Running

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uncinqsix

Original Poster:

3,239 posts

209 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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Just wondering how many other cyclists on here also run, and whether they use running to improve their cycling (and vice-versa)?

I started running almost a year ago on a bit of a whim as I wanted to see how I would do. Quite enjoy it actually, and I found that it's a much more efficient use of time in terms of getting fitter. I entered a 10k event around the middle of last year and got around in 49.36, and have another 10k coming up next month. I've set a rather ambitious goal of 45 minutes, but I'd be happy enough with sub-47.

I reckon the cardio/endurance from cycling helps a lot, but I haven't really made any conscious effort to tailor my training to make the best use of each discipline. Anyone got any tips?

mcelliott

8,626 posts

180 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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I used to do quite a bit of running through the winter, purely to change things up. Could run a fairly hilly 10km in under 40 minutes - not bad but not brilliant. I've since had to give it up due to arthritis in my right hip. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did it make me a quicker cyclist? No.

gazza285

9,780 posts

207 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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I do a lot of running, helps with cyclocross and with my general fitness, not sure it has improved my cycling much though. As said, it's more intensive than cycling, and less hassle to prepare for, so I'll run after work and cycle at the weekends. I run off road though, road running fks up my knees.

Rich_W

12,548 posts

211 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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It's different muscle groups. So it's unlikely to improve your cycling.

However, I have a friend who ride everywhere. He's literally the best bike rider I know. Does thousands and thousands of miles a year. Ran the London Marathon couple years back, from a non running background and obviously training at running for a few months. 3h30ish IIRC

His enormous aerobic capacity definitely helped his performance.

Conversely, I consider myself a half decent cyclist. But for all the running I do. I'm never ever happy with my running ability no matter how much I do it. 47min 10K 1h46 HM, 4h20 for a marathon is just depressing. frown

Jag_NE

2,949 posts

99 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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gazza285 said:
I do a lot of running, helps with cyclocross and with my general fitness, not sure it has improved my cycling much though. As said, it's more intensive than cycling, and less hassle to prepare for, so I'll run after work and cycle at the weekends. I run off road though, road running fks up my knees.
i have started running and find that my knees can become sore. when you say off road, what do you mean specifically? does anything other than grass actually make a major difference? cheers.

Mark83

1,157 posts

200 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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My pace is more jogging than running but I do 4-5km a few times a week when I get home as it's a quick 30min hit. Don't really want to up the kms for the sake of my knees.

Mrs Mark83 and I did the couch to 5km last year together and I found it helped my core and enabled me to get lower on the bike.

gazza285

9,780 posts

207 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Jag_NE said:
gazza285 said:
I do a lot of running, helps with cyclocross and with my general fitness, not sure it has improved my cycling much though. As said, it's more intensive than cycling, and less hassle to prepare for, so I'll run after work and cycle at the weekends. I run off road though, road running fks up my knees.
i have started running and find that my knees can become sore. when you say off road, what do you mean specifically? does anything other than grass actually make a major difference? cheers.
I run on all kinds of terrain, from grass and woodland trail, to full on fell running over the moors. I think it has more to do with different angles on every foot strike, whereas on the road you are striking the same way every time, although the hard surface won't help either.

PeteB0

956 posts

245 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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I started running more last year (mostly parkrun with the Mrs) and got more and more into at as a supplement to cycling. After a mixed (read rubbish) first 6 months of the year on the bike, where training just wasn't working around work/life and I was getting bored of the same old roads, I switched from running the occasional 10km to explicitly training for a half marathon in September.

In 2015 I ran a total of 80km, which in 2016 became 660+km, which saw cycle 1800km less than in 2015. Yes, running uses different muscle groups, so it won't necessarily help leg conditioning for cycling, and I've probably lost some of my top end cycling power by running more. But its strengthened my core, helped me lose the last couple of kilos that I struggled with on the bike, and built my tempo and threshold efforts. Mixing it up really helped me with motivation too, and getting a good result in the HM boosted me after a largely disappointing year. All my personal experience obviously. I also find it much easier to fit in around work/life, with a good quality training session much more achievable, with significantly less faff, during the week.

