Elicit Substance

To get myself motivated to ride my bike again, I ordered an el cheapo computer for my bike (Blackburn Delphi 3.0) but I still had no inclination to put air in my tires.

The easiest way for me to get motivated to ride is to do the thing I really detest the most - running. So, I picked a race that doesn't exist yet (the Hopkinton Paws and Claws 5K has been tentatively scheduled but not confirmed means there's no sign-up yet) and arbitrarily picked a running program. The idea is that it shouldn't matter what race I do, I should just be able to run a 5K and since most online running programs for beginners are set up as various timed interval workouts, anything that gets my heart rate up would suffice. Googling "5K online running programs" I quickly found one that I could use over at About.com.

Instead of going back to my usual flat, closed-circuit road, I headed over to the WWI Memorial Park. Down the park road past the petting zoo, there's a parking lot near a path that leads to three adjoining soccer fields. I've never been a fan of running in the street - the slanting asphalt puts an uncomfortable amount of stress on my knee ligaments - so for this go 'round, I want to try running in the grass or on dirt trails as much as possible.

In order to stay focused on the process and avoid worrying about progress e.g.,how many feet did I run and how many feet per hour was that, exactly? I deliberately ran back and forth across the width of the three fields and the outside boundaries. Running this way instead of running laps around one field would kill the temptation to chart my mileage.

The upshot is that after a year of rarely running, I made it through the first session (run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat 3 more times at my usual shuffle/jog pace) with much less difficulty than I had anticipated. That tells me that the time I've spent on the bike has definitely increased my aerobic base.

So, I'm running again. Now, where did I put that bicycle pump?