I’m debating starting running again, as I’m struggling to get decent (i.e. 1 hr +) rides in during the week, due to working shifts and two ankle-biters. I was therefore wondering how many of you both run and cycle, and how much you do of both of them to make either worthwhile? Or should I just bite the bullet and get out my turbo-trainer again?

Start extremely slowly and work up. I did a half marathon a few weeks ago and I’d been ramping up to it for about three months, starting at a 15 minute run and adding 5 minutes each time until I got up to 50mins or so. It’s a good thing to do if you don’t get enough time to ride (because you work for a mountain bike magazine… Hmm…)

Thanks Chipps – did you find that you kept your bike related fitness too? When I get a few hours free every few weeks I’d like to get in a few decent mountain-miles, and would rather not feel like I’m dying throughout (I’m ignoring the fact that I normally feel like this when cycling up the side of the Clwyds anyway)

Muddypuddle – don’t know if you have a training plan, but I’ve used this one before and I’d recommend it

I used to run alot but haven’t been able to recently because of an impact injury, I picked up a heel spur.

but that aside, as said above start slowly and work up just do a couple of miles to start with so your body gets used to it. And I can’t stress more how important warming up first and stretching afterwards is. Cycling tightens the hamstrings and running extends them, especially when running downhill. The more flexible your body becomes the less chance there is of getting injured.

enjoy !

Kev

I run quite a lot (competitively, for school). More than I’d like relative to how much time I have to ride. I find that even when I’m in top shape for distance running, my biking fitness suffers quite a lot – running on a track or on your average road with a few hills works almost entirely on your calves, while riding, especially for a flat pedal bandit like myself, requires loads more strength in the quads.
Chipps’ idea sounds good for the runs – but decide how much running you really want to do (i.e. just for fitness and fun runs or serious marathon training) and integrate workouts into your schedule accordingly.

It’s also worth noting that, for myself at least, biking works as cross-training for running. Just not vice versa. So feel free to occasionally substitute riding for running should you feel so inclined.

If you do want to run loads and still maintain some bike fitness, try doing some repeats up steepest local hill. Just be careful about your knees coming down.

i also work shifts but don’t have kids to look after. i cycle, run and swim mainly because i prefer variety and experience problems if i just ride (bad posture, neck and shoulders) or run (ankles, calfs). ideally one long hard bike ride of 3/4 hours, per week with some rides to work or short rides when i feel like it. 2x 20-30minute runs per week is enough but 3 or 4 if my legs can stand it. if your short of time then running and turbo training, regularly at a high intensity, are effective use of what time you have. i’m not convinced that the long ride is really great for my fitness but i enjoy it.

I used to run competitively in my teens and have just started running after a 15 year break. As Chipps says, best to start slowly and don’t extend running time by more than 10% a week as a rule of thumb. Runnersworld.co.uk has some good advice and there are some good books out there like Tim Noakes who wrote the Lore of running – I think he is also a cylist.

Don’t know if it will harm your cycling but some of the guys I ride with are runners and they are still super fast on the bike!

I starting cycling as alternative to doing too much running, orienteering etc and getting injured too frequently. As a gross generalisation, there seems to be reasonable transfer of fitness between the activities, but (sadly) running uphill most closely corresponds to exercising the cycling muscles. A weekly running session of 6 X 5 min repeats up your local hill will go a long way. Or just a 40 minute run around a hilly area if you cant face the repeats.

I find that running is easier to fit into my routine and is ‘winter safe’ (you’ll probably injur yourself less if you slip and fall while running than cycling). My advice to any runner though (beginners particularly), get a decent size MP3 player and load it with tunes (I currently use an 8gb Sansa clip which I cant recomend enough, its tiny, doesnt bounce about when I run, and clips nicely onto my pants/shorts). Although funnily I run faster without music, it does help to make the runs go quicker when I just cant be arsed.

session training is good and will definitely help your fitness, but I find that going out for a run and doing 10x hill repeats feels too much like training so I just go out and run and forget about everything else other than running. Running alone is good but some people prefer to run with other people and I am sure there are running clubs near you, and these usually cater for people of all fitness levels.

Muddypuddle, I used to suffer with achiles tendonitis, but have gone a long way to preventing it with decent trainers (my current favourites are Nike Vomero 3/4, but your requirements depend on your foot type) and some long, slow, achilles/calf/lower leg stretching; Stretch first thing in the morning, after work, before bed, hell you can even go have a stretch at work, although if you decide do it in the toilets just dont make any grunts or groans just incase your manager is in one of the traps and recognises you (although your manager recognising your grunts and groans would worry me unless you’ve had a few ‘promotions’).

The Runners World forums will probably give you more advice than anyone on here can…

I’ve recently started doing some running and have found that I’m surprisingly good at it and have pretty reasonable stamina. I think cycling a reasonable amount gives you a solid CV base for othersports such as running. Problem I’m having is a difficulty in running with people who ‘jog’. I generally go forward, some people I run with use shorter steps and are much more up and down. Anyone else find this?

Started running to improve my cycling and i have improved my overall fitness greatly, joining a local club makes all the difference. You can measure improvements against others and its quite sociable aswell.

I’ve recently started doing some running and have found that I’m surprisingly good at it and have pretty reasonable stamina. I think cycling a reasonable amount gives you a solid CV base for othersports such as running. Problem I’m having is a difficulty in running with people who ‘jog’. I generally go forward, some people I run with use shorter steps and are much more up and down. Anyone else find this?

Shorter strides equals less jolting of you body especially your Quads my coach tells me 180 steps a minute.

Running certainly gives you a good exercise session with less faff than biking.

I’ve been doing more running than biking recently. I ran the Stafford Half Marathon last month and have the Sheffield Half next weekend. I’ve done about ~45 miles running a month for the past three months. I did a 4 hour bike ride as part of an adventure race a couple of weeks ago and thought my legs felt a bit empty (compared to previous races when I’ve done more biking).

most days i run or ride
run 4-5 miles typically = a jog to real runners (8-9 min / miles) but usually involves some hill – as some one said above is less faff than a bike
ride off road usually 10-20miles or road 25-35miles
above 5 days/week play around abit and do some interval stuff if can only fit in a short session / stretch/row at gym weekends – after longer hard days out work on recovery next day – use a Hr monitor and try to go flat – though it is hard round here
doing ashbourne dualthlon next weekend so have stopped climbing find it screws up the training due to overuse quads and all over bodypump if try too hard
running is ok with riding just go for what feels right and do recovery stuff
missed the ankle biters
easy now as house husband / own business – when working full time found lunchtime ride or run really worked even though had to rub down with a sponge and avoid peer pressure