Road Cycling V's Running? « Singletrack Forum

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Road Cycling V's Running?

25 posts & 19 voices | Started 2 years ago by shoefiti | Latest reply from uplink

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shoefiti - Member

What would be a similar distance on a road bike in terms of toughness to achieve, a marathon....... or how many miles on a road bike? I can't really phrase this question very well, but have thought about doing a marathon with some guys from work in a few months. I can run a bit, say 20km or so if pushed, but don't enjoy it that much so only run occasionally.

Just wandering for those that do both, how far on a road bike giving it similar effort would you say you'd have to ride to be as tough (given average gradient, conditions, not riding over the Alps in a hail storm etc)

Posted 2 years ago #
fadda - Member

Riding won't prepare you (properly) for running, as it's different exercise (non weight-bearing on the bike). The only way to prepare properly for a big run, is to run.

Sorry, but I discovered the hard way when I did a half marathon last year!

Posted 2 years ago #
shoefiti - Member

Yes I know that. What I am wondering is for those that do both how many miles on a road bike would you consider a comparable effort.

I will actually train for the marathon.

Posted 2 years ago #
Blazin-saddles - Member

depends how fit you are I'd guess, for my running prowess I guess somewhere in the region of 160-180 miles. do-able but written off when finished. In fact I did the Marmott last year and the way I felt when I'd finished that is somewhere in the region I suspect I'd be in after running 26 miles.

Posted 2 years ago #
warton - Member

I'd say around 150 on a road bike maybe more, depending on terrain. I'm training for a marathon in October and I'm up to regular runs of 10 miles twice a week now, but I still ride three times a week, personally I think long rides is great for your running endurance, but the only way to condition the legs is to run

Posted 2 years ago #
shoefiti - Member

Hmmmmm that's food for thought, thanks.

Posted 2 years ago #
oldgit - Member

I've never been able to answer the question. When I was in my twenties I did both, either running 1/2s or full marathons or triathlons and road racing at the same time.
At the end of a marathon the tiredness I felt was very different to cycling tiredness, more hammered than that dull I want to lay down and die tiredness.
In 1985 I did a full Ironman, there wasn't much cross over in fitness from doing all three diciplines apart from running uphill well and I put that down to quad development from cycling.
However if you think you can run some distance because you can cycle a fair old way you'd be mistaken as I've found out on the times I've tried to get back into running. All because of load bearing IMO.

Posted 2 years ago #
nosemineb - Member

Tricky 1 as its all about conditioning, i bike and run and i am fit for both. However i couldnt go run a marathon today, i wouldnt finish it. But i bet if i went out now i could ride 150 plus miles given the time and inclination. Especially if its a flat road ride. When i think of long road rides they include hills which i dont include when i think of road marathons. HTH

Posted 2 years ago #
shoefiti - Member

I can run 'o.k.' in that i can do 20km in an 1.5hr. I find running fitness pretty easy to get up to speed with. I've never run further than 25km thou. I can however ride 150 miles (or at least have done a few times), which I found pretty tough. I find a 20km run finishes me off as much as an 80-100 mile ride, but the thought of a marathon at the moment is a little daunting.

Posted 2 years ago #
MidlandTrailquestsGraham - Member

I agree with the comments about fitness or endurance in one sport not always crossing over to another.
However, if you're looking to simulate the toughness of a marathon on a bike, I'd go for time, not distance.
How fast do you run your 20km ?
Double that, add a bit more for the 42km of a marathon, add a bit more for the slower pace of a longer run, then ride for that time.

Posted 2 years ago #
Keva - Member

having never run a marathon or ridden a road bike recently I've really no idea.

Posted 2 years ago #
shoefiti - Member

Keva - Member

having never run a marathon or ridden a road bike recently I've really no idea.

Well that isn't the STW way - having little or no experience of an issue gives you a much greater reason to demonstrate an opinion, especially if it's the wrong one, get with the program. Just use the search facility to look up a TandemJeremy post, follow his lead, you'll soon get the idea.

