Artists who run or ride? Dare I say- Marathon?

**ECMasters** · January 27th, 2009, 12:35 AM

Do any of you devoted sketchbook practitioners and paintaholics also enjoy getting off your buns for a fun run or a brisk bike ride?

Obviously I do...

Cycling, hiking and yoga are my main physical activities of choice. I also love a good swim and a lively game of ultimate frisbee. Eventually I plan to train to complete a century ride.

But first, starting this week I begin training for a marathon. It is kind of a big deal for me, since straight running is not my best skill at the moment.

I would love to discuss endurance training with other like minded individuals (read: not the usual mega jocks).

- Liz

**Peter Coene** · January 27th, 2009, 02:23 AM

Um, I hike occasionally, not as much as I used to. Also enjoy archery. Been thinking of martial arts but I'm torn between WingChun Kung Fu and Bujinkan Taijutsu but can't seem to find a place I like for either, I'll see when I get to Colorado though.

**ECMasters** · January 28th, 2009, 11:15 AM

I hear great things about Colorado. Are you vacationing there or are you planning to stay? If you like hiking that would be a perfect spot

**Mark Bot** · January 28th, 2009, 02:04 PM

When the season's on i currently race Track cycling and have been known to do the occasional road ride when i'm not training for track. The best information i've found for training cycling comes from Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong's coach.

But some of the best advice i've heard for cycling is try and keep your cadence high (80-90). Even though it sounds counter intuitive hammering down and mashing on your biggest gear is not necessarily faster, in fact on longer rides it'll be slower as you'll tire out faster than if you were idling on a smaller gear at a similar pace.

Tour of California starts soon. Hell yes! http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/tv-schedule.html

**wesburt** · January 28th, 2009, 02:39 PM

nice, i do a decent amount of road riding, usually solo so i can dictate my own pace, but the occasional group ride too....we probably know a few of the same people Mark, i know a handful of people that race down at Hellyer

**Ryuartyi** · January 28th, 2009, 02:48 PM

When the weather is nice out, I normally spend my time outside either running or bike riding. Winter is rough because the cold weather makes it impossible to do things (I use working out and riding as my battery charger).

Whenever I do bike ride, I always get ideas for new paintings or ideas for my graphic novel. It's so refreshing. Once I get to San Francisco it should be interesting to find new bike routes.

**Mark Bot** · January 28th, 2009, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by wesburt

nice, i do a decent amount of road riding, usually solo so i can dictate my own pace, but the occasional group ride too....we probably know a few of the same people Mark, i know a handful of people that race down at Hellyer

wow that's cool. We probably do know a few of the same people. I'd say there's only a handful of regular racers there, within a few weeks you pretty much know everyone. It's a really chill crowd.

Then nice part about San Jose is that there's some pretty significant hills around here as well, which makes for some good, intense, longer rides. (Serria, Metcalf, over HWY9 to santa cruz)

where abouts do you do most of your road rides Wes?

**Linguini** · January 28th, 2009, 05:07 PM

How cool, I'm starting to train for a marathon (lol, half-marathon actually) this week. I need to exercise more, and plus it's for a good cause.

**ECMasters** · January 28th, 2009, 06:10 PM

Yay! Thank you for the responses everyone.

I used to ride almost everyday. Since winter hit I have started to jog & run and train indoors more often. It is mostly a time saver due to my winter job and the icy conditions we have here in Central PA.

Linguini, we should keep each other posted on our Marathon efforts!

When is your marathon? Mine is on 05.31.09 (6 days after my birthday

)

I picked up a training plan called 4 months to a 4 hour marathon. We will see if it works! ha ha ha

**Linguini** · January 28th, 2009, 09:58 PM

Oh my gosh! My marathon's on May 31 as well! I'm planning on doing the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego.

Wow, six days after your b-day. That's a great "present" to yourself, completing a marathon, you know? We definitely should keep each other posted!

**paberu** · January 28th, 2009, 10:28 PM

I do a bit of cycling, mainly to relax and refresh myself. Haven't done a marathon though haha....

**Peter Coene** · January 29th, 2009, 12:32 AM

Originally Posted by ECMasters

I hear great things about Colorado. Are you vacationing there or are you planning to stay? If you like hiking that would be a perfect spot

Business. Got hired by NetDevil games to be a concept artist. Psyched up and all giggly happy about it too.

I do like hiking but I haven't gone on any big overnight trips since I was an adult leader for the Boy Scouts. Our troop did things like building our own kayaks and riding them down a stretch of the Colorado River at the junction of Nevada, Cali, and Arizona, backpacking for 2 weeks over 50 miles of NE New Mexico, and bunches of other fun trips.

**Straight Edge Ryan** · January 29th, 2009, 01:16 PM

I don't exercise as much as I probably should. But I do take a martial arts class like twice a week, mostly for health reasons. And lately I've been getting more and more into parkour (the rhyme was unintentional). Sometimes I go for a walk/run in the park, I even got a weighted training vest to help me in cardio exercises

**Clodioz** · January 29th, 2009, 03:01 PM

I do bike ride, not too much because im only an amateur, but I train 30km twice a week plus 3km of uphill almost every day :/

The other day I did 120km to a near lake, and I didnt feel any inconvenience just the ¿solar burns?. But my brother cannot walk now because a knee injury, I think is patellar tendinitis due to an overuse.

**Farvus** · January 29th, 2009, 03:11 PM

Right now where I live it's too cold for biking but I do intense swimming for an hour twice a week or just run somewhere in the city to take a fresh air

.

**Trk800** · January 31st, 2009, 12:20 AM

I run competitively for my College. Cross-Country, Indoor, and Outdoor track. I also love to backpack, and cross train all the time on my road bike. Although I'm not as great at the long distance stuff (mostly a mid-distance guy), I train for distance in XC and will probably run Boston at least one time after I graduate. My advice for marathon training is this: mileage +time. Each year of marathon training builds on the next, especially if you dip into the triple digit weekly mileage. Also, be sure to take adequate rest, which is at least 1 day off every 11-13 days. If you're not sure what kind of weekly mileage your body can handle (everybody's different), be sure to work in a lot of Cross training. This means cycling, swimming/aqua jogging, and elliptical for the most part -and build your mileage slowly. Finally, when you actually get to the marathon, be sure to pace yourself appropriately, it's easy to get caught up in the moment and start out too fast (true for all races). You don't have to run negative-splits or anything, just realize that that those last 6 miles are HARD. For probably the best forum on distance running around, and all the advice/info on marathon training (or really any distance running) check out the message board at

http://www.letsrun.com/

Hope your training is going well!