On Hate
I don't hate running, I just don't enjoy it. Arron makes note of the hate on running but for me, I just don't enjoy it so I don't do it. The natural reaction that most people will have is, "Well you don't run enough so you haven't given it a fair chance." If I had to guess, I've logged 1000s of miles "running", a word I put in quotes because it is hardly a run, more of a fairly fast walk.
I mention running in the context of training for cross. It comes up every year because the canned plan we all use says you should run. I do not agree with the canned plan, per se. This is not the only thing I disagree with. I also disagree with bike lifts. This is dumb. Additionally, I disagree with the way it dishes out the microbursts. But I'll get into that another day.
On running, and hate. People hate what they do not "do" or "get". As Jeremy points out, somewhat correctly I think, people do not seem to be happy when they run. So naturally, we don't get it. Also, many many people do marathons and I think a lot of us look at those people and think: well how the hell do these people do that?! I don't get it!
I think this is where some of the dislike comes from. But at the end of the day, I think a lot of people have an underlying unhappiness and look for ways to vent against things. See Manny's thread about the bikers today.
I wish I could enjoy running. But I've done it a lot. And I never got over the hump. That's just the way it is for me. I don't hate it. I just can't work it into my routine at this point. Maybe someday? Who knows.
A Short Workout?
Some say that running is great because you get a big bang for 20 minutes. This is false. You burn slightly more calories in that time. On a bike, in 20 minutes, I could easily burn 250 calories in 20 minutes. Running, probably 200 at most. If I push myself maybe more, but likely less. What you're experiencing is the fact that your joints and tendons are not used to this, so your body screams in pain for the next 2-3 days. This is not a workout. This is the equivalent of falling off your roof. You don't burn more calories falling off your roof. You hurt yourself in ways your body is not used to.
If you sprint for 20 minutes, then sure, you will burn more calories sprinting for 20 minutes than if you ride for 20 minutes. But what untrained runner can sprint for 20 minutes? At best, in 20-30 minutes, you burn maybe 75 calories more than on a bike. My best biking calorie burn rate is in the 900/hour. My running burn rate is roughly the same.
Luke made me laugh with his running comment.
Why Run for CX?
If you are going to run for cx, it is because you are practicing running up steps or up hills. The best way to practice this is to warm up on your bike, ride up to a big hill, run up it with your bike, then remount with your HR at 300 beats/minute.
You do not practice running for the barriers. This is a misconception. You practice running through barriers by running through barriers. You practice jumping rope by jumping rope. You practice tap dancing by tap dancing. Likewise, you practice a specific thing by doing that specific thing.
Do What You Like
Eric really brings up a good point, do what you like. This is something I see over and over again, people picking on something and hating on it. Sure, we all do it but it's sort of an epidemic in our society. I'm sort of bummed at the number of people who dwell on the negative, rag on the negative, thrive on the negative.
I have coined a phrase for this in the past few days, I call it "dwelling on the negative space in life." There are so many opportunities to dwell on what you don't have, and don't like. If any of us wanted to we could do that forever. Sure, we all want to be better and have more, but there has to come a balance with desire. And that balance is an exercise in not getting caught up in the negative space of your life. There are people who will make more money than you. Who will be faster on a bike that you. Who can throw a baseball faster than you or bake a better cake than you. There will always be negative space. Accepting it is part of life. Trying to erase negative space is natural. But obsessing over it is a bad hobby. And I see a lot of people making a hobby out of it.
Facebook: Creating negative space holes for all of us to jump in, daily.
So by default it only attracts a certain type of person
I would challenge anyone to define the certain type of person that cross attracts. I can guarantee you that whatever definition you come up with, I can present an example to you of someone who races who does not fit the definition. I'll save you the trouble and say that you need to include Joy (Mrs. Satanpez) in the definition.
While I see the point you're trying to make, I think the sport attracts a much wider audience than you think. It attracts more men, more women, more old people, more young people, and more middle age people than pretty much any other race venue. So even though there is no such thing as casual cross riding, it somehow has a larger rate of participation than any other discipline.
I'm not saying I have the answer to why that is, because I don't. In theory, it should almost be the hardest sport to draw numbers since very few people have a cross bike just for the sake of having a cross bike, but in a few weeks Nittany will have like 1000 people over 2 days racing and you simply do not see those sorts of numbers in any other race venue anywhere else.
The Battleaxe
Is flat. The last 5 days I've been on the bike 5 times and really have only felt ok once, on Saturday when we did some cross drills. I felt pretty good that day, but since then have felt pretty run down. There's been a low-level cold running through the house, so that may have my blade a bit dull.
On Saturday we met up with Instructor Eric and he tried to work on my barrier running & remounting technique. I think we've made some progress but we'll see if I JOEY anything at Nittany. I built my own barriers so I should be able to practice here & there on my own. I do want to get better at this.
Sunday we hit Six Mile. I felt fine but we didn't hammer it out.
Monday, felt like crap.
Today, felt a little better but mostly like crap. I did take back a local KOM on my cross bike though, so that was good. After that I went back to feeling like crap.
Tomorrow I hope I feel better.