biking as a supplement

Try doing a second workout on your harder days as a bike workout (on an upright exercise bike, not a recumbent) instread of running. But instead of biking easy, do an interval session.

Hard intervals on a bike rarely raise your heart rate above 170...maybe 180 if you really push (examples....12-20 X 1'-1' rec, or 6 X 4' with 1' rec). So you get threshold work on top of an earlier running session....and as you suggested without the pounding.

We do 2 interval sessions a week and a "tempo" on a bike. Have been doing this with my team with a definite increase in fitness and a drop in rate of injury.

Oh, almost forgot. Biking as a supplement to running seems to help one's speed, not hurt it. When you do the biking sessions try to shoot for a rpm of around 120. That equates to 240 foot strikes a minute....well above the 180-200 that has been noted for most quality runners.

When one runs a day after a bike session, most of my athletes feel comfortable at what used to be a higher stride rate for that individual.

And yes, the bike session should be the second session of the days when doubling, not the other way around.

thanks

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anyone else??

Recovering on the bike is a good way to replace recovery running not workouts

My 70 minute recovery rides:

15 minutes just turning the pedals real slow

30 minutes slow

15 minutes picking up the cadence in an ez gear if my legs feel good still in the ez effort range

10 minutes real slow

Jacko, I've found your idea of biking as a supplement for aerobic

distance to be right on. I've actually found it can be a complete

replacement for easy mileage. I ran four years in college without

stringing more then a month or two of steady training together, my

coach John Gregoric at brown was a great coach, but I was a difficult

case. My shins are incredibly bowed and I could not seem to get going

with training without getting a stress fracture. I had 5 in college

and two just after, coming back from time off was also very difficult,

injuries breed injuries. I managed to run 3:47/3:48 a number of times

in college off this limited training. That's nothing special, but I

knew I had potential and loved running so much I couldn't stop.

Finally after my last stress fracture while I was training with Zap

Fitness in NC, my coach Pete Rea and I decided to try something

completely different. We had been chatting with a triathlete who said

he actually had dramatic drops in his open 5k time after becoming a

triathlete. We decided I could try something like triathlon training

just with a major focus on the running. We started a program where I

would only run four days a week and spin on a stationary bike or swim

laps the other 3. During a running day I would run quality, either a

fairly steady distance run (6:00 - 6:15 pace) or a workout. The biking

days were on the same days that the other guys on the team did easy

distance. I would bike almost exactly the way 'backstretch' advised.

120-130 RPMs at a low resistance level. This way you will work your

lungs without building biker muscles, it does also help your

cadence/turnover. I started this program in late March last year, by

early June I had dropped my 1500 time from 3:47.9 to 3:42.5. I

continued it this fall. My best 8k time in college was 25:12, I ran

under 24:00 twice this fall. I just ran a rust-buster 3k last week

with no speed-work in 8:07, my best in college was 8:24. If you had

told me back then I could improve this much running 4 days a week I

would have laughed in your face, but I've found consistent aerobic work

is by far the most important factor in running well. Biking appears to

be almost as effective as running for this steady base. So what I'm

saying is, if I can completely replace running days with biking, then a

bit of extra low resistance biking can only help you. I'd love to see

more people try it. I know there are a ton of people out there like me

who just butt there head against the wall over and over again trying to

fit the training mold for the typically runner. The fact is we are all

very different and can handle different amounts of the shock that comes

with running. By supplementing biking I believe you are far less

likely to get injured and putting in months and months of 80 mile weeks

with extra biking is much better than a few hundred mile weeks in a row

with periodic interruptions. Anyway sorry for the long winded answer,

but I hope it helps. Let me know if you have success with it this

year. I'd like to write more about this training approach sometime,

especially if I'm able to drop another 5 or 6 seconds off my 1500.

Good luck

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Great response Brendan. Your story is what i read 'Lets run' for - a thought provoking piece. Many thanks.

Thanks Brendan! Great stuff! The injury issue is why I am considering this. I will give it try and see where it gets me. Any other experience out there with this??

Great posts on this thread! Brendan, how do you measure your biking compared to running? If you would have run for an hour easy do you bike for the same time or do you go longer? What about heart rate? do you bother to record it or just ride at what feels the right effort? Thanks for such an interesting post.

Brendans' response is interesting.

But a couple of questions, to Brendan, or others..

1. If you "replace" a steady run (40-60 minutes) with a session on the bike - how long would you spend on the bike? That question is important, because you have to do quite a bit more on the bike compared with running to get the same training effect?

