Is running hurting my cycling legs?
Discussion
Winter hasn't been kind in facilitating my cycling needs and I have therefore been forced to
go down the spin class route and take up more and more running.
I am however worried that all this running will hurt my legs when I eventually get back on two wheels. As said I am trying to keep bike fit with a spin class but this is only 45 mins once a week. I am also squatting to try and keep leg strength up.
Any advice out there?
go down the spin class route and take up more and more running.
I am however worried that all this running will hurt my legs when I eventually get back on two wheels. As said I am trying to keep bike fit with a spin class but this is only 45 mins once a week. I am also squatting to try and keep leg strength up.
Any advice out there?
as i enjoy duathlons, running and cycling are essentially all the cardio-training i do. there is probably a good scientific training schedule out there which will help me achieve my goals but i just do what i feel like and what i think needs working on. problem is i know my running is weaker than my cycling but i prefer the bike and can also make up more time on others as the majority are seem to be better runners.
it probably depends on speed and distance but i cant see running have much of a negative effect personally.
it probably depends on speed and distance but i cant see running have much of a negative effect personally.
As above, the running will help your aerobic fitness (and anaerobic if you push yourself hard enough). There's a persistent rumour that running and cycling use the leg muscles in different (and contradictory) ways but I've never investigated it properly so can't say whether it's true or not. I doubt it'll take long to get your cycling legs back in the Spring if you've been running over the Winter though.
I can only offer anecdotal evidence, but i do find that when i start running at the end of the season - to control my weight - i notice that my cycling does suffer a little. The legs start to feel less "springy" and certainly take longer to warm up when you first set off on the bike at this time of year.
I also used to do the occasional tri and duathlons, when doing these my cycling was, unsurprisingly, certainly slower than it is now that i tend to focus almost 100% on the cycling.
Basically nothing scientific to back it up, but personal experience does seem to confirm that you do use different muscles for each activity, to the detriment of the others. Also seems to confirm that running is very effective at encouraging the body to strip anything unnescessary for running, be that fat - a good thing - or muscle tissue - a bad thing if its your cycling muscles!
I also used to do the occasional tri and duathlons, when doing these my cycling was, unsurprisingly, certainly slower than it is now that i tend to focus almost 100% on the cycling.
Basically nothing scientific to back it up, but personal experience does seem to confirm that you do use different muscles for each activity, to the detriment of the others. Also seems to confirm that running is very effective at encouraging the body to strip anything unnescessary for running, be that fat - a good thing - or muscle tissue - a bad thing if its your cycling muscles!
Interesting responses there. I guess my whole concern is over the different muscles that are used, and as Raoul Duke said, if it is stripping muscle tissue from currently unused cycling muscles.
Personally I do find running more of a cardio test than cycling, so I'm hoping that I will see his as a positive effect come the spring. I just hope that what I can do in the way of spin, squats and the occasional ride with minimise any cycling muscle loss
Personally I do find running more of a cardio test than cycling, so I'm hoping that I will see his as a positive effect come the spring. I just hope that what I can do in the way of spin, squats and the occasional ride with minimise any cycling muscle loss
All caveated with IMO and DYOR.... 
Running is not going to strip you of cycling muscles... absolutely not.
However, you will have a more even spread of training maybe meaning you do less cycling and that will of course have that effect. If you were to run on top of the same cycling training then you'll simple gain more muscle around the run-specific areas and lose even more fat.
Unless you're a semi-pro upwards you'll be able to run as much as you feel capable of and cycle as much as you're capable of without significant detrimental effect.... elite triathletes seem to manage it ok and they'll be putting out more watts for longer than you could dream of.
For most of us it is better to have legs that are balanced and the right amount of muscle all around - too much of one discipline can, and does, build specific muscle that can cause imbalances and injuries.
If you only want to cycle, have no interest in anything else, then I don't suppose it really matters. If however you want to be a great cyclist but also all round fit then running will help.
Running is not going to strip you of cycling muscles... absolutely not.
However, you will have a more even spread of training maybe meaning you do less cycling and that will of course have that effect. If you were to run on top of the same cycling training then you'll simple gain more muscle around the run-specific areas and lose even more fat.
Unless you're a semi-pro upwards you'll be able to run as much as you feel capable of and cycle as much as you're capable of without significant detrimental effect.... elite triathletes seem to manage it ok and they'll be putting out more watts for longer than you could dream of.
For most of us it is better to have legs that are balanced and the right amount of muscle all around - too much of one discipline can, and does, build specific muscle that can cause imbalances and injuries.
If you only want to cycle, have no interest in anything else, then I don't suppose it really matters. If however you want to be a great cyclist but also all round fit then running will help.
ewenm said:
As above, the running will help your aerobic fitness (and anaerobic if you push yourself hard enough). There's a persistent rumour that running and cycling use the leg muscles in different (and contradictory) ways but I've never investigated it properly so can't say whether it's true or not. I doubt it'll take long to get your cycling legs back in the Spring if you've been running over the Winter though.
I can speak from personal experience:I've cycled exclusively for 2 years, decent mileage per week, resting heart rate of below 50BPM etc etc.
Got signed up for a 10k run on new years day, had to do some training. Was very strange, didn't feel like I was really exerting myself yet my legs where in agony!!
