Cycling vs. Jogging

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

Just a word of caution: You have good aerobic capacity from running but the stresses on your legs from cycling are very different than those from running. Build into the cycling gradually (even though you feel you can do more) to give your legs a chance to adapt without developing all of those nasty overuse injuries. If you are doing your first century at the end of August I would just go to finish (i.e., take it easy and enjoy the ride). Of course, if you are 19, you can ignore everything I just said.

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

Yeah, but jogging seems very boring to me. Also, when I run or jog, I get bad cramps. When I bike, I barely get cramps, and I last a lot longer too. Nothing against anyone who does jog.

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

Unfortunately, you're not going to find a tremendous amount of scientific information or papers on this topic. You can do a search on this forum but most of it is based on the posters personal observations and biases and are more like "well for me, it's like this ...." Not very helpful. There was a link on the CTS web site about a study but it's been removed for some reason.

Basically if you're cycling at 18 MPH the divisor is 3. So for every 3 miles you ride at 18 MPH on the flats it's like jogging 1 mile. At 20 MPH the divisor is 2.9. At 30 MPH the divisor is only 1.9. And at 15 MPH the divisor is 3.5.

The reason it's not consistent at 3x is because of wind resistance while cycing at higher speeds. While running at faster speeds, wind resistance isn't a factor, unless you're The Flash or The Human Atom.

Be careful though as you can't directly equate running/jogging 25 miles a week to cycling. The two are quite different.

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

I'll be riding the Hotter than Hell Hundred as well. It will also be my first century, so my goals are pretty close to yours; I just want to be able to finish. Best of luck to you, and maybe I'll see you out there...

Just curious, but are these calculations based on a solitary rider or a rider in a group or a pelaton? I'm guessing they are for a solitary rider, correct?

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

Solo. Drafting doesn't count. I also failed to mention that the results of the study were for the typical average male cyclist of around 155 lbs. For heavier riders the divisors were different.

You can check out this fitness calculator too...
http://www.primusweb.com/cgi-bin/fpc/actcalc.pl

Don't put much faith in it though as the calorie function seems to be biased upward quite a bit.

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

I know this threads a couple of weeks old but let me add my two cents for anyone else that stumbles across it. I like to cross train bike/swim/run but the single best thing for improving my biking endurance and saving my knees and ankles is to run alot of hills on the treadmill. then follow that up with a riding day.

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

I know I am going to get flamed by LAguppie if he is still here, but these ratios seem a little off to me. If I do a 5 mile run, I am way more knackered than tooling around 15miles at a leisurely 18mph. I can go out today and ride 100 miles in 5 hours and only be a little tired... if I tried to run 35 miles in 5 hours (hell if I even walked/ran 35 miles in one day) I would be dead. It can't be just conditioning... I don't know maybe some people think running 7 minute miles is the same as riding 20mph, but to me a 7 minute mile pace running is more like a 26-27mph pace on the bike at least in terms of effort required (my HR would be the same for running 7 miles in one hour vs. doing a sub hour 40k TT).

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

The ratios were done as part of a study and they came about from caloric expenditure - i.e. the average 155 lb fit male would burn X number calories per minute running 5 miles in an hour (6 MPH) as they would riding 18 miles in an hour.

Note: I don't remember what the value for X is. Also the divisor is actually 2.9 in the above example and not 3.0 as I've stated. 3 is just an easy number to work with.

Unfortunately, the information has been pulled from the CTS web site as has all of the freebie training information.

Something to keep in mind Wilmar, is it is hard to make direct comparisons among different modalities of exercise. I can ride a 50 miler at 17 MPH without too much trouble but can't jogg a 12 min mile around the block without being defibrillated. Somebody who trains exclusively for marathons probably wouldn't place very well at a Cat 3 race.

When I compare my 30 - 45 minute efforts between running and cycling, I can work as hard or harder at cycling. Always could. But that's just me.

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

Well if this is true, pretty much puts a nail in the cofin of those that claim you can burn more calories running vs. cycling. I would have assumed it was equal for a give effort of the same magnitude (i.e. same HR, or Power output).

I used 2.9 for 20mph and 3 for 18mph.

Yeah that is kinda what I meant, I am in the same boat. Perhaps if I started training to run instead of running when it is cold/raining or just short on time I would be much more efficient at running and would burn the same calories at a 7min/mile run vs. 20mph ride but I would need to be MUCH better at running to get there.

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

I've discussed this with Michael Smartt of RST before and he says that the average person can in fact do more work in a given hour of running than cycling. Of course, that's provided they can run/jogg for the prescribed length of time. Like you, I can ride for hours but I'd be doing really farging good to run for 15 minutes without collapsing. Besides, my knees aren't accustomed to the strain so even though I am "fit" enough aerobically, my body wouldn't cooperate. The term flounder comes to mind.


I used 2.9 for 20mph and 3 for 18mph.See chart below


Honeslty, I'd just stick with cycling unless you are interested in duathlons or have some orthopedic reason to do so. I'm having trouble with my right knee so I'm probably going to lay off the cycling for a while this Winter and substitue stair climber or something. I'm also going to get back into the gym and do more weight training just for a change of pace.

Here's the actual table:
Cycling Speed........Calories per Hour........Conversion Divider
10.............................26.............................4.2
15.............................31.............................3.5
20.............................38.............................2.9
25.............................47.............................2.3
30.............................59.............................1.9

I don't remember what value the Calories Per Hour defines. Unfortunately, I didn't write it down when I copied the rest of the table. I was working on a spreadsheet to estimate values such as 16, 17, 18 & 19 MPH and didn't finish it before they pulled the dern web pages from CTS' site so I don't know what in the heck Calories Per Hour represents.

Re: Cycling vs. Jogging

This is a very good subject. Im US Military and I hate running with a passion. Its slow, boring, and I just suck at it. Last year we were under command that loved to run. We would run anywhere between 5-14 miles a week. During that time I had gotten my 2mi time down into the hi 12s low 13s. But on the weekends when I rode my bike I would be sucking wind in a major way. This year under new command we run way less and my riding is 10x better. So maybe they effect each other but I hate running and im not going to work to be good a both.

BTW I loved the HHH. Never got to the 100m level but a very fun ride none the less. The first like 5 miles are the best.