Runner versus cyclist.......

gabgab

Which one of these two disciplines is more eneficail to triathlon??

Eg: If someone has spent a year doing just one discipline, which will translate into a triathlon benefit, taking it that they both do the same hours training at the same wsort of pace etc etc,

I am just curious if a person quick on a bike, will translate into someone quick on a run or vice versa??

Anyone any thoughts??

hunnymonster

how long is a piece of string?

The bike portion of the triathlon is the longest for most races so the simple answer is that "it's all about the bike". That said if you can't run off the bike you'll still be a bad triathlete.

tunney

run training won't benefit biking.
Bike training will benefit running.

And thats not just running off the bike.

That being said both can be trained together!

gabgab

Hey thanks hunny and tunney,

Thats what I was wondering tunney, which one has a benefit to the other one if you get me??

911sc

tunney wrote: »

run training won't benefit biking.
Bike training will benefit running.

Interesting.. why is that?

HardyEustace

I stand to be correct but I think because it strengthens your quads.

tunney

Your quads aren't, or shouldn't, be a major player in running.

HardyEustace

tunney wrote: »

Your quads aren't, or shouldn't, be a major player in running.

Fair enough but for me, my initial injuries were due to the fact that my quads weren't strong enough to hold my knee caps in place, thus causing "floating" as I ran and thus causing a lot of pain and injury.

Not being smart but am curious to know what the reason is.

Enduro

In my experience....

Cyclists make great uphill runners
Hillrunners make great uphill cyclists

There would seem to me to be an obvious connection, which IMHO has to do with quad strenght. I became a much better hillrunner after I increased the ammount of cycle training I was doing. A very high proportion of the best hillrunners in Ireland are also enthusiastic cyclists, which isn't a co-incidence IMHO.

As a runner, if you really push yourself to your endurance limits you'll probably find you quads slow you down before your running muscles have any real problems. When I did my first 100K race I had a dull pain in my quads for the entire second 50k. I got a lot more into cycling after that, and when I did my next few ultras I found that my quads held up fine and my calf muscles became the next point of weakness. The cycling had definitely extended my ultra running capabilites.

Enduro

And another point...

cycling and running together should lessen the chance of getting classic runner's assymetric injuries, such as runners knee. Your muscle development will be much more even. And of course less injuries = more consistant training and better results, which I would say is one of the less obvious benifits of cycling for runner.

cyclists don't seem to get these asymetric msucle development type of injuries, so its would appear to me that they have less to gain from running.

I've overtaken many cyclists in mountain bike races by running past them with my bike, so there are gains to be made for some cyclist from running training:)