Cycling performance and 1-day a week cross training



namg_engr

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Jul 18, 2005
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Hello,

I'm in my fifth week of training following recovery from a December '05 surgery that kept me off the bike Jan and Feb '06. During these 5 weeks I have been running anywhere from 5-8 miles 1-day a week. The other 5-6 days I've been on the bike. Weekly totals have been about 150-200 miles or 10-12 hrs. My cycling performance has improved over 5 weeks but I still feel I can improve further. More miles probably would not hurt but my training is very targeted by working out in HR zones so my time on the bike is quality.

I know there are some purists out there who insist to not run or do any sort of cross training (even 1 day a week). I somewhat disagree since it works ohter muscle groups and helps in total overall body fitness. I'd like some opinions on this. Would my cycling performance improve further if I cut out the 1-day a week of running? I now this may not be a simple yes or no answer and I don't expect one - just some thoughts.

Thanks.
 
mikesbytes said:
What are your goals? General fitness, win Tour de France ?

I know a guy who is running through the whole cycling season adding up some running to his 20 weekly hours on a bike. being very dedicated to cycling in the summer, he is really fast on two wheels :)
Why can't I add some 30 minutes to my 7.5-8 hours? Add, not replace.
 
mikesbytes said:
What are your goals? General fitness, win Tour de France ?
Obviously, 5 weeks of training is not much of a base so my expectations and goals are continuous improvement into the summer and hopefully I'd sustain my fitness. Sorry, too old for the tour. What team would take me anyway?

I'm a person who needs to be on the bike about alot to keep my upper body weight down. As I'm getting older I have to watch closely what I eat or else the pounds go on fast. Running 1-day a week (and cycling the rest) seems to keep my weight about where I want it.

Last year I was running 5-days a week and was very lean, running 6 minute miles and cycling about 1-2 days a week. Cycling seemed to break the monotony of running. This year I'm doing the opposite: cycling 5-6 days and running 1-day. On my running day I run hard and sustain my HR to about 90% of maximum for about 1 hr. Yes, I feel (temporarily) trashed afterwards but its an easy way to get my HR up compared to trying to do it on the bike. I certainly believe it is important to get my heartrate up (and sustain) above 90% at least one day a week. My fear with cycling only is the excersize will become monotonous and getting my heartrate above 90% of maximum becomes very difficult unless you are always riding with a group which you will tend to push yourself to stay with the leaders.
 

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