Well, after a summer of cycling.......

[Willo]

I ran a 10k course pb today!

My fitness consists of cycling and running (including some of both in the gym on a spin bike / treadmill). Owing to some running injuries in the past, and the fact it's proved to be much more fun, my exercise has been heavily weighted in favour of cycling over the last year or so, particularly over this summer. Therefore, I was interested to find out today how that would impact my time in a local 10k race. While I ran the route once a week for the last 5 weeks to regain some running fitness, I hadn't done much running over the summer other than the odd 5k run. However, the cycling and spin bike must have done me some good as I clocked a pb over the route (one that's a bit of a grind with lots of long gradual uphill drags).

I think the cycling has strengthened my legs and provided a bit more stamina. In any event, a lesson for me is that for my running less has proved to be more. 2 pbs this year by restricting my running to once a week at the most with cycling and the spin bike the rest of the time. I'm faster now than when I used to concentrate solely on running.

I think it's only right that I thank my bike by buying it something sexy:-)

 

[Garz]

Low impact cycling gives you the fitness with less risk of injury. I used to run at a local club before getting into cycling (im a useless runner by any standards - too stocky) and found it got me fitter in the long term. I plan on getting some running in though now the winter is drawing near, it's easier to put on some clothes and run for 5k or more than kit up, prep and get a 30 miler under the belt.

Glad you enjoyed your cycling, I found it a similar experience too. Soon it will be the turbo sessions and dusting off the old footage of the TDF or some pain on the sufferfest!

 

[Willo]

Thanks Garz. Yeah, the relatively low impact of cycling has been great for my ageing legs. I used to suffer lots of lower leg pulls which culminated in a serious achilles injury which sidelined me from running for well over a year. I'm a big fan of the spin bikes in the gym for building up the legs and stamina which helps both the running and cycling. I can get a fairly intense workout in 25-30 mins in quick morning sessions before work. I'm going to try and keep up the running once a week though. As you say, running is ideal in the winter plus I've noticed a little extra weight drop off over the last few weeks as I ran a bit more.