I know that this has been brought up many times in the past, but my legs got pretty beat up over this past weekend and my schedule called for a rest day yesterday because I've got my 100k in 11 days.
My girls had scouts and I had an hour that I would normally run, but I decided to dust off my bike and go for a ride. I purposefully picked an area that was "hilly" to ride up to work the quads a little bit, but after making two laps of that I went to a paved bike trail and just went. I did 12 miles total and feel that I hardly broke a sweat after working those uphills. My bike is a 21 speed MTB and I set it at the lowest setting to try and get the best workout that I could.
I don't ride very often, but how often do you ride for exercise on your rest days? Did I just take it too easy? My legs were sore, but I am pretty sure that it was only from the uphills that I was pushing. I wasn't overly tired or anything. What are your thoughts?
I also ride an mtb. It's less pounding on my feet and legs but since mine's a singlespeed I get a far more intense workout on the bike than I do running. If you "set your bike at the lowest setting" (does that mean lowest gear?) then you spin a lot, which is great recovery for the legs.
Yesterday I went downhill powder skiing for a couple of hours in the morning so the bike was more enticing than running for the afternoon because I didn't feel like I wanted the jarring of a run but still wanted to exercise. When I mix biking and running I find that each one benefits from the other somehow. Plus it's just fun.
I'm Holden McGruyen. Would you like to join me?
Uh oh... now what?
The only time I went for a ride on my rest days was while training for a 100-mile trail run. It
was a way to add leg work without the jarring and jolting. I was using a twoish-hour pedal
as the workout, rarely used both rest days (Monday and Friday were my rest days). It is
hard to define the effort. I refer to it as not pushing hard, but still keeping pressure on the pedals.
At this time of year and throughout the summer I try to get at least one ride a week in and
sometimes substitute a long pedal (3ish hours) for a long run.
Today was a 45-minute ride this morning and a 60-minute run this afternoon. The ride was
just a flexibility thing, no hard effort stuff, but very little coasting.
My bike is a 24-speed MTB. I do pedal to work a couple of days a week during most of the
summer, 30 minutes of easy pedaling, just relaxation riding--the ride home at night on trails
is fun (except for the night my light disintegrated... quick, lay it down and think it over).
rgot