Ironman, Step 1: Taking my first bike ride in 13 years

Posted by Chen

Well hello, blogworld! I'm super excited for our new group training blog and intrigued to see if I can actually figure this "blogging" thing out. Despite my engineering background, I'm actually incredibly new-technology-averse. Case in point: I let my Garmin 405 sit idle for the first 9 months that I owned it because it just seemed so much more complicated to use than my easy-peasy Timex stopwatch. I also didn't get a smartphone until 2013, so there's that. All of that is to say that figuring out how to post here should be interesting. In spite of my technology aversion, I've actually wanted to start a running blog ever since I discovered them back in 2008 while training for my first full marathon, but I never thought I would have enough interesting content to post. Which, let's face it, probably would have been true.

I hear people like blogs better when there are pictures, so I'm posting this gratuitous picture of a burger and fries and whole pickle.  Incidentally, this is what we ate after a group of us ran the Oakland marathon & half a couple weekends ago.  It was delicious and made all of the hill climbing worth it.

BUT, now that we have at least eight of us toying with the idea of a 2015 Ironman, I should have plenty of crazy stories to tell. Why? Well, I'd say of the group, I'm probably the least prepared for the triathlon world, given that I only have in-depth experience with 33% of the sports involved. While the rest of this crew has been swimming and/or cycling for years, the last time I swam consistently was between the ages of approximately 5-10 when I took swimming lessons at my local Y back in PA. And that only happened because my parents forced me to slash bribed me with the promise of a hot dog topped with ketchup and relish at the end of each class. And biking? Before this past weekend, the last bike ride I took was from my dorm to my 9am math class during my freshman year of college. I somehow managed to eat asphalt during that ride (despite my journey totaling all of 1.25 miles), and from that moment on, I swore off biking forever.

'Forever' lasted until this past Sunday. The day before, Brandon (a fellow author of this blog who has yet to post but will soon, I'm sure!) and I had gone into a bike store to purchase an extra water bottle for him, and I somehow came out of the store with a brand new Bianchi. Oh, and some clips, shoes, a helmet (safety first!), gloves, a seat bag, an extra water bottle, an extra water bottle holder, tubes, and probably some other pieces of miscellaneous gear that I'm already forgetting. I think my credit card shed actual tears. While it probably wasn't the most financially sound purchase I've ever made, it was certainly timely, as I was scheduled to go on my first real ride with the group the next day.

Meet my Bianchi.  His name is Bert.

Long story short: I survived 38.2 miles (broken up by wine tasting and lunch at the turnaround point, mind you), only fell twice, and ended up with only one somewhat nasty bruise on my shin. Learning to clip in was awkward at best, but it actually wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting, thanks to tutelage from the crew. The ride itself was beautiful (at least it was during the rare moments when I looked up from staring intensely at the ground in an effort to avoid debris) and (dare I say) enjoyable, though it helped that everyone was keeping the pace easy for newbie me. Aside from falling, the most pain I ever felt was towards the end of the ride when my bum and my hands couldn't take it anymore - that will take some getting used to. From a cardiovascular and muscular standpoint, though, I felt pretty good, which was a pleasant surprise.

I even followed the ride up later with a hilly 12.75 mile run at a surprisingly decent pace (~8:03, for those who like numbers and data as much as I do). I'm not sure where that came from, but methinks my legs were just happy to be performing a familiar motion again. While a fake brick workout wasn't exactly in my original plans that weekend, I had skipped my 20 miler the day before (too busy bike shopping, obvi!) and felt the need to run at least a medium distance run to keep up with my Boston 'thon training, which is still my primary focus at the moment. Full triathlon training will have to hold its horses and wait a few weeks.

All in all, I had a great first ride experience, and while I'm pretty sure running marathons will always be my main jam, I'm excited to see what these other sports have to offer.

Next up: Learn to swim without drowning. Coach Rachel - I will be scheduling an appointment within the next 4-6 weeks.