Good Distances for Beginners

SplitCartridge

Hi,

I'm sure there are many threads started here for and by beginners. But I have a specific question so I said I'd start a new one.

I'm into my fitness training etc but I want to get into cycling. I bought a racing bike thats in good nick from a friend of mine who wasn't using it.

I like to run 5k's and 10k's.

I usually run between 7 and 8 minute miles.

What would be a comparable distance to cycle and time for that distance, to get the same kind of heart rate and cardio work out that I would get from running 5ks and 10ks at my speed.

I know that running and cycling are two different things and that I'll be using different muscle groups. But its specifically a comparable heart rate and cardio work out that I'm looking for info on.

Hope somebody can help.
Thanks

piston

Opinions will vary but if you haven't rode a bike in a long time, I would start with short rides of about two or three miles and work your way up.

It's not always an issue of fitness, you are probably very fit from running but you are using different muscles and you may have the aerobic fitness to do a much longer ride but will potentially be in agony the next day.

Start with modest mileage, use a low gear, ensure you have your saddle at the correct height (prop yourself in a doorway and sit on the bike and your leg should be almost straight with your heel on the pedal with the pedal at it's lowest point is a good starting point) and concentrate on pedalling smoothly. Don't worry about speed at the beginning, that will come quite quickly if the bike is set up properly and you develop a good base mileage in your legs.

godtabh

if you are any way fit 20km should be no problem to you at all. Build it up from there.

Lumen

Ride until you bonk.

TheBlaaMan

Definitely different muscle groups at play, so you may find it difficult to do a direct comparison in the short term. Anyhow, 2min/km is a very good pace (30kmph - my head doesn't easily compute mph these days....) if cycling solo. 25-27kmph is a more likely pace for someone with good fitness and a bit of experience and somewhere between these figures for a good tough pace cycling in a similarly experienced group.

I've pondered the issue of comparable endurance etc in the past and as a very approximate rule of thumb, I'd suggest a 1:5 or 1:6 ratio as a rough gauge for the effort required. ie 10ml run roughly comparable to 50ml cycle..........but as I said very rough

smacl

Lumen wrote: »

Ride until you bonk.

You sure you didn't mean to post this in after hours?

Colonialboy

For now if I were you Id focus on duration of cycle and not distance.
Basically double up the time you spend running.
So if you currnetly might do a 30 min training 'run'
try a 1hr training 'cycling'.
It depends on the routes your on , hills etc and how hard you push yourself.
After a few weeks you can start to focus on the distances your covering .

smacl

SplitCartridge wrote: »

What would be a comparable distance to cycle and time for that distance, to get the same kind of heart rate and cardio work out that I would get from running 5ks and 10ks at my speed.

I don't think there's a reasonable comparison, as there are too many other variables involved. IMO, gradient, body weight, wind, and road surface condition play such a big part in cycling they can't be simply written out of the equation. Cycling is also much lower impact, so in some ways longer efforts are easier to sustain. I find time spent and heart rate better variables than distance covered when comparing different activities.

SplitCartridge

Lots of food for thought there lads. And I think I can take a little something from all your posts to help me get started.

I appreciate the replies!:D

monkeypants

SplitCartridge wrote: »

I like to run 5k's and 10k's.

I usually run between 7 and 8 minute miles.

I can relate to that.

On a bike, I could easily cycle 28 miles or so in less than two hours, up to a maximum of 141. Haven't gone further than that yet.

petethedrummer

You can do many types of cycle.

You could go out and do a flat TT style effort from 20 mins to an hour.
You could do some intervals.
You could hit the hills and go for a few hours. Throw in some hard efforts on the uphill bits. Take it easy the rest of the time.

My favorite cycle is a 3 hour cycle in the mountains with a coffee break.

shaka

If you can run for 30 mins you should be able to cycle for an hour comfortably , using different muscles but your high fitness will help. How far will depend on pace. Are you planning triathlons or sportives ?

Cycling is easy so you can pretty much keep going for a very long time but cycling fast isn't ,depends what your looking for. No matter what you want you will need base miles so just head out for an hours cycle and enjoy yourself .
Jeez I'm beginning to sound like a hippy

hans aus dtschl

I probably run a similar distance/time to you.

Cycling's different: much easier to push yourself to exhaustion without fear of injury, I find. But it's also easier to bring food with you, so you can technically cycle all day at a modest pace as long as you have food.

I see no reason why you wouldn't be able for a couple of hours on the bike at a nice cruisey high-20's km/h pace, if you have the food with you.

Brian?

Map out a 10Km lap using something like mapmyride. Do it twice, should be easy. Stop for 5 mins and eat something small and tasty, do another lap. Feel good? Do another. Repeat, pausing every 2 laps, until feeling a bit ropey. Go home and eat cake.

This has no basis in science but I reckon it's a good way to start. You'll never be too far from home so if you do start feeling the pain you'll be a max of 5km from home. Once you've done this you can do less boring spins.

I recently used this method of re training after knee surgery and it worked a treat.

trad

The difference between running and cycling has more to do with padding than fitness especially when you are not used to cycling.