I ride twice a week and am starting to find that my fitness is not really allowing me to keep up with the other riders in our group..

My question is around what will help increase my fitness most effectively..

Time is limited for me due to having a 9 month old baby in the house, is more biking going to be most beneficial, or would the inclusion of running help?

I can run the 9 miles into work in about 70 minutes, so don't think I'm a slouch (for a one run a week runner)

Should I;

Get up early to get more rides in

Get up early and get more runs in

???
Bedds

🙂

I suspect you need more rest 😀

I take the view that running gets you tired quickest and needs the least faff, even if it's less specific.

Basically, you need to squeeze in as much cardio exercise in as possible.

Swimming is excellent, but running frequently will definitely help your fitness levels.

Running will increase your cardio endurance big time.

If you can handle it, focused turbo training will get you fit on very little time.

Since I have been injured and not running, over last 6 weeks, my cycling has suffered. So yes is the answer.

I ride two or three times a week and I play football once a week. The combination has helped a lot. Football seems to be more interval training which is good for cycling. Running will help you shed weight faster though.

I have found that doing some sprint warm ups during cycling has helped me keep up with my mates. Getting my legs used to lactic acid build up by sprint like a bastard until it hurts, slowing down and recovering, then doing it again until I reach the trails. This has certainly improved my ability to transfer power to the pedals while on that steep climb.

Football has helped me shed weight and improve core stability.

If you can feasibly fit more cycling in, it will be better than running. However, if you will only have 60 minutes (for example) you will likely get more done running.

You will also get injured more readily, which will totally scupper the riding.

my view is if you want to get 'bike' fit then ride your bike.

if time is limited then interval training is the way to go – on or off road

there's an interesting blog entry here about training with young kids in the house;

http://morvelo.posterous.com/dawn-raid-0

My suggestion would be something like interval training. I dont do it myself but cant you get a really intense and worthwhile workout done in less than an hour? If you were to do that runnign you could stay within a meaningful distance to your house if that is important. Or do it on a treadmill/rollers/stationary.

Thanks for all the speedy replies!

I trained for a Half Marathon last year and haven't felt fitter, I recognise though this was before Bedds Jnr was around and I was riding as well.

From what I've seen so far I think I may work in some sprint reps.. live on a hill as well so could feasibly get in an hour of bike hill climbing.. will check out the link now 🙂

Running is a good way to lose weight, so if you're a bit portly it would make sense, you'll get quicker as a by-product.

Running better than nowt but if you can ride with the same time/intensity it will have greater effect and tire you less.

Cycling is way better for losing weight, but if time is constrained you'll struggle to beat running.

Running is a good way to lose weight

Cycling is way better for losing weight

Welcome to STW 😆

Cycling is way better for losing weight,

30 minute run vs 30 minute ride, running is better. However you can ride a bike for 4 hours day after day, which will have more effect than the 30 minute run.

Perhaps I should have qualified it by saying like for like on duration.

Yeah, I don't need to lose weight, just gain fitness.. (5'10 and 154lbs)

Keep the suggestions coming though 🙂

I run twice a week and can bang out 38 for 10KM and 1:25 for a half, (running background).

I supplement this with two sessions on the bike at the weekend, normally up to 2 hours.

This pattern of training translates very well to XC riding/racing up to around the two hour mark. After that it all falls apart, (relatively).

I need more time in my legs on the bike. Simple.

What type of fitness increase do you want? Power, endurance, intensity? Running can help with some of these but not others.

I don't think it's the amount of exercise you're doing but the quality. You need to get good advice on this but I think you need to look at speed and hill work alongside endurance. This builds heart and lung capacity which will allow you to ride faster for longer.

Running might make it easier to do speed or hill work (because you don't need as much space or such a big hill as you run slower than you ride). You could look at triathlon training schedules for pointers – there are some at runnersworld.co.uk – but please, please don't take my advice. Go to professional cycling or triathlon fitness experts and get some good advice from them.

To be honest I don't think riding is a good way to get fitter/slimmer unless you're really honking it through 4-hour rides, a good few times a week. It's just too easy and efficient. I know that at the top level of the sport they're all really skinny, but for me personally I think running has had a much bigger effect on cardiovascular fitness simply due to how much harder it is.

That's the key thing, as I said above. Cycling can be better, but on the assumption you only have an hour or so you'll almost certainly get more out of a run. Until your knees shatter.

Absolutely agree, running is just so easy to do, lunch times, overnight business trips, just take a pair of shoes and some kit and away you go.

