Cycling-Running?

Harry Thorpe

Hiya,
I just wanted to know about the relationship between cycling and running, if you do both sports does it help each other if you know what i mean?

Also for various reasons haven't been cycling in about 10 days but have been running regularly as in every or every other day, when i get back back on the bike will i notice a drop in performance or not really seeing that i have been doing regular exercise?
Many Thanks

gavbarron

I'd say bike endurance goes over to help run endurance but not the other way. I'm quite a strong runner but if I up the mileage at the cost of riding my bike does slow a bit.

derbygrimpeur

I think it's dependant on your natural strengths and the amount of time you spend exercising. If you run less (in time) then you were cycling, then you'll likely be less fit when you return to cycling. I think this is what happens for alot of people as cycling can be more of a time consuming sport.

Over the winter I didn't do a lot of cycling (chain gang once a week), but was running 60-70 miles per week. I got injured at the start of March and barely ran. I had been running for nearly 8 hours per week so when I stopped running, I simply upped my cycling by 8 hours a week.

My fitness with cycling was fine, despite my low mileage over winter. I'm now running again and my fitness is where it was before I got injured, despite a tiny grand total of 50 miles run in the whole of March.

For me, fitness is interchangeable between cycling/running because I focus on the number of hours I train. The main difficulty is getting my legs used to running again after a period of not running. My calves are constantly aching and take time to adjust to the impact. Cycling is much easier to pick up.