A Passion for Running

I realize this has absolutely nothing to do with running but it’s just so darn funny!

Kevin Pollak doing his impression of Christopher Walken

I’ve begun my 3rd week of bike commuting. Wanna know what I’ve learned so far?

1) The wind is never at my back.

2) I seem to adapt quickly to being on the bike. Week one was hard. Week two I introduced a run on a bike day and it wasn’t bad. And this week I already feel like I could bike every day and run on a few of those days as well. Of course, runs on those days would likely not be fast or particularly long but…we’ll see.

3) I’m not fond of road bikes that pass me and my mountain bike like we’re standing still. Not fond of them at all.

4) I have a “natural” cadence of 90 revolutions per minute. I hope I am stating that with fairly correct cycling lingo. At any rate, my legs seem most comfortable peddling 90 times each per minute. This is fascinating to me since 90 is also the minimum cadence I aim for when running – something I learned under the Pose Method. Are my legs good at 90 because of what I have engrained while running, or is 90 just…natural?

5) A 45 minute bike ride to work more than replaces morning coffee.

Everyone is Edmonton is focussed on one thing and one thing only tonight! Go Oilers go!!!

This past while has been frustrating. Lately, it’s seemed as though every time I’ve turned around I’ve gotten injured doing non-running stuff. I mean, come on – getting piriformis moving a box of wood? Or, getting whiplash racking wine? (you shush, Nella!) Oy.

Frankly, this state of affairs has become a source of trepidation that has, at times, bordered on fear. And “yes”, I’ve said/thought “It sucks getting old” more than I like to admit this past few months.

But today was, I think, some kind of turning point.

-I biked 10 miles too work
-Ran 4 miles at lunch
-And biked back home

Today was my fifth day bike commuting. The first couple days really sucked. The third and fourth were ok. Today felt great. And the kicker is it was the first time I added a run in there and even with that, the ride home felt really loose.

And here I sit feeling…well oiled – for lack of a better phrase. Sort of like the body needed those 2.75 hours of exercise to get past…something. Even my piriformis feels damn near gone.

Curious.