Bike to Running

[Moodyman]

The simple answer is of course intervals (there are many combo's of intervals you could use), they give you the biggest bang for your buck

Agree, but not any old intervals. Find a nice hill or two of about 80-100 metres

Power up, jog down, power up, jog down, repeat until you feel like death. That'll develop fitness in no time.

Then do the odd longer run to develop endurance.

 

[brockers]

^^ And for anyone wanting to get fit quick on a bike, you can apply the same principles to your cycling.

You can freewheel down though. Jogging with your bicycle would just look silly.

 

[Fiona N]

One thing no one's mentioned is running surface.

The transition to running is much more pleasant and likely to be less injury strewn if you can find some softer and varied surfaces to run on - not mud so much as not concrete and tarmac. It reduces the pounding and trains the proprioception/balance systems as well as strengthening the stability of the knees and ankles. A grassy park, firm single track, forest tracks, whatever you've got to hand, it all helps with the neuro-muscular conversion from cycling on a fixed machine to running where nothings fixed.

 

[Herbie]

Thinking, quite seriously now, about running the Birmingham Half Marathon in October.

So, I can ride 50 miles at a reasonable pace (top 20% of the last Sportive that I did), and have been up to 75 miles. I love the challenge of a good hill, and every day I do a 6 mile commute as fast as I can get away with - recently averaged 20.3, but that was a special route - straight and flat main road for the first half. So I'm happy that I'm reasonably fit.

But I don't run. I last ran for a reasonable distance in 1990, and that was 5k. 13 miles and a bit is much longer. Tonight I have just done 2 miles, and feel pretty similar as far as leg muscles go, to a 40 mile ride.

Any tips for converting my cycling fitness to running? I guess I just need to get some miles in those running legs.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Loads of great advice in this thread..... my own 'pearls'

wear decent running shoes and dedicated gear made from technical fabrics
park runs are a great way to mearuee your progess
hydrate like a bandit especially if running for more than 40 mins.

My story.

did a couch to 5km in 10 week course in march
now doing a 5km to 10km course 10 week course which ends in three weeks (though I ran my first competitive 10km a couple of weeks ago; it is where the cycling derived CV fitness, and the ability to tolerate discomfort (tempo running) really paid off)
am running the Barns Green Half Mara in October and start the 10km to 1/2 mara 15 week course in a couple of weeks.

that is the up side.

the downside? the impact on my cycling the club/course long runs on a sunday morning clash with cycling club, the impact from the running leaves my legs in bits and I have had to cut down on cycle commuting as a result, the running it quite time consuming and I can't rearrange my day to allow me to ride to from work and get to the course on time. I tore a calf muscle on uneven ground a week ago (didn't warm up properly - my own fault) and I can neither run nor cycle at the moment though I was stupid enough to do an 11km jog on Sunday. dumbdumbdumb.

 

[Glover Fan]

+1 for decent and well fitting running shoes. Doesn't matter how much they cost!

I have a perfectly neutral gait and had some excellent Brooks Ghost 2 trainers that did the job fine, wore em out and decided to buy a pair of Saucony ProGrid Triumph 6's which were touted as "neutral" and felt really comfy.

Within 3 runs I thought I had runners knee and haven't been running for 5 months. Went for a run again in them and the knee pain came back. Thinking my dreams of a triathlon I took a couple more weeks out. Had a bit of a brainwave that maybe it could be the trainers as they have a slight "heel" to them and popped on my old trainers. Did 3 miles and didn't get any pain in my knee whatsoever!

So my advice would be, once you have found a trainer that does the job, stick with it!!! Am going to order a new pair of these Brooks.

 

[Glover Fan]

By the way, I heard that runners always have a better "motor" for cycling than people who solely just cycle and it makes perfect sense to me, my average HR whilst running is always at least 160bpm regardless of effort, whereas cycling it can be as low as 120bpm. Combining running with cycling makes climbing hills a doddle!

 

[JonnyBlade]

The transition from run to bike is a good one but not the other way around. Different muscle group conditioning that can be detrimental to cycling so beware!!!!

Marathon man to bike

 

[BrumJim]

Well, 2 miles on Monday, and bad DOMS on Wednesday. Although that was probably due to a bit of SCR on Tuesday evening. A bit strange, as I've never had DOMS after SCR ever before, and it's not as though I rarely participate, although this one was a particularly tough nut.

 

[zoxed]

I second the injury warning, although of course it varies.

I am 46, life long cyclist. I started a very gentle build-up running program (walkk-run-etc) last Autumn. Went great for the first few weeks, but then after the end of the program I think I took too bigger step up in pace (I was getting frustrated, not really feeling tired during the build-up program). Result was a knackered knee (it was OK whilst running, but the pain startedduring the evening). Several weeks of just managing the cycle to work and nothing more than that :-( Knees are still a bit dodgy on the bike.

I guess that running used some different muscles etc and my body did not have time to develop them fast enough to match my existing cycling muscles. If I had started out the running with no fitness I would not have pushed it too much !!

This autumn I will start running on the days *between* (not instead of) my regular cycling, so that they are on my "rest" days. Hopefully there will be less temptation to push it too much at the start !!

 

[lulubel]

Agree, but not any old intervals. Find a nice hill or two of about 80-100 metres

Power up, jog down, power up, jog down, repeat until you feel like death. That'll develop fitness in no time.

Be careful of doing a lot of hill running if you haven't done much before. Running uphill works the calf muscles very hard, and too much too soon will damage the achilles tendon, and that's a very bad injury to have!

Like everything with running, build up gradually.

 

[The Jogger]

I have done most of my running on hilly trails, the south downs way, when I was running properly a few years ago. Although I found intervals helped improve speed, hills and distance did it for me. I would try and fit in a lsr 14 - 16 miler once a week. My times really improved.

 

[The Jogger]

Yes, with hill running, good calf stretching is essential.

 

[BrumJim]

Up to 3 miles last night, but muscles in the lower part of my lower leg complaining like crazy. Not happy. Wish they would put up and shut up.

Taking the advice about not pushing too hard last, though. Lungs and heart were begging to be pushed harder, but legs were on a protest. Listened to my legs.

 

[Rob3rt]

Well done keep at it, you will get there.