Biking as extra training

Yes

Sophomore wants to get good wrote:

Hi, so I will be a sophomore soon and am running about 40-45 miles a week (not sure what the exact mileage is because on easy days I just run easy and for time). I don't want to go much higher than this right know because I have severe growing pains and don't want to get injured or something like that, but am really eager to get faster. Would it be beneficial to bike for an hour 4 times a week, and to what extend? (For what its worth; I also do strength training in the gym 2-3 times a week.)

Thanks

Very beneficial. Especially if you aren't that fast yet, the general aerobic conditioning for the heart can be quite useful. I went from 27 min 5k to 20:30 5k just with cycling which was quite impressive.

Now I still cross-train 3-4 hours a week with swimming and cycling mostly for recovery reasons and, like you to save my legs.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Very beneficial. Especially if you aren't that fast yet, the general aerobic conditioning for the heart can be quite useful. I went from 27 min 5k to 20:30 5k just with cycling which was quite impressive.

Now I still cross-train 3-4 hours a week with swimming and cycling mostly for recovery reasons and, like you to save my legs.

What are you saving your legs for?

Thanks guys, just came back from a one hour 20 mile bike ride and feeling great

I used to bike 50-100 miles/week along with doing 40-75 miles/week (didn't have a car but had places to go). I honestly think that with the mileage amount I was doing, biking was actually a detriment to my training because my quads got a lot more sore and I had to take easy runs and even tempos a little bit slower.

kid who used to bike a lot wrote:

I used to bike 50-100 miles/week along with doing 40-75 miles/week (didn't have a car but had places to go). I honestly think that with the mileage amount I was doing, biking was actually a detriment to my training because my quads got a lot more sore and I had to take easy runs and even tempos a little bit slower.

You may have been biking too hard. I biked a lot in HS too. 5-200 miles a week would be my guess depending on the time of year. My running was never affected in a negative way.

Some opinions I have with biking.

1.You can build up your overall cardiovascular system. Your heart, veins and arteries really do not care what exercise you are doing. Their job is to just respond. You can put in a ton of time biking with very little stress. You can build your cardiovascular system up much high than the 40-75 miles running could get you alone.

2.You can use biking to help with recovery. You are primarily using different muscle groups biking versus running. Let the biking just move your running muscles along to facilitate recovery.

3.If you are a runner get your training from running. A body can only recover from so much stress. If you want to become a better runner, make sure the most of the stress comes from running. If you try training on a bike and train running, your running will suffer at times.

4. There really isn't a good correlation between biking and running. X miles of biking does not always equal Y miles of running. Just make sure the biking always complements the running. In the end, your running matters the most.

That's an excellent post. About biking too hard, it depends - if he is not a good cyclist, even slow, easy rides will cause him fatigue. It takes a few 1000 miles to be able to ride smoothly and recover on each ride. I think if he is a beginner, he can't bike too slow. He should also avoid hills as he might not be able to stay at low HR even with the easiest gear.

Further advantages of biking:

1) Additional training per week = additional burning calories = lower body fat. That's HUGE! You might not be able to reach 12 hours of pure endurance training with running (that would be like 90-100 mpw), but you can certainly run for 60 mpw in 7 hours and bike/swim 5 hours more.

2) Incredibly strong quads and glutes. I'm surprised pure runners get injured in these spots, as running mostly works your hamstrings and the calves (they take most of the pounding). If you bike a lot you will NEVER get hurt in quads/glutes, and you will also be very strong downhill where the aerobic system isn't as important. I could outrun/run with 15 min 5k guys downhill while I was a 18 min runner, getting high cadence from cycling helps too.

Now any running you can do is always MUCH better than cross-training. Yes, the heart gets much stronger with cycling and you become fitter overall, but the aerobic system for running gets little benefit. Mitochondria are specifically developed in muscles, so you need to pressure them with running. But if you have left over time, say 5 hours more per week and don't know what to do, biking will almost certainly be better than sitting in front of a computer.

You'd be better served by running more. If you truly believe your legs will fall off if you increase your mileage, then sure, biking beats sitting on the couch.

Thanks, I don't really think the fatigue will cause me any problems as I loved to bike before I got into running. Was debating really pursuing biking before I got into Cross Country so I have a pretty good base for the biking. I will try to run more but I have Osgood Schlatter and am still a sophomore. Might move up to 50-55 miles per week when the season ends and try that out.

Okay!!! wrote:

You'd be better served by running more. If you truly believe your legs will fall off if you increase your mileage, then sure, biking beats sitting on the couch.

This is terrible advice.

With experience cycling, i think it will benefit your running greatly. I am an ultra trail runner and for work a bike courier.

Since doing courier work, resilience has shot through the roof, mentally resilience especially.

But one little piece of advice i would give is this mental queue:

biking = action in front of your body

running = action streaming behind your body.

biking shortens the hip flexors, and proper running gait lengthens the hip flexors through hip extension. This muscle confusion produces resilience but a lot of biking can mess up your running economy. it took me a stupid amount of time to really focus in on this predicament but doing just some basic run-focused hip mobility stretching after each bike ride helps counter the shortening effect.