For 2017, my focus is still on cycling, with a busy calendar through until late summer, but I plan to keep running mixed in, with another HM in Spring, and then again in early Autumn.

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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I've run a few times last year. The odd 'jog back from the garage' in the past couple of years when dropping the car off for MOTs and services, and a few runs in the last quarter of last year, culminating in 8.4 miles in late December.

To be honest, though, running is a miserable experience for me. I need new running shoes for a start, and I struggle with muscular pain in my thighs, at the front (rectus femoris, I think). I'm OK while out running, but no matter how much cooling down and stretching I do, I struggle to walk properly in the following days. Easy getting up stairs, but positively bovine trying to get down them.

My pace on that 8 miler was 11.08 minutes per mile. Even if I could keep that up I'd be looking a 4:40 to 5 hours for marathon distance. I've got to admit that if I run regularly things get better, but it's hard to choose to run when there are bikes in the garage!

25 years in the army, and being forced to run, a lot, certainly put me off running as a "thing" for a long time. I've also got excessive wear in my right hip joint, and throwover issues from other injuries over the years, so me and running don't make the best of bedfellows. But I've not given up on it completely, and every now and then I consider going to a proper running shop to find some suitable new shoes for the job, and starting up running again by mixing it into my cycling routine. The only trouble with that is that it takes away from the time available to ride bikes...

daddy cool

3,996 posts

228 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Another cyclist that dabbles with running here. I started a year ago, and tend to run once or twice a week, usually only 3-4 miles, sometimes 5-6. Pretty slow though - generally 9:30min/mile - and think ive started too late in life to think about half/full marathons, as i do suffer knee and shin pains.
I just decided to do it to mix up my fitness a bit, so im not only ever using "cycling muscles", and because in some ways its harder than cycling as you are either running or not-running, vs cycling where you can easily coast along if you arent in the mood.

Big benefit in the winter months is if i am feeling restless i can go out for a 30-40 min run and i just need a shower afterwards. However, (mountain) biking at this time of year requires ~2 minutes of cleaning (bike + body) for every minute of riding, and it just gets tiresome several times a week!


sammyboy

394 posts

208 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Hi guys Triathlete here... I will usually train in blocks and find when im upping my cycling fitness in terms of speed and sprint training it really helps my running fitness.

However when I do the same with running I find my cycling doesnt imrpove at all. I know a couple of other people who say the same but I guess everyone is different.


Daveyraveygravey

2,018 posts

183 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Another occasional runner here, have run off and on for 30 years, was able to do half marathons at one time but not in the last 10 years. Currently try to get two runs a week in, sometimes 2 miles, sometimes 3.5, but cycling comes first so if I know I have a big ride coming up at the weekend I won't run after Tuesday say. I may extend it slowly to 10k, but won't be too upset if it doesn't happen.

I got back into it in October, I had seen a thing about running every day, which I was never able to do, I always felt I needed maybe 3-4 days recovery after a big run. Started with very low ambitions, just a mile or 10 minutes. It was quite hard to keep at it for a month without letting the riding drop off, but as the month went on I got up to about 20 minutes. I also felt like a monster on the bike, I really felt like I could push myself longer than previously. You know when you have done a long ride, and there's that last-little-not-quite-proper-hill, and you want to ride up it hard but about half way you just sit back down and spin until you're over it? I felt like I could charge all the way up.

I am lucky in that I live right on the edge of the South Downs, so with about 2 mins of pavement running I can be off into the countryside on bridleways etc. Mountain biking for me is similar in that I can really appreciate the lovely scenery on the doorstep, but as someone else has said, getting ready before and after a bike ride at this time of year is very time consuming.

I like the challenge or running up to the top of the Downs, but I know running back down really buggers my legs, specifically the fronts above the knees. I think it is because you are using the muscles to stop the speed building up, so probably not using them how they should be, but I now a full descent of the Downs will leave my legs feeling locked for a couple of days. Not really climbing the Downs this time out!

Roger Irrelevant

2,899 posts

112 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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I consider myself a fell-runner first and cyclist second really. I find that if I've done nothing but running for a while I can still get back on the bike and be there-or-thereabouts, but (as I found after training for the 2015 Fred Whitton), it doesn't work quite so well the other way round.

