Riding in the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA) for the first time in two weeks!

The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA 2013) is about to begin in a little over a week.  My husband and I will be riding in it for the first time.  We will be riding our Hase Pino tandem.  It's our first week-long ride on the tandem and our first ride together with camping at the overnight stops.

We plan to do a self-supported bicycle tour around the perimeter of the U.S.  The first leg of the tour will begin in September with the Pacific coast going from north to south.  GOBA 2013 will be a great adventure for us, in and of itself,  it will also be a great first step in preparation for our Big Ride beginning this fall.

I'll be posting about GOBA as we ride...

Runner's World Weather-Based Clothing Guide for Running

I have a very simple guide to figuring out what to wear when running outside. I take the current temperature in Fahrenheit and add 20 degrees to it. I wear what would feel comfortable if I was standing still at 20 degrees warmer. Usually, that works pretty well. 

Yesterday, I stumbled across a very cool guideline by Runner's World on the internet for figuring out what to wear that not only takes into consideration the temp, but the wind and rain as well. Here's the link. 

Out of curiosity, after I finished today's run, I checked to see what Runner's World would have recommended. It was about 45 degrees when I started my run, breezy and sunny. I had worn shorts, a long sleeved technical shirt, a visor and sunglasses. My hands were cold when I started and I pulled down my sleeves to cover them during the first half mile or so. Runner's World suggested that I wear what I had chosen plus a mesh vest and lightweight gloves that I could tuck in my shorts waistband if I got hot. I had considered wearing a windbreaker vest this morning and I briefly wished that I had my gloves when I started. Both would have made me more comfortable particularly during my first mile. The vest I was considering wearing would have been too hot after I got warmed up, but I also have a mesh vest that would have worked great....I just didn't think of it. 

I think I'll try to check Runner's World recommendations more often as the weather changes. It will help make my runs more comfortable. 

If I Hadn't Gone Running Today

I would have missed all this.....

Some days, I just don't feel like getting out there, but I'm always glad when I do!

How Planning a Year-Long Bicycle Tour Changes My View of Things

My husband and I are seriously planning a year-long self-supported bicycle tour beginning next summer.  That means that we will carry all our camping gear, clothing, bicycle tools and pretty much everything we will need for a year (except food and water) on our tandem.  We want to keep our total "gear" weight for the both of us to something under 80 pounds and hopefully closer to 50 pounds.  Not only do we want our gear to be under a certain weight, we have to be able to fit it all into a relatively small space.

Knowing we will be living the "simple life" on a bike for such a long time, makes me look at all the "stuff" I have in my home today.  It also makes me realize how little of the "stuff" I have that I actually need or use on a daily basis.  Each week, we haul "stuff" to Goodwill or other charitable organizations to lighten our load.

It's amazing how a bicycle tour can change one's perspective on what is needed and what is not!

Midwest Tandem Rally

This past weekend my husband and I went to our first tandem rally. We had owed our tandem for five whole days before we went and had probably put only 20 miles on the bike, so we were really "newbies" to the tandem world. 

It was amazing to see so many tandems in one place. I think there were about 1,000 bikes there. Of all the tandems, there was only one other bike that was configured like ours with a recumbent seat in the front for the stoker and an upright seat in the back for the captain. So many people asked questions about our bike. I wouldn't be surprised if the bike shop we bought it from gets lots of calls this week. 

We finally have a picture of the two of us riding the bike. Here it is! 

Our first picture together on the Hase Pino

There were lots of fascinating bikes.  Some of my favorites are the quads and quints.

An example of a quad.

A quint!

It's really fun to see so many tandems in one place.  It was quite an event!

I was the "captain" today on the Hase Pino!

We are learning to love our Hase Pino partial recumbent tandem more and more each day.  We bought it with the hope that we could take turns being "captain" (on the wedgie seat) and stoker (on the recumbent seat).  My husband is 5'11" and weighs about 175.  I'm 5'3" and weigh 139.  We weren't sure if I'd be able to handle holding the bike upright at starts and piloting the bike during takeoffs.

This morning, I decided to give it a try.  First, I took the bike out by myself solo.  I quickly discovered it was very easy to handle and soon thereafter I was doing figure 8's on our little dead-end street.  That's a sign of confidence on a bike when I can make tight turns in either direction.  After about five minutes of riding, we made a quick adjustment to lengthen the boom so my husband could ride in the recumbent seat in the front.  Off we went!!!  I felt very confident steering from in the back.  On level surfaces, I can easily maintain the bike on starts and stops.  At stop signs on steeper hills, it helps that Jim's legs are long enough that, if I need him to, he can put them down on either side of the boom while we are stopped to keep the bike  from rolling.

This is a fun bike, there is no doubt about it.

I'm really excited.  I'm sure now that we will be able to swap positions on a long tour to give each of us a break in our sitting positions and our leg muscles used.  How great is that!!!

Run/Walking the Jeff Galloway Way

Twenty years ago, I was an avid runner.  I was never very fast.  I typically ran 10 minute miles (which is not fast in the running world).  I discovered long-distance running and ran a marathon.  Shortly thereafter, I stopped running consistently and haven't gotten back to it for more than a few months at a time since.

Fast forward sixteen years or so to about three years ago.  I discover a new way of "running" called run/walking by reading about Jeff Galloway's method of running.  He advocates alternating between running for a relatively short period of time (30 seconds to a few minutes) and then walking for a short period of time (15 seconds to 90 seconds).   As a person's speed increases, the time spent running increases and the time spent walking decreases.  Here's an example of  Jeff Galloway's proposed walk/run intervals for a variety of speeds (see the bottom of the link).

My 60th birthday is coming up in November.  To celebrate my birthday, my husband and I will be running the Cantigny 5K.  I started training for it a couple weeks ago using Galloway's 5k training program.  Training is going great.  So far it's very easy.  I'm currently training by running 30 seconds and walking 60 seconds.  How easy is that!  Yesterday I did two miles at a 15:30 pace according to Endomondo.  Since I'm in the 15 minute pace range, I'll be shifting to a 30 second run, 45 second walk interval in accordance with Galloway's recommendations.

Jeff Galloway running is a great way to ease back into running painlessly.  His training programs are simple and have a very slow progression.  I think almost anyone interested in running could do them.  The amazing thing about his method of running is that it seems to work at all levels.  The longer the run, the more valuable the walk intervals are to maintaining speed and enhancing recovery.  I really like his approach to running.

The race is in nine more weeks.  I don't have a time goal for the race.  I just want to do it and have fun. It's a kickstart to get back into running.  I plan to keep picking races to do over the winter to keep me motivated to stay in shape.  Nothing worse than running a race unprepared and being miserable.

I see running and biking as very complimentary cross-training aerobic activities.  It's all part of a plan to be active and healthy into my 70's and 80's and possibly even beyond.  Who knows!