I’ve done a fair amount of training for long distance events. I haven’t done a marathon (good for you!), but I’ve run a few half-marathons and a triathlon. When I was training for the triathlon, however, I learned the value of cross training. I never thought I would go over a half-marathon (and I haven’t yet), because the amount of running that it took for me to get there wore my body out. When I started cross-training for the tri, however, I found that my body didn’t get worn out, and I didn’t necessarily need to run to increase my mileage. Swimming and biking helped my running as much as running did (the continuous spinning motion of biking is really good for my running form, actually). Now, I only run two days a week, but I can go far, and I don’t have any aches and pains.

My point is, I think you can feel free to bike. I think it’s a great supplement for running. That is all. Just my thoughts. Good luck on the training!

Congratulations on sticking it out and losing all that weight!

It’s a message board with people who are very helpful and respond quickly to maintenance issues, and other things as well. Definitely a resource that should be explored.

I should also mention that Sheldon Brown’s website is really THE Gold Standard when it comes to bike knowledge.

Oh, and the bike article is nice too.

If you bought a bike, and the extend of the fitting was “one inch of standover height” or “does that feel good?” you may be setting yourself up for a series of medical problems down the road; I learned this the hard way, and still have back problems to show for it.

Find a shop that spends time fitting athletes to bikes; good ones will include the fit with any new bike; otherwise it may cost you $80 or so. Ask local serious cyclists, even if you don’t consider yourself a serious cyclist. They will (should) spend time (at least 1/2 – 1 hour) putting you on the bike on a trainer, watching you ride, and making necessary adjustments (and perhaps swapping out components).