I am always surprised how green and pleasant New Jersey quickly becomes if you drive in the right direction. This morning, that direction was south to Lebanon State Forest about 50 minutes away to join some colleagues from work who had convened for a spot of mountain biking around the parks 34,725 acres. Thanks to Jim’s kind loan of a decent bike, I was spared the indignity of attempting to navigate the park’s various tracks and trails on my road racer (that would have been a spectacle worth seeing!), but thanks to Jim’s thundering pace, after about 16 miles, I was ready to drop.
I believe that this sort of activity falls in the category of ‘cross-training’ and is something heartily recommended by those-that-know as part of one’s marathon training program. The idea being simply to introduce activities other than running into your schedule in order to help build all-round fitness, reduce injuries, keep motivated and so on.
Runner’s World has a nice article about the benefits of cross training for those that are interested. My plan is to make cycling and swimming feature heavily in my training schedule, so that should give Jim et al. plenty more opportunities to give me a good punishing. Splendid!