Cycling for Runners

I think I've mentioned a few times here how little I've been running this summer.  I've stayed active by riding my bike.  I've ridden almost twice as many miles as I've run this year.  So when I started marathon training last week, especially my first interval session, I was pretty sure my running would be way off.  But it wasn't.

While I was riding on Thursday, I started wondering.  My riding here in Hawaii is different than what I had done in California.  I have a mountain bike in California so I do lots of climbing.  My hybrid here climbs good but I also do a lot of flat riding.  Flat riding = moving the legs a lot faster.  I Googled "cycling for runners" and the first article was from Competitor.com, "Start Cycling to Become a Better Runner."  You can read the entire article, but here are some highlights:

Petra Kilian-Gehring, coach and co-owner of Speed Cycling in Madison, Wis., says the biggest benefit runners can get from road biking is the ability to do more work with less stress on the body.  I can attest to this after last year's marathon.  I consistently cross trained on the bike, made it to the start line injury free, and had a seven minute PR.

Try to find a mostly flat or mildly rolling section of road for these workouts (avoid steep hills at all costs!), which allows for a balance of moderate resistance and a quick cadence of around 90 RPM. “Since a runner should take around 180 steps per minute, when you get on the bike 90 RPM is replicating that cadence,” Kilian-Gehring says.  This describes the riding I've been doing here in Hawaii to a T.

Although bike intervals can contribute greatly to running fitness, nothing can replace the specificity of running workouts. “You still need to engage the running muscles and build up the body’s running structure,” Kilian-Gehring says. By adding biking into your running regimen, you’re able to build fitness without wrecking your legs. This translates into bumping up not only strength, but also that anaerobic threshold, allowing you to run faster, longer.  Run faster, longer?  I think that's something we all want to do.

I put this theory to the test again this week.  I bike commuted with Les yesterday - 13 miles in about an hour.  I told Les I wanted to keep it really easy since I had intervals today.  On my way home, I was solo and into the wind.  I kept an eye on my heart rate and did my best to keep it about 120-125.  I averaged 122 for the bulk of that part of the ride - a 4.5 mile stretch of flat highway.

I got up this morning with intervals on the schedule.  I thought I had programmed my watch correctly but I hadn't.  Since my plan was 3x400/2x600/2x400 I knew using what was on my watch wasn't going to work.  I thought about just doing a steady run.  I warmed up for 2 miles, then restarted my watch because it was beeping constantly.  I ran for another mile or so and decided to do speed bursts, known in the running world as fartleks.  They don't have a set time or distance.  I did a total of 11 fartleks ranging from 17 to 58 seconds.  I tried not to look at my watch, I just ran as fast as I could until I started fading.  I averaged 6:43 for 30 seconds and again for 23 seconds.  My longest interval was 55 seconds at 7:35.

I've seen it many times - if you want to become a better run, you must run.  I was surprised and happy with these speed bursts today and the confirmation that cycling is making me a better runner!

How do you do speed work?  Fartleks, intervals, other or none?
How much cycling or other cross training do you do?