Miles running vs. Miles cycling

I would never recommend this. You're the one asking for advice, you've got it. Especially looking at your next question that you don't know anything about riding in a pack.

 

Maybe you are missing the point? Wait, you are totally missing the point. Honestly, and not to be a prick, but you need to go back and realize the Marathon to Century is ONLY a point of reference NOT something I am going to do without training.
As for your pack statement - How are you supposed to know how to ride in a pack if you have never done it? I guess you just have to go out there and have sometime be your first time. Luckily, some people have given some good advice so far.

 

I seem to reacll reading somwehere that

9 km Cycle = 3 km Run = 1 km Swim

Swimming 1 km has the same cardiovascular benefit as cycling 9 km

Hope this helps

 

14 mph is not too fast and it sounds like this ride is good choice for someone new to group riding.

However I'd suggest gettting together with two or three buddies and go out and do your own paceline session. It takes some experience to feel comfortable riding a foot (or less) from another rider's rear tire.

At any rate I'd let the group leader know you are new to group riding. In my club's 'easy' ride the leader often pairs a newb with one of the 60+ masters (still damn fast) to offer tips and chaperone the new rider the first time out.

 

I've done a lot of both running and cycling, and if I were feeling lazy on a particular day and you told me I had to either bike 20 miles at moderate pace or jog 4 miles at moderate pace, that would be kind of a toss-up for me. The run would get done a lot quicker, but it would take more energy.

 

As for endurance the cardiovascular system doesn't know what you're doing. It's just pumping blood. Muscles too don't know distance. Only time has a meaning.
I think these "conversions" were invented because you're limited in running volume with shock stress and lesser volume of running seems as stressful and tiring as cycling volume. For example, I cannot run more than 4 easy hours per week and can easily cycle for 15 hours per week if I had spare time and stronger will.

 

Not me. I have done a solo century in under 6.5 hours. However, I can't run around the block without dying.


In theory, from a caloric point of view and how hard your body is working, if you're riding at around 18 MPH then 3 miles of cycling is roughly equal to 1 mile of jogging. If you're riding at around 13 MPH then 4 miles of cycling is equal to about 1 mile of jogging. The difference is due to wind resistance on the bike, which doesn't come into play while jogging ... unless you're jogging into the wind maybe.

I can tell you for a fact that running is harder on the body due to the pounding and stress on the joints. Recovery from running is longer too for the same reason. Some say that they have a higher perceived effort when running. I say it depends on what modality of exercise you're good at and what you have been training for. But typically a runner can transition to cycling much easier than a cyclist can transition to running.

I used to have some info on this but can't find it anymore. That's the best that my failing memory can provide at the moment.

 

It is much to hard on the neuro system to conceive the differences as each of us differs.
I prefer cycling and if you like to do something more than something else the pyschological advantage is tremendous, and can't quantified easily.
Apple and oranges.
Eventually the thrill of the chase is enough, at least for me it is.

 

SBSPartan,

I'd say that once you have minimal training on the bike, your 1:4 ratio holds the road pretty well. In triathlon, that ratio is respected accross all distances :

Sprint 20bike-5run
Olympic 40bike-10run
Half IM 90bike-21Run
IM 180bike-42Run

Running is always a bit more tough on the articulations though, as you probably already know.

As for riding a century, you should be able to ride one pretty soon if you train well. Personally, I find the marathon more challenging than the century.

Some have issued advices on how to behave while riding in a pack, this is probably one of the most important advise to consider.

I truly wish you will enjoy riding, and that ultimately, you will participate in duathlon races. These are very relax, friendly, chilly little events.

 

I have actually thought about doing one here in Georgia this summer. Some of them are pretty short and really would be fun more than hard.

 

I'm not sure if this helps, but I can speak to my experience in both running and cycling. I started as a pure runner then moved to duathlon then to pure cycling (I made the transition over 3 years). While I was a duathlete, I could run a 19min 5km and cycle 40km at 35km/hr. I trained 4 times running per week and 4 times cycling per week.

In my experience as a beginner, I think that running fitness does help cycling fitness. My first couple rides (after moving to duathlon) I could cruise at 30km/hr relatively easily for 35km but did not have the cycling fitness to maintain my speed over longer distances. Therefore, I believe that cycling endurance is only improved by cycling and running endurance is only improved by running. However, there is some cross over as a beginner in each sport. In short, you should be fine for a beginner group ride; however, a group ride with more serious cyclists would be far more challenging.

 

I don't want to commit myself too deep into this area of inter sport cross over, but I firmly believe that this principle applies to more experimented triathletes as well.

Otherwize I would come short of explaining how some of my athletes could bike in 57min and run in 34, by training less than 20hr per week.

A paper has been done on a topic related to this.
http://www.jssm.org/vol2/n3/5/v2n3-5pdf.pdf

Though it only concludes that triathletes could use only one single test, to asses their physical fitness level for both sports, I think that a 30min runner (over 10k) will manage to bike under the hour much quicker in his career, than a 40min runner. The opposite is likely to be true. A sub-60min cyclist, will probably run sub-35 within the first 2 years of his career.