2. What do you think is more effective for runners - 60 minutes on the stationary bike, or 60 minutes in the pool?

coach:

christophe_moulton@yahoo.ca

I would guess that you would have to use heart rate as the gauge and keep it where you would for whatever particular kind of run you where replacing (recovery, easy, tempo, etc.). Then you would ride for the time it takes you to run that corresponding distance.

As far as which is better for runners; that is a tough call. Swimming is harder aerobically but doesn't involve running muscles. I would guess biking because of that. Also, I sink like a rock!!!

Brendan, much like you I ran in college but with limited success due to MTSS. I hated to think that I wouldn't be able to run 6 days/week and stay healthy, but in the two years I've been out of college I got into du/triathlons. Running a few days out of the week isn't as bad as I thought it would be, and so far the injuries haven't hampered me. At first, the biking was pretty boring (especially indoor training during the winter) but I've learned to appreciate the benefits of it. I hope to see improvements all around in '07.

As far as a cross exercise, is a recumbent exercise bike really worse than an upright bike?

I almost purchased one today.

A. Kaufman wrote:

As far as a cross exercise, is a recumbent exercise bike really worse than an upright bike?

I almost purchased one today.

Studies show recumbents to be far less effective. It boils down to the simple fact you heart does not have to work as hard as your legs are almost level with your heart as opposed to being a few feet lower.

Brendan,

I first started using an exercise bike in the late '70s with injured athletes. I have many stories of athletes spending 6-8 weeks on a bike and coming off to run a PR within a few weeks of a return to training on their feet.

It did not occur to me until this fall to intentionally combine it with running training for my healthy athletes to actually increase fitness. Ironically, it was swim coach who talked me into it.

Another anectode......From what I hear, the Dutch athlete who ran so well at 800 meters this past summer had an achilles injury for 8 or 9 months of the year leading into his break out season (1:43.45 I believe). He basically did most of his training on an exercise bike.

I think Brendan's post is a great one. Additionally, I think healthy runners can also benefit immensely from biking. I was almost never injured in college while at Boston University and saw alot of improvement from high school, getting my 5k down to 14:25 but I kind of plateaued at a certain point. I could run the mile in 4:21 at this time. I would have laughed at anyone who told me to bike.

After college I started training for triathlons and bringing road biking into my training. I went from doing 2 track sessions a week to just running alot of tempo workouts, never stepping on the track. Off of this and not one track workout, I hopped in an indoor mile race and was surprised to run a 4:15. This isn't a studly time by any means but it was a huge improvement, especially considering I should have gotten slower from college due to not doing any track work or intense workouts.

I agree with other posters that biking has two huge benefits for runners--it is an easy way to increase stride rate and it also allows for greater recovery on easy days. About the stride rate--when I started biking my biking rpm was about 10 more per minute than my stride rate, 92 versus 82. After a couple months of cycling, I suspect my running stride rate increased to meet my cycling rpm, giving me much greater turnover and speed than I previously had. I listened to Bobby McGee (http://www.bobbymcgee.com/) speak recently and he talked alot about how in athletes who both bike and run, their running rpm and stride rate are always nearly the same. So spending time on the bike should raise your stride rate. I believe Jack Daniels talks alot about the importance of stride rate in his books.

I also noticed that cycling made me feel much better on my runs. It allowed for much greater recovery than an easy run so when it was time for a good run I was ready to go and didn't have previous runs holding me back. Also by increasing my stride rate, there was much less pounding on my body when I did run.

For those looking for a cycling to running conversion, I think road biking can be counted as about 11-12 minute miles and indoor training can be counted as about 8-9 minute miles.

Below is an interview where Meb talks a bit about how cycling helps him which I found interesting.

Jordan Jones

http://www.mensracing.com/athletes/interviews/2006/mebkeflezighi041206.htm

MR: Crosstraining, then, is obviously is a pretty big part of your training program in terms of keeping you fit and healthy. What made you such a believer in the benefits of crosstraining, and what does your routine consist of?

MK: Crosstraining really works for me. I figured that out at UCLA when I was having some Achilles trouble my sophomore year and I was forced to spend seven weeks in the pool. After only five weeks of running on land I ran 13:37 for 5K, which was my PR at the time. Heading into the �04 Trials, I was sick with the flu and found that biking worked out well for me, so I began utilizing that as well. I only run once a day now, but they�re always good quality runs. Like I said earlier, I believe in complete recovery, even when I�m healthy, so instead of a 30-minute run in the afternoon, I�ll do an hour or so on the bike to take some of the pounding off my legs. I stopped last Saturday, though, since it�s getting close to the race and I�m trying to conserve energy.

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