Does cycling translate into running?

Freiheit

Just wondering whether fitness acquired through cycling is likely to improve durability while jogging? or are they entirely separate entities?. A friend sometime cycled over a hundred miles regularily but found running difficult...Is that generaly the case?.
Danke!
F

Canis Lupus

I've done a couple of sprint triathlons (if that's any qualification to answer) and they're very different animals. Of course cycling WILL improve your overall fitness which will equate to running but to run better you'll generally need to keep grinding the kilometers out on your feet.

I can currently cycle all day and yet struggle to pull of a 25min 5km run on the treadmill. (EDIT: cos I 2nd edit haven't been focusing on jogging recently)

Hanley

Training specificy tbh.

He's fit so he's gonna be better at running than the average joe just starting off, but he's not going to be as fit as someone who actually runs a bit.

Because he has that base level of fitness it's just a case of spending some time running and he should improve quickly.

Micilin Muc

I've been relatively cycle-fit for the past 15 years, cycling an average of about 30km-40km a week and for a long while up to about 100km a week.

When I started running over 12 weeks ago, I first found it tough running 3km. I built up the mileage quite quickly though and I'm running up to 8km now with no bother.

I don't think I would have progressed so quickly if I hadn't my base level of fitness from cycling.

How Strange

My oh and I took up running 3 years ago. He'd cycled 18miles everyday to work for 3 years before. I'd just come back from a 2 week trek and had trained for a few months before in preparation. In short we both gad a good base level of fitness and we both upped our mileage quite quickly to 6 miles.

I don't necessarily think his cycling gave him an added advantage. At the beginning he was definitely more comfortable increasing the mileage and he was a stronger runner for a long time but men usually are anyway.

In short your cycling will definitely benefit you as you're fit to begin with but once you get into it you'll need to train specifically if you want to see real improvement and progress.

nice_guy80

What about spinning classes?
are they any good for running?
repeated sprinting, specifically

How Strange

Never tried it myself but heard it's a tough workout and would be good for anerobic (sp?) fitness which would def help with running.

wersal gummage

i cycle a fair bit. 100km commute every week and 100+km spins at the weekends. i find if i go running i'm bunched after about ten minutes though!!! if i push through that feeling i can keep going for quite a while but i dont think being good at one translates to the other..... you probably have a benefit for sure over a couch potatoe though.

desertcircus

Something to bear in mind - cycling is zero-impact, so if you're not already running you'll find the first couple of goes brutal. Because there's no impact, your body has no experience with the regular impacts of running. I took up touch rugby last summer after a year of cycling 80k+ a week and it took nearly a month for me to be able to play without feeling brutalised the next day.

metamorphosis

I was out injured for 5 months earlier this year from running in which time i cycled A LOT.

5 months later - back running, pretty puch picked up from where i left off speed wise. Pre injury i was doing 7 and sub 7 min/mile on training runs, post injury i was back up at that speed pretty much off the bat, 2 weeks if even . I know all the cycling helped keep my base fitness up but it DID, for me anyway, help me maintain the running fitness i had built up. I did a lot of out of saddle work, and hills, which i think contributed to mainting my run form.

Again, this prob wouldn't apply to most cases, everyone is different, but, for me, it helped massively.

themandan6611

op - dont think so, i can cycle 100 - 150kms at the w/end but couldnt run 5km