Not totally convinced by the bad knee thing either, (on the proviso of good shoes (changed regularly),good technique, and intelligent training methods)

I was joking, although you are more likely to get injured running than riding. Fact.

Run off road – helps bike fitness and you'll take to it easily.

I do both MTBing and trail running and think they really complement each other.

I beg to differ on the "running will injure you" stuff as I think it's profoundly wrong. Running is more likely to highlight any problems you might have stored up as a result of a sedentary lifestyle but there is no higher incidence of knee problems in runners than non-runners. Runners are more likely to visit doctors and physios with knee problems because it stops (or hinders) their running whereas a fat bloke driving a van in London 8 hours a day will have a dodgy knee from heavy clutch work and might not do anything about it for years.

Running is a weight bearing activity which promotes higher bone density. Cycling, being non-weight-bearing, can actually cause osteoporosis and osteoarthritis in men and women who cycle a lot without doing any other activity. For this reason a lot of professional cyclists do at least some running or weight bearing exercise.

I'm a runner and a cyclist and have a lot of problems when running due to achilles and calf pain. These come directly from cycling as the leg never fully extends at any time during a cycle ride so muscles and tendons shorten. This makes any sport requiring full leg extension, such as running, very painful unless the damage is undone by lots and lots of stretching and some physio work.

While I respect peoples' decision not to run for whatever reason, I believe that using their own personal justification of why they've chosen not to run as discouragement to others is unhelpful at best. And the OP is already a runner so the run/don't run thing is not in question here.

Agree with Shedful there, I've had more bike related knee pain than running, generally previous leg pain from running has been from shin splints and ankle twists..

I like the idea of off road running though..

Run off road – helps bike fitness and you'll take to it easily

only works for me in the winter gloop. summertime I can't help thinking how much better it would be to be on the bike…

OP – How long are your twice a week rides?

If time is limited (like me) then I got faster/fitter for the bike by doing 1 or 2 30 minute core stability sessions per week at home in the evenings. I then added 1 or 2 Interval sessions on the bike lasting 40 minutes. With a 4 hour weekend ride and a 2.5 hour evening ride my fitness and speed have improved steadily and the time is not too onerous.
I am not a racing ferret but I can keep up with my mates now (except Neil and the other racing ferrets) and am quicker up the hills than most of them.

Ok, so my midweek ride is about 2 – 2.30 hours, weekend ride is generally 3 hours
I live in the FOD so a good mix of climbing and descending

In reply to Swedish Chef, I think I'm after power and endurance, I chased the lead rider up hill last night, caught him, promptly got dropped and then spent several minutes hunched over the bars with a stitch and the feeling I was about the throw up 🙁

geofg.. what core stability stuff were you doing?

It depends how much you like running, but I used to go out with my son in a Bob jogger. It would give my wife some time on her own and allowed me to keep my running training up. They are very good with good foot clearance and balance with plenty of room for drinks or gels attached to the handle of the chair. You can buy sun and insect screen or very good rain jackets so can go out any time.

"I'm a runner and a cyclist and have a lot of problems when running due to achilles and calf pain. These come directly from cycling as the leg never fully extends at any time during a cycle ride so muscles and tendons shorten."
try walking arround in flat shoes, vivo's or something like that. It gently stretches the back of your legs and back, just but everyday moving about.

When you cycle, do you only use a mountain bike? If so, I advise you to buy a road bike.

After buying my first road bike last year, I quickly realized that mountain biking is really just pi$$ing about in the woods with your mates 🙂

as it should be.

Not if you ride your MTB hard! You get out of riding what you put in. If you bimble around on your rides at a comfortable pace, and stop to chat lots, you won't get much quicker. If you attack every hill until you feel ill you'll get quicker!

You don't necessarily have to do structured intervals if that's too serious, you can incorporate them into your normal rides.

i thought that ^^ too for years. Buying and using a Road bike has increased my fitness like nothing else I have ever tried before.
I still love MTBing but now don't expect it to make me fit 😆

It's a different type of fitness, and both are important IMO.

An easy road ride is not as beneficial for your fitness as a hard MTB ride of a similar duration and vice versa. MTB rides, by their nature, often end up like interval sessions because you're constantly accelerating, then coasting for a bit, then going hard again.

Lots of people say this, but why?

Is it the stop start nature of off road riding?

Its just as easy to exceed lactic threshold on a mountain bike as a road bike. Seem odd that's all, not challenging you.

OK, close to an answer by njee20

I can't believe how much easier climbing has become on MTB rides since I started doing 60-80 miles a week on the road, split into 20-25 mile chunks. I also find I get cramp far less and decending is more fun cos I have legs left for it at the end of big climbs.