Cycling fitness <> running fitness. 100%.
boolay said:
Interesting responses there. I guess my whole concern is over the different muscles that are used, and as Raoul Duke said, if it is stripping muscle tissue from currently unused cycling muscles.
Personally I do find running more of a cardio test than cycling, so I'm hoping that I will see his as a positive effect come the spring. I just hope that what I can do in the way of spin, squats and the occasional ride with minimise any cycling muscle loss
You need to cycle harder at a higher cadence, just because you can coast doesn't mean you should Personally I do find running more of a cardio test than cycling, so I'm hoping that I will see his as a positive effect come the spring. I just hope that what I can do in the way of spin, squats and the occasional ride with minimise any cycling muscle loss
okgo said:
cycling is easier on the lungs than running, obviously. Regardless of your cadence.
I disagree. It can be because you don't have to pedal hard to cycle, you can just take it easy. With running you're either running or not, and the minimum exertion required to be running is higher.But I don't see why you can't just cycle harder. I know we typically cycle for much longer than you'd run for, but a 10 mile time trail should do the trick if lung pain is what you're after.
boolay said:
I am however worried that all this running will hurt my legs when I eventually get back on two wheels. As said I am trying to keep bike fit with a spin class but this is only 45 mins once a week. I am also squatting to try and keep leg strength up.
Any advice out there?
Yes sadly Running will not help cycling and it will have a huge impact on your cycling power, i had to make the decision to stop running last year and cycle 100% if i wanted to reach my potential.Any advice out there?
I love duathlons but wanted to race time trials my coach advised me that i need to drop the running or face the fact i'll never output big power, you see the legs fire in a different way when running and cycling and it take 100's of hours training to get good at TT's, he explained in detail then put in simple terms.
If you want to win TT's then cycle only , all the pro's simply cycle/eat and sleep that is it.
Check the best duathlon cyclist times, they don't come close to even average TT riders.
Anyone that thinks cycling is easier on the lungs than running has never done proper race bike training, i assure you it's even harder, try outputting 300 watts for an hour on a TT bike or a FTP 20 min test.
Don't get me wrong you can run and cycle and be a good duathlete but a good TT rider will blow you away on a bike.
Cheers
dubbs said:
elite triathletes seem to manage it ok and they'll be putting out more watts for longer than you could dream of
Any info on this and what about national level triathletes?Elite triathletes push around 300 watts the very best 350-400 watts ( maybe a handful can do this ), Elite time trial riders 450-550 watts.
So i'm guessing national level triathletes would output 200 - 230 watts with national TT riders outputting 300-350 +
Edited by superkartracer on Wednesday 15th February 10:26
That's not going to be far off.
I read that Javier Gomez (arguably top 3 in the world over oly distance) put out an average of 235 watts over a 40km bike leg with a couple of peaks of around 550watts (I assume over about 10-20 seconds - the effect of draft legal racing)
He is, however, only around 60kgs.
Say he does an ftp10 test at probably around 350watts, then that would give him around 5.8watts/kg which is a very good figure, but a top TDF rider would be nearer 6.5-7.
The difference, however, is that many top TT riders will be bigger guys, but this won't make much of a difference over the normal, and importantly - flatter 10 or 25mile course.
I guess someone like Hutch would put out something nearer 550-600watts for a Ftp10 ? It's gonna be big numbers when you've got legs that look more like a torso.
I think you hit the nail on the head with triathletes/duathletes not being great stand alone TT'ers
There's not many triathletes that can break 21ish mins for a ten, but there's a fair few pure TT'ers that will.
Saying that, that sort of bike performance will still position you well in most triathlons
My old coach always used to say 'cycling helps running, running hurts cycling' and I'd agree completely
Gh
I read that Javier Gomez (arguably top 3 in the world over oly distance) put out an average of 235 watts over a 40km bike leg with a couple of peaks of around 550watts (I assume over about 10-20 seconds - the effect of draft legal racing)
He is, however, only around 60kgs.
Say he does an ftp10 test at probably around 350watts, then that would give him around 5.8watts/kg which is a very good figure, but a top TDF rider would be nearer 6.5-7.
The difference, however, is that many top TT riders will be bigger guys, but this won't make much of a difference over the normal, and importantly - flatter 10 or 25mile course.
I guess someone like Hutch would put out something nearer 550-600watts for a Ftp10 ? It's gonna be big numbers when you've got legs that look more like a torso.
I think you hit the nail on the head with triathletes/duathletes not being great stand alone TT'ers
There's not many triathletes that can break 21ish mins for a ten, but there's a fair few pure TT'ers that will.
Saying that, that sort of bike performance will still position you well in most triathlons
My old coach always used to say 'cycling helps running, running hurts cycling' and I'd agree completely
Gh
BMWBen said:
okgo said:
cycling is easier on the lungs than running, obviously. Regardless of your cadence.
I disagree. It can be because you don't have to pedal hard to cycle, you can just take it easy. With running you're either running or not, and the minimum exertion required to be running is higher.But I don't see why you can't just cycle harder. I know we typically cycle for much longer than you'd run for, but a 10 mile time trail should do the trick if lung pain is what you're after.
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