I commute to and from work, then run at night.
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I commute to and from work, then run at night.
Ask Rob Jebb.
Disagree..... Cycling works all the same muscles as when you climb, so its perfect as a supplement for mountain/fell running.Quote:
Originally Posted by TurboTom
Bash allows recommends it, and John Brown didn't run for weeks before the World Trial he just cycled, then ran a few times the week before and made the Commonwealth Team..... so it clearly works.
I'm starting to incorporate it into my training again. Add in a couple of hours cycling once or maybe even twice a week to keep the load off my body whilst helping to increase aerobic capacity. Obv not as good as running, but will deffo help. I cycled quite a bit last summer and it seemed to work then....
Cycling is good training, especially on hilly routes. If you want to work your core what is wrong with sit ups? :confused:
I have no doubt swimming is useful too, but I don’t feel it is as relevant as cycling when cross training for fell running.
If you can catch him;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Grouse
:confused: Waste of time??????????? Spending time on here typing waste of time is a waste of time, i'm wasting my time, think i'll cycle to work:pQuote:
Originally Posted by TurboTom
Why not swim, cycle and run and do core exercises and everything else and if you find something that works for you, do it. Just marry the right person or give the whole thing a wide berth;)
yeah i also find climbing hills on the bike similar to running especially when out of the saddle, and the low impact thing i find good too i can bike hard and run hard the next day with out to much of a training hangover from the day before. do a fair bit of core work in the gym. good point about finding something and sticking with it, its just the never ending search for that elusive piece of training wisdom that doesnt exist hahah
Lazy of me, but below is a previous post of mine on a similar thread.
This is a really interesting thread and something that is continuously discussed amongst multi-sport athletes (triathletes/duathletes).
In simplistic terms it all boils down to the one of the three basic rules of training:
1) Progression
2) Overload
3) Specificity
(some folks also like to add recovery)
This states the very obvious fact that the best training for a particular activity is doing that activity. Therefore, for a healthy runner, cycling can never be a 100% satisfactory substitute. Muscle recruitment, impact etc are all very different. However, for an injured runner (especially an impact related injury) cycling can be ideal for keeping the CV system working effectively and maintaining muscular strength/endurance.
Where cycling can also be useful is to supplement running training. it is possible to add cycling training to increase training volume but without the associated risk of injury of ramping up the running mileage. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of it being very effective for improving climbing strength in particular. Personally, I often use an easy road spin as a recovery session from a hard/long run on the previous day and always find it to be beneficial.
Any form of cross-training (including weights etc) therefore will not have as much direct benefit to your chosen activity as actually doing it. However, and this is the best reason for including a variety of cross training activities, they will make you more robust. Because of the very specific demands of any sport, your body become very strong through the required range of movements of it. But, for movements outside of this range, it can really be quite pathetic. This is why many "sports injuries" are often traced back to events/stressors outside of the sport... sitting badly, picking up a child or kicking a football. I recently talked to a sports physio who worked with the GB canoe squad and their training motto was "robust or bust". This referred to the broad range of cross training activities to supplement the specific canoeing work.
Triathletes and Duathletes will always tend to bias their training to favour cycling volume. Long course triathletes (Ironman) will often ride longer in training than the 4-6 hours required in a race but will very rarely run for any longer than 2-2.5 hours (a sub 3 hour marathon at the end of an Ironman is pretty tasty). The main reasons for this are not that cycling is the best all round training or that cycling transfers to running but not vice versa. It's simply that 1) the bike leg is the longest and so will yield the greatest potential time gains. 2) The stronger you can get off the bike the better you will run. 3) Longs runs of more than 2-2.5 hours will not give you satisfactory fitness returns relative to the increased risk of injury.
OK... hypothetical time. Take an elite road cyclist and an elite road/track runner (as opposed to fell) and get them to swap disciplines. Who would perform better assuming neither had any previous experience/training in the others sport. We'd get the runner to do a flat 40km time-trial on the bike and the cyclist to run a flat 10km road run (although the run time would be shorter both events require working at a similar CV intensity). We'd then swap them back to their specialist sport and make comparisons. Well, this has been done a few times, and the consistent result is that the cyclist comes out on top. The usual reports back from the athletes are that the runner on the bike felt his heart/lungs were absolutely fine but he lacked the leg strength and that, although the cyclist running felt fine during, he was in tatters the next day. The runner lacked the muscular strength to push the big gear required for a fast 40km and the cyclist's muscles had never been exposed to repetitive impact before.... specificity.
What hasn't been tested, as far as I'm aware, is the same protocol but with a fell runner rather than a road runner. My prediction is that it'd be a much closer run thing because of the greater leg strength required for fell running. Again fell running has very specific demands. So a trained road runner wouldn't necessarily perform on the fells and vice versa.
Finally, don't ignore or discount personal experience. if it works for you stick with it. I've found that, for me, single-speed mountain biking compliments fell running well so that's what I do.
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This thread is interesting.I would love to see a breakdown of Jebbys training diary.I am currently trying to balance the two disciplines this year,competing in the British mtb champs and throwing in the odd fell run ( only about 10 this year).I want to do some Triathlons again next year and will spend the winter on my swimming.
One problem i find trying to do more than one discipline is that you never think you are specifically doing enough on any one part.
A Question for Nikalas and others...
I have been thinking of changing training to have a bias towards one area on set weeks. For example over a 3 week period
week 1, 4 days running,2 days cycle
week 2, 4 days cycle,2 days run
week 3, 3 days cycle,3 days run
Possibly followed by an easy week,2days run,2days cycle
I'm hoping a good week on one discipline will be more beneficial than just doing bits a week.Time will tell i guess :)
this is pretty much what Im going to experiment with. be intrested to hear how it goes for you. keep us posted