How much more direct competition could there be than standing on the blocks of a 50m or 100m free?
On the staggered start of a track is where you can hide behind 12 other dudes vs staring at the top seed to your left from lane 5 waiting for the signal to get on the blocks
amkelley wrote:
crosscounts wrote:
If I was running, summer or winter, tights or split shorts, fast or slow, I would always get such positive feedback from the people on the sidewalk. Women would hit on me, men would cheer me on, kids stop and watch. It was all very good for the ego. Now when I would get all kitted up and go ride the same roads on the bike, I would get mostly the opposite reaction, confused laughter, insults from children, etc. Although the ladies still liked me on the bike. The average person just does not have much respect for someone on a bike, while it seems that running evokes some sort of capitalist, bootstrap-pulling, self-made man ideals about grit, success, etc. Many here and elsewhere echo this when we talk of the work, of lacing up some shoes and hitting the road. Don't we all love the blue collar runner, but in America we do not have the blue collar cyclist. Maybe in Belgium, France, or Colombia.
I'm now an old-ish woman and I've been running all my adult life in many different areas in the U.S. I also go through periods of doing a fair amount of cycling when injured. My observations largely agree with yours. Non-athletes view cyclists on the road as impediments to their driving at best, while they are often friendly and encouraging to runners. And I've dealt with a lot more outright harassment of various forms on the bike than I ever have when running, despite having spent far more time out on the roads as a runner.
You must be very attractive then. When I'm out running I get nothing but snears from people, people giving me the finger, people throwing beer cans/bottles at me and snowballs in the winter time. And when I'm at a stoplight or intersection crossing, I occasionally get an overweight old bag trying to hit on me. Lol. I think society has a different view of older women running out on the roads vs shuffle step old timers with gray beards.
Baker city classic has a big Climb and is a rad race......yes but cascade normally has a stronger field. I think in general cycling fields are plenty strong, but the caliber of talent is still lower than pure running at the elite level.
Bike racing is a hard thing to compare race to race .....and region to region
The argument that California has the best riders isn’t always true. They have the biggest and most dense fields, but plenty of awesom racers at the masters and elite level from all over the country.
medium_pace wrote:
Baker City Cycling Classic
Way more of a climbers race than Cascade. Hardest finishing climb of any amateur stage race in the US.
Wow that looks awesome. The climb up Roan Mountain in the Johnson City Omnium used to be that long before they took off the last mile or so (Before I ever go t to race it), but it's at a little lower altitude. I have a friend in Oregon who keeps saying I should visit, maybe I'll check out that race this year. Hopefully the won't be too upset by some unknown out-of-towner taking the top step on the podium.
polyrhythm wrote:
I recently switched from being a competitive road racer (Cat 2 in NorCal) to competitive running. I never ran previously and was not training seriously until my early 20s.
First off, the training methodology differences are very interesting. Cycling is currently dominated by the watt. Everybody prays at the altar of objective power data. Having heart rate data is nice, too, but merely as a secondary and somewhat subjective metric that helps provide context on the power numbers. RPE is occasionally used for establishing, let's say, a recovery riding zone, but power is really the only objective metric.
Cycling power zones are established by performing a somewhat standardized field test that measures, usually some kind of VO2 capacity (let's say a 5' effort) and then a threshold capacity over the course of a 20' interval. The 20' interval is typically multiplied by 0.95 to find the true power that is the rider's hour-long threshold.
Watts are a temporal unit and are actually one joule per second of energy. So, a ride's energy output can be measures in joules - or, more easily - kilojoules. There is a relationship between kilojoules and calories, so cyclists can somewhat accurately determine their nutritional needs.
Also, kilojoules can be fed into various models to figure out how fit you are on a large scale and how fatigued you are at any point in time. This is someitmes referred to as CTL or chronic training load. It's common to shoot for a particular CTL for a goal race and have a specific fatigue level that is not too high for priority races.
PHEW. Now, running! A lot of RPE! A lot of basing zones on race PBs. A lot of people even set their zones based on heart rate! Which, to me, seems crazy, given that my heart rate will change significantly based on temperature, hydration level, caffeination, and all sorts of other things.
As I get into running (I only have about 300km in my legs so far) I'm slowly getting used to the various training paces. A "tempo" run is very similar to what I would consider a cycling "threshold" effort level, which is extra confusing given that cycling has "tempo" zones too which actually fall distinctly below threshold.
My initial findings are that cycling fitness does indeed translate to an extent as I have experienced rapid adaptation. Earlier this year I ran a 18:30 5k, which obviously is slow, but not terrible for literally a first 5k and with no running training. More recently I just ran a 17:00 5k with about a month of training in my legs and with much more controllable effort. I suspect that these gains will quickly subside but I'm curious if anybody else has transitioned from cycling to running and found similar adaptations.
My main challenge now with coming up with a decent training plan is that my muscles perhaps haven't caught up with my aerobic system, so I have to be very careful of biting off more than I can chew and injure myself. I'm planning on entering some 5k races this year to get started and then play with more distances later.
Nice story.
I am an ex athlete (64 now) who competed at OT level. Successfully.
As an old guy I cycle. I go hard as I can, cos that's what I always did. The real difference is that the harder I go, the only risk of injury is via motor vehicle, a fellow rider, or a pothole.
Running not so. The better you get, the more stress on your body. The harder you hit the ground. The changes that occur in your stride pattern. All of these things are different to maximum efforts on the bike. On the bike I can do interval work all day, and still put my feet up at night.
18.30 is slow. Its just above jogger pace. Its like riding 40 miles of flat road at about 15.5 mph on a calm day.
In cycling I am sure that as a Cat 2, in a short ride you could sit on the wheel of Pro Cyclist.
You will have no chance of sitting on the tail of any national level 5 k runner for more than 400 m. Unless you were planning to run 400m only
Have fun.
Interesting. What is your take on transitioning to swimming ? Compared with cycling ?
Problem with swimming is acquiring technique, which is not easy.
Colin Sahlman runs 1:45 and Nico Young runs 1:47 in the 800m tonight at the Desert Heat Classic
Molly Seidel Fails To Debut As An Ultra Runner After Running A Road Marathon The Week Before
Megan Keith (14:43) DESTROYS Parker Valby's 5000 PB in Shanghai
Hallowed sub-16 barrier finally falls - 3 teams led by Villanova's 15:51.91 do it at Penn Relays!!!
Need female opinions: I’m dating a woman that is very sexual with me in public. Any tips/insight?