Posted 2 years ago #
The Swedish Chef - Member

Interesting question. I ran 1.25 for a half last year and clocked just over 4 hours for a 100KM mountain bike race. I'd say the level of *uckedness was about equal. Although I came off a much more specific running background than biking

Posted 2 years ago #
Ewan - Member

Furtherst i've run is about 33k off road with hills. I did that without much water / any food. I was destroyed at the end of it. That said, I was not nearly as destroyed as when I finished the SDW (100 miles and 14 hours).

Therefore i'd suspect a marathon is a bit less than a offroad SDW in terms of difficulty. I realise this doesn't answer the question, but as others have pointed out, that is the STW way.

(BTW, you could look at it in terms of calories. A half marathon is roughly 1500 calories according to my heart rate / run watch thing. The SDW was about 5000 calories.).

Posted 2 years ago #
keavo - Member

i think its easier to ease off on a bike and theres no pounding effect on the joints. taking that into consderation i have found that a flat out 10k run is about as demanding as a flat out 25m tt. logically that equates to a 100m tt being like a marathon, but i've never done those sort of distances at race intesity so i could be wrong.

Posted 2 years ago #
didnothingfatal - Member

I mix road biking in with running, and think the running barely benefits from it, the one addition to running that does blast my cardio is a kettlebell, especially if you train along the lines of the
The US Department of Energy Kettlebell Man Maker Do 10 to 75 snatches with each arm depending on your ability level, be sure that you use good form, dig your toes in, and at the top of your snatch or swing hold for a second. Breathing is important, get a good rhythm going. Once done with your snatches jog -don’t run! - quarter of a mile, jogging lets your heart and body recover, if you are running fast it means you didn’t do enough repetitions with your KB. Continue this routine for 2 miles or farther or till you leave a lung on the ground.

Posted 2 years ago #
TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR - Member

I'm not the fittest by a long shout, and can (just about) manage 25-30 miles hard off roading. I struggle to run 300 yards though.

Posted 2 years ago #
uponthedowns - Member

Shoefiti you say you don't enjoy running then why put yourself through all the training necessary to run a marathon? Wouldn't it be better to spend the time doing something you enjoyed?

Posted 2 years ago #
west kipper - Member

The crossover between roadcycling and running is, IMO, a bit like the crossover between Moto GP and Dominos*.
I used to be able to run OK (round my way, you were either a runner of a fighter- I wasnie a fighter) before taking up cycling, but the fitter I got on the bike, the worse I ran, and at my fittest, running 200 metres felt like simultaneously being strangled and having my kneecaps shot out.

*BTW, Assen in the dry is comparable with 1682 games of dominos

Posted 2 years ago #
shoefiti - Member

uponthedowns - Member

Shoefiti you say you don't enjoy running then why put yourself through all the training necessary to run a marathon? Wouldn't it be better to spend the time doing something you enjoyed?

Ha ha yer good one, like the missus will agree to that again!

Posted 2 years ago #
shoefiti - Member

I like a challenge, I don't always enjoy the journey thou, who does?

Posted 2 years ago #
surfer - Member

I can comment on the other way around.

I was in good shape running and had ran 53 minutes for 10 miles. I developed an injury that stopped me running for almost a year. I took up road cycling a month or two later and did OK in a couple of local 10m TT's winning one of them.
I think it works better that way than cycling to running.

Posted 2 years ago #
Jolly Green Giant - Member

I just started running again 6 weeks ago to train for the Spoert relief 6 mile run.
First week was really hard,despite being aregular cycling,but I have now run 5 miles,twice a week for the last week.
5 miles running takes far more out of me than a 40 mile road ride.

Posted 2 years ago #
IanMunro - Member

I'd say it's around 100 miles would be about right sort of figure, but that's a figure for someone who would not be a habitual cyclist.
Obviously regular cyclists would find 100 miles far easier than running a marathon, but I've a friend in her late 50's who pretty much runs a marathon every other weekend who finds cycling fantastically hard and the thought of trying to cycle 100 miles mental

Posted 2 years ago #
uplink - Member

This Winter I've recorded all of my runs & rides using the SportTracks training load addon
It uses TRIMP as a measure of how hard any particular training session is
An hours steady tempo riding on the road has a TRIMP of ~100 for me whereas an hours running at a similar intensity is ~130

by that reckoning a 4 hour marathon would be 520 so - 5 & a bit hours on the bike

Posted 2 years ago #