Biking for doubles

Definitely sounds like a good idea to me if you can stay committed to an hour of biking in the evenings. That's a long time, but it will help you improve and minimize your injury risk. I wouldn't expect the biking to give you sudden amazing results, but it will help.

Also, should I do intervals or distance on the bike?

you can probably get more out of biking intervals, as most of your runs will likely be aerobic distance, not interval workouts

I think you'd be better off with distance. If you did intervals, you'd expect fairly instant results, and on top of that, you probably don't have the cycling base to make doing cycling intervals practical. Cycling for distance will be good if you put in a decent effort on the bike. After 3 weeks of cycling when I had a stress fracture my senior year, I pretty noticeably had higher top end speed (despite being a 1000m runner then). I came back to running quickly too - and note that this was 3 weeks of no running at all. You may find that cycling for distance helps you in a similar way.

or do some of both. intervals are the only way my coach has ever had me do stationary bike, but i see value in doing either. whatever your training needs most of at the time

You may get more benefit out of a (stationary) elliptical machine over a (stationary) bike, if one is available.

Also, you may get more benefit out of intervals running (on a track or another soft surface) than intervals in cross-training activity. Move the easy mileage work to cross-training and keep the quality work as running.

Kj25 wrote:

What do you think?

Certainly should help. I would go for mostly steady distance on the bike at a solid effort (rather than intervals).

Better yet would probably be the elliptical machine, or pool running.

Don't waste your time on the bike. What do your double days look like and what is your mileage at now? Slow treadmill running at 4 to 5% is far more beneficial for XC distance. You won't get hurt. Strengthening muscles, tendons and ligaments will help to avoid stress fractures.

I'm not doing running doubles yet. I'm running around 40mpw. (lame, I know, but I'm a girl) IF i do do doubles how far and how many should I do

Check out Science of Running web site. Research the theory of running doubles. If your main concern is getting injured or you are still having issues with old injury, you can incorporate the treadmill in your training. Lots of people hate the treadmill and do not understand how valuable a training tool it is. My son (Jr. in college) is at 90 mi. a week now and does 4 to 5 of his weekly runs on treadmill, including double days.

OP,

The best form of cross training for a high school runner is aqua jogging. I would recommend researching on how to properly do it.

With that being said if aqua jogging isn't your thing biking is fine. You just had a stress fracture and are running 40 mpw. What type of training were you doing when you got the stress fracture? If the training wasn't too heavy you might have biomechanical issues and a podiatrist could prescribe you orthotics to deal with this. The problem with orthotics is finding an expert who really knows their stuff so you would have to ask around, preferably other doctors.

In terms of cross training. Complimenting your running with biking is an excellent idea. Use biking as a means to maintain a heart rate 75%-85% of you max (220 - age). I would not recommend interval training because the quality stuff should be running specific. Plus, when your team starts doing intervals/tempos/rep workouts you're going to have too many intense efforts throughout the week.

My other advice is to routinely implement strength training. Look for a core routine that takes 15-20 minutes and do it 2-3 times a week. Look into weight lifting, specifically compound lifts like squats and deadlifts - they really help prevent injury and your legs will look statuesque!

I know this is a lot of information for someone of your age, but its really the best insight I can provide after running for 10 years.

Happy running!

for what it's worth wrote:

Don't waste your time on the bike. What do your double days look like and what is your mileage at now? Slow treadmill running at 4 to 5% is far more beneficial for XC distance. You won't get hurt. Strengthening muscles, tendons and ligaments will help to avoid stress fractures.

agreed. if you have access to a treadmill, they are golden. the greater the incline, the less pounding/impact.

you can even ramp it up from there, to 12-15% or more and, god forbid, walk with almost zero impact. it's a hell of a workout.

just be sure to not do a lot of incline work immediately otherwise you are risking some achilles strain.

Hey little girl

Forget about aqua jogging, it's boring as he'll. Continue biking but look for hills...thats all you need.

Years ago, when I was running fast, I used bike doubles instead of running for the same reason. I used a bike on a trainer and did a lot of intervals and fast spinning. It didn't make me sore, but made my legs more springy and it improved my turn over.

I think biking could possibly be an option/alternative for doubling. While it is not running specific, it can help in many other ways.

One of the things no one has brought up is the act of hormone release. By exercising twice in one day, you are releasing hormones multiple times a day. (Steve Magness has written some really good blog posts about hormone release.)

This second bout of exercise is, of course, working your heart & cardio multiple times a day. Great idea.

Another thing biking is doing is getting blood & oxygen to your already tired running legs. You are helping your body recover more quickly. (I think Malmo has written about this on letsrun.)

Biking will strengthen your legs/build leg muscles too.

Finally, biking will keep you off of your legs (which, by your own admission, may not handle addition running). You should also look into doing ab/core work & hip strengthening exercises too. (This might allow you to handle more running.)

I think one of the latest issues of Running Times magazine talks about a high school team that uses bikes as cross training. Check it out.

Two more important points to bring-up:

1.) Make sure your biking is aerobic (i.e. do NOT simply peddle around the neighborhood). But, go out for a real bike ride...

2.) Make sure you're riding the correct bike too. A crappy bike from Wal-Mart is very different than a fitted road bike from a legitimate bike company (such as Trek, Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, etc.) from a good bike shop.

In fairness, biking can iron out some muscular imbalances that the treadmill might not fix. The dreadmill is a pretty great tool, though, if used right.

Intuitively this sounds logical, but it's actually total shit. Coming from a former top cyclist who turned to running and found the two are vastly different, I did the research...of those who did the research...and now know why. It's beyond the scope of this thread, or at least my time, but needless to say, there is a reason top runners do not use the bike as cross training. The demands are very VERY different.

I agree with no bike. Easy running on the treadmill at incline no less than 4-5%, I personally liked rowing on a concept2 3-5 days a week, gave me a little definition in my arms without weights.