Cross-over from cycling to running

Dr Rod Doom

Hi everyone, I’m pretty new to the Boards and completely new to running, and was hoping to get some advice.

I’ve been Mountain biking for about 4 - 5 years now, usually a few hours every Saturday or Sunday, sometimes both. In the last year or so I started doing a bit of Road cycling and I’m comfortable with distances of 80 – 100km. I’ve also done the Ring of Kerry charity cycle (175km) a few times on the Mountain Bike.

So, my cycling fitness is ok (although my beer gut would suggest otherwise;)), but I have absolutely no running experience/ fitness.

I tried running for the first time about 2 weeks ago and really enjoyed it. But after running 5k every 2 days since then my knees and calves started aching after my run on Monday and were quite stiff and sore. I was expecting this to a degree, since cycling is the only exercise I’ve ever done and the few working muscles I have only know cycling, so I wanted to deal with it now before I end up injuring myself.

I’ve gotten decent shoes from a running shop and have been stretching before and after the runs, but I was just wondering if other people have made the transition from cycling to running and if they had any advice to help with the cross-over?

hunnymonster

Hi There, There are some good cyclist/running crossover people here so I'm sure you;ll get some good advice. Some musings (in no particular order) of my own

-cycling will actually help your running so keep at both
-you can coast along with little (i.e. almost no) intensity while cycling, you can't do this when running so give your cycling a little uuumph if you don't feel you're working hard
- extra weight will have a much bigger effect when running than when cycling. beerguts are not good for running with
- if you're in pain when running, and this persists, consider seeing a professional, My first stop would be a physiotherapist but other prefer a GP or physical therapist.
-consider a walk-run programme. It's a great way for beginners to build running endurance

ntlbell

maybe try reducing the length of the run.

5k sounds like a lot to start off with.

build it up slowly maybe do one long run a week and increase that each week decreasing maybe every 2nd/3rd week and build up gradually.

Dr Rod Doom

Thanks for your replies
I'll be keeping up both the cycling and the running together - plan for tonight is to cycle to a running track, do about 3-4k and then cycle home. I should have a better idea of whether there’s any ongoing pain after that. And afterwards a bit of core work for the gut, of course.

Ntlbell, I’d say I will have to do that alright, probably look at doing 3k early in the week, then progressively longer ones later in the week,

Basically, A rough idea of what I’d like to do is - Running Mondays and Tuesdays, cycling Wednesdays, longer run Thursday, rest Friday, cycling Saturday and Rest Sunday. Do you think this makes sense as a plan?

dmigsy

Make sure to do plenty of hamstring stretches. I find that after doing mainly cycling for a few months, switching back to running generally means a few hamstring tweaks.

gombeen99

Running can be very tough on knees,ankles&shins, especially starting out. My strongest piece of advice would be to start on grass until you have built the running muscles up a bit. I do 90% of my running on grass pitches / parks / wood trails & am always amazed at how much harsher tarmac or concrete is on legs&how much more battered they feel after a session.