rolling with the original chain.