Another Running to Cycling Equivalency Thread

1 : 4

truthiness...... wrote:

1 : 4

Can you elaborate?

Marlow and Me wrote:

truthiness...... wrote:

1 : 4

Can you elaborate?

1x miles running = 4x miles on bike

What's your question? You already made up your mind as to what you want to do. Cool story, bro.

Speaker of Hard Truths wrote:

What's your question? You already made up your mind as to what you want to do. Cool story, bro.

"How would you guys approach this? What has worked for you guys in this situation?"

Pretty black and white I thought?

truthiness...... wrote:

Marlow and Me wrote:

Can you elaborate?

1x miles running = 4x miles on bike

Should I be concerned about the intensity of the "general" cycling miles?

I use 1 mile running = 3 miles cycling, but I am a truly pathetic cyclist relative to my running ability. I would like to use 1:4 but, like you, I find it hard to find the necessary time. It takes me quite a lot longer to ride 30 miles than to run 10.

Marlow and Me wrote:

Should I be concerned about the intensity of the "general" cycling miles?

Totally depends on what you are after. My equivalency ratio is assuming you do about the same effort on a weekly basis cycling as you would running; i.e., one or two workout days, maybe one "hilly" day, and the rest easy with a long run/bike ride on Sunday, or whatever. Regardless of what you do, in general you will need to do 4x the mileage on the bike to keep up a similar level of fitness.

I will say that I have a friend, now in his early 60s who was a good local-level competitive runner - still ran around 16:50 up until late 50s - until Achilles issues beat him in the end. He started going to the gym and doing 1x an hour at what would loosely be considered LT level cycling, 6 days a week. He took advantage of the fact that since cycling is very low-impact, you can do more intensity (swimming even more so). He was able to maintain his 5k fitness quite impressively without any running except for 5k races around 5 times a year. His race times did not change for close to two years on this regimen.

He is slowing down a little now, but I would chalk it up to age rather than using the bike over running.

amkelley wrote:

I use 1 mile running = 3 miles cycling, but I am a truly pathetic cyclist relative to my running ability. I would like to use 1:4 but, like you, I find it hard to find the necessary time. It takes me quite a lot longer to ride 30 miles than to run 10.

The 1:4 ratio isn't time-based, i.e., "because you can run x time in 30 minutes, the amount of miles you can ride in 30 minutes is equivalent." There are other factors involved in the 1:4 ratio.

Thanks a lot for that info. I have been in a pretty awful mood lately but this is actually encouraging!

I foresee many doubles in my near future.

I used to use a 1:3 ratio or 2:3 by time. So a 5mi run would = 15mi on the bike, or if you go by time, a 35min run would be 35*1.5= 52.5min cycling, which at 18 mph is 15.75mi, pretty close to the 1:3 method

1 mile running = roughly 3 miles biking. This is when heart rate and time really become super important though. The common idea for a regular run keeps your heart rate hovering around 160bpm. So if you would be doing a 6 mile run, you'd bike 18 miles keeping your heart rate around 160-170bpm. Although I prefer to use time when cross training. So 6 miles at 7 minute pace would be about 42 minutes. I'd bike either 40 or 45 minutes just to keep the increments smooth , still with the heart rate at 160-170bpm.

The idea is just to put the same toll on your lungs and body as any run would.

1-3 is 'miles' off.

By your reckoning the 80 miles I would do every Sunday was the equivalent of a marathon. Or the 140 miles over 45 miles!!!

Laughable.

1 to 5 at a minimum.

Considering that cycling cannot substitute running in any case, i don't waste 3 hours to substitute 1 hour run but i use an HR monitor. 1 hour at a target HR (or with intervals) is a fine workout for me.

Londonpp wrote:

1-3 is 'miles' off.

1 to 5 at a minimum.

1to 5, maybe even 1 to 6 seems about right for me. It may depend on how much cycling a runner typically does and how much running a cyclist typically does. I run, but I consider myself more of a cyclist.

truthiness...... wrote:

1x miles running = 4x miles on bike

That's goofy...it more about matching intensity. I cross train on a spin bike. ? I go 50-55 minutes on most of my runs excluding speed work & tempos. Therefore, I go 50-55 minutes on the spinner matching my heart rate that I achieve on the run. I come away with a decent workout on the spinner and my legs feel great for the next day's run.

Things you can do, on stationary trainer bikes:

Pedal backwards. If you have certain knee problems, this can help. Otherwise, it can never hurt, and will address imbalances you didn't know you had. Do that for a half hour or so.

Pedal for 10 minutes. Then do 10 seconds as hard as you can. Rest 10 seconds. Go hard again. Do this for 10 minutes. Pedal 10 minutes easy.

Pedal for 10 minutes. Then start pedaling harder, not like above, but just below that, maybe 80 percent. Hold that for 20 minutes. Pedal 10 minutes easy to wrap up. You might call this 'tempo.'

Pedal for 10 minutes. Pedal as above, but only for 5 minutes. Then pedal easily for 5 minutes. Repeat for an hour. Pedal 10 minutes.

Missed that you are using a fluid trainer. The 1:5 or 1:6 ratio that I said was equivalency for me was just refering to normal biking on the roads.

i've never been able to bear just watching television shows while on a stationary trainer. I rarely go for more than 90 minutes on a bike trainer, most often it's around an hour, but variety is key for me to keep from getting bored on the trainer. I use an assortment of training DVDs(Spinervals, virtual cycling videos & other "on the road" style videos.) Mine are DVDs that I've accumulated over the years, but there's a lot of that sort of stuff available on the internet now. GCN's youtube channel has some and I've seen other videos on youtube. Sufferfest is very popular--not sure if they offer any free videos. Zwift is the current hot way to go for stationary training(VR racing thst requires some set-up effort and $ but it looks pretty cool.)

Beautiful Day wrote:

Pedal backwards. If you have certain knee problems, this can help. Otherwise, it can never hurt, and will address imbalances you didn't know you had. Do that for a half hour or so.

I definitely think an imbalance is the source of my injury. Maybe in my hips. Do you think this will guide them into alignment or something?

@rerunner: I will look into finding a training video. Podcasts and audiobooks don't always make the trainer time go by quickly enough.