Jacobyte

4,718 posts

241 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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In short:

Cycling contributes to my running fitness
Running does not contribute to my cycling fitness. (1 month of running and no cycling at all will see my cycling form fall off a cliff).

So if you want to be a better cyclist, do more cycling.
If you want to be a better runner, do both.
If you want to do triathlons, do some swimming as well. biggrin

upsidedownmark

2,120 posts

134 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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If you cycle a lot, you probably have an enormous aerobic base that will aid your running, but leaves you more susceptible to injury IME(*). Cycling running doesn't seem to aid cycling, possibly because cycling requires more muscle force, and it's hard to do so much endurance work.

  • Basically you have the (aerobic) capability to tear your body apart / hurt yourself where others would get knackered long before they did themselves a damage.
As a regular rider (triathlete) I've found the most effective way to improve my running was to run little and often. IME twice a week is the absolute minimum to maintain the muscle condition required to run to anything near my (largely aerobic) potential without being as sore as hell the next day.

WestyCarl

3,217 posts

124 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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upsidedownmark said:
If you cycle a lot, you probably have an enormous aerobic base that will aid your running, but leaves you more susceptible to injury IME(*). Cycling running doesn't seem to aid cycling, possibly because cycling requires more muscle force, and it's hard to do so much endurance work.

  • Basically you have the (aerobic) capability to tear your body apart / hurt yourself where others would get knackered long before they did themselves a damage.
As a regular rider (triathlete) I've found the most effective way to improve my running was to run little and often. IME twice a week is the absolute minimum to maintain the muscle condition required to run to anything near my (largely aerobic) potential without being as sore as hell the next day.
Mirrors my experience. I generally cycle in the summer and run in the winter, however this summer was pretty much all cycling. 1st Run back in Sept was pitful, lower legs (calf, Achilles) sore and twinging at a slow jog (<120 bpm hr). However, after a few months of patience my running conditioning is returning.
Note to self, next summer run at least 2 x week to avoid 2 months of frustration.;)

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Running's good for cardio fitness, but if you already do a lot of cycling you already have the cardio fitness.

If you're interested in both have a go at a dualathon or a run-bike-run. Dunno what distances they usually are but I know the Worcester one is 10k run, 25k cycle, 5k run, which I think is a short one.

Fourmotion

1,026 posts

219 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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To echo what others have said, my cycling will maintain my running, but running does nothing for my cycling.

I've been off my bike for 3 months now due to circumstances and have been running instead. It's more efficient use of time for me, just shorts t-shirt shoes and I'm out the door. But I did 1 sportive after 2 months off away from the bike and it felt like I'd lost everything.

I've not done one for a few years, but have a triathlon this year. For the only long distance triathlon I've done in the past it was all about being bike fit. I only trained to half the run distance, but did 1.5 times the bike distance in training. And I set a run time I was ultimately happy with.

uncinqsix

Original Poster:

3,239 posts

209 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
quotequote all
upsidedownmark said:
If you cycle a lot, you probably have an enormous aerobic base that will aid your running, but leaves you more susceptible to injury IME(*). Cycling running doesn't seem to aid cycling, possibly because cycling requires more muscle force, and it's hard to do so much endurance work.

  • Basically you have the (aerobic) capability to tear your body apart / hurt yourself where others would get knackered long before they did themselves a damage.
As a regular rider (triathlete) I've found the most effective way to improve my running was to run little and often. IME twice a week is the absolute minimum to maintain the muscle condition required to run to anything near my (largely aerobic) potential without being as sore as hell the next day.
This is pretty much what I suspected - I can see it being very easy to get injured running to aerobic capability rather than leg capability. I'm trying to do 2-3 runs a week (couple of 5-7k during the week, one 8-10k on weekends), which is on top of the usual 5 day a week commute and 2 hour weekend ride.


Usget

5,426 posts

210 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
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I stupidly agreed to enter a half marathon at the beginning of March to support a mate who's doing a bunch of challenges for MacMillan this year. So I'm running twice a week at the moment, once with a club and once on my own.

It's rubbish and I get grumpy whenever I see someone on a bike - it's like "I could be going so much faster for so much less effort!" Haven't noticed any impact on my riding form but that wasn't brilliant anyway.