Sophomore wants to get good wrote:

Hi, so I will be a sophomore soon and am running about 40-45 miles a week (not sure what the exact mileage is because on easy days I just run easy and for time). I don't want to go much higher than this right know because I have severe growing pains and don't want to get injured or something like that, but am really eager to get faster. Would it be beneficial to bike for an hour 4 times a week, and to what extend? (For what its worth; I also do strength training in the gym 2-3 times a week.)

Thanks

Yes. Definitely.

I wouldn't use it in place of workouts though. Use the bike as extra, easy aerobic miles. Genuinely easy too, like 65% of HRmax easy. Can start adding a few rides like that of an hour, and add as much as you can handle without it compromising running workouts.

Adding a ride that builds from 2 hours gradually up to 4-5, or doing so after or before a long run is beneficial too.

Used to successfully with many athletes, and went from 20:12 to 17:56 over a year and a half using just the bike with no running.

At some point you need the running specificity...but general aerobic can be developed using any modality.

Ultra Courier wrote:

With experience cycling, i think it will benefit your running greatly. I am an ultra trail runner and for work a bike courier.

Since doing courier work, resilience has shot through the roof, mentally resilience especially.

But one little piece of advice i would give is this mental queue:

biking = action in front of your body

running = action streaming behind your body.

biking shortens the hip flexors, and proper running gait lengthens the hip flexors through hip extension. This muscle confusion produces resilience but a lot of biking can mess up your running economy. it took me a stupid amount of time to really focus in on this predicament but doing just some basic run-focused hip mobility stretching after each bike ride helps counter the shortening effect.

I'm glad someone made this point but I would take it a step further and say stay away from heavy amounts of cycling altogether. If you're interested in getting faster at running cross training cycling is not necessarily a natural exercise motion for a runner and this could be counter-productive for your running. I would say you're wasting your time with cross-training and should run more, except for the fact that you're young and growing and that is a time cross-training in a non-impact manner can be a good supplement. I think you should consider swimming over cycling. No impact and has less of a tendency to be counterproductive to runners.

I think cycling can be a good way to stay in shape when dealing with certain injuries. But as a running suplement, there are better options.

Thanks everyone, probably won't have too much time left to do this when school starts back up, but I have found biking to school is just as fast and sometimes faster than taking the bus because the bus stops so often. That way I will still have the time when school becomes a lot.

Most summers I go on a biking vacation with family. We do ~500 miles of biking in 7 days, not riding very fast and taking a ton of breaks. I never run during these 7 days.

I always come back from these trips feeling excellent. My feet, knees, and ankles feel fresh (quads do not), and an hour run doesn't feel very long when you've spend 4+ hours on a bike every day in the last week.

I think 5-6 days running + one 40-50 mile bike ride (not fast ride, keeping cadence high) could be a sweet spot of training for me.

I think you should consider swimming over cycling. No impact and has less of a tendency to be counterproductive to runners.

I'd disagree. Swimming can actually be counterproductive because it encourages hyper mobile and flexible feet and ankles. There's a reason people who grew up swimming make horrible runners.

It is great for lengthening hip flexors though, so a good compliment too biking. But biking is way more specific to running than swimming.

The hip flexors, especially the psoas can be overworked and tighten up biking. The most specific cross training without pounding is the eliptical or the stairmaster. I rarely see the stairmaster anymore though.

I'd not worry about the hip flexors much. Biking should make them stronger if anything and they are easy to stretch. Sophomores in HS usually don't have any issues with them. Hip mobility drills are always good to add no matter what.

Hip flexor issues pop up as you get older if you don't watch it. Mostly from sitting around to much. So, biking may contribute but isn't often an issue for HS kids.

I think Verbicas probably spelled wrong biked a ton as a kid. He is arguably the best HS runner ever.

Almost all HS kids lack in aerobic development. Heck, almost every one lacks it. If you can't put in more miles running, biking will help fill the void. If you can put in the miles, biking will still give you an extra boost. Just balance it out.

Pappy did a good job of explaining things. Pay attention to number 4. Tons of coaches and athletes somehow get hairbrained calculations on how biking mileage=running mileage and the ways to justify it. Don't get caught up in that. 60 min of aerobic activity is the same either way and your heart won't know the difference. At some point you gotta run. Mostly for the neuromuscular coordination that is involved.

Anecdotally, I know of some good cross-training stories. Had a roomate in college who was out his senior year of HS from February-late April. Just swam a lot. Came back and ended up running 9:05 in his 2nd to last race. Also, I had an assistant coach a while ago that was out August-mid October of her Jr. year of XC in college. Went on to advance to NCAAs and finish top 20. Although these are outliers, cross-training did a lot for them when they WEREN'T running. As long as you balance it correctly it will only help you while you are still running.