Discussion: cycling for running-specific speedwork?

This kind of surprised me, of course I cycle and run to cross train, but cycling as running specific speedwork!!? Anybody know more details?

"Gebrselassie has won six of the nine marathons he has officially entered. He credits his success to smart training and a youthful spirit. He covers up to 150 miles per week but does no track speed work, choosing instead to work on speed on a stationary bicycle."



http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB...

I was a research subject in a study in 1999 that aimed to find out whether doing about half of your training sessions on a bike, both speedwork and easy, was beneficial to runners. I don't have the time to look for the paper; my recollection is that there was no paper based on this study alone, only on a group of studies (this one included) that varied the exact degree to which running workouts were replaced with cycling, the duration of the substitution, the running ability of the subjects, etc. My best recollection of the study is that my metric, the 5 km time, remained essentially the same, 18:10-ish at the beginning, 18:12-ish at the end. I believe overall results were largely consistent with my particular data point; the substitution doesn't help, but weakly so. That is, had I been running instead of biking, the 5 km time would have almost certainly improved, but biking was certainly better than doing norhing during that time. Maybe at Gebrselasie's level other factors, which do not apply to my case, tilt the scale towards overall improvement (e.g. the rest of his workouts and his recovery regime are so beneficial that he'd improve blazingly fast if all of his workouts were running, but that leads to injury, so when running is taken out of the equation for speedwork only, the result is still beneficial).

I believe that biking can be benificial to the knee's and keeping them strong. Gebrselassie also had big cardio system.
As with other aerobic sports i.e. XC Skiing, swimming, roller ski/blade they can get you the same benifit of cross-training and improve your vo2max. So why not!
5k time improvements? Nothing I bet really subtitutes for running speed improvements, if you can't run.

Vlad did not seem to improve his time with 50/50 training.
But the key should be, did not lose anything.

I like the idea of tons of biking, guess I will begin an experiment of one.

well, I feel encouraged to do try intense sprint repeats on the bike of say 2-4 minute duration, where I had been mostly in the 6-10 minute range. I was wondering if that was what was meant. Anything over mid-tempo running seems to tweak tendons the wrong way these days.

I think it depends on which system you are working. Efforts in the 10-60 minute range are largely a function of VO2Max (assuming one has at least enough leg conditioning to process that energy). This can be effectively developed on a bike using intervals of similar duration to typical track work. When I was at the top of my game cycling, I ran 5K's in the low 16's with almost no running whatsoever. However, I tried running a marathon and it was an unmitigated disaster - despite running relatively even splits at a pace well below what my 5K's would predict, my legs went away at 19 miles. The difference, of course, is that the marathon distance relies much more heavily on the structrual muscles and cycling does not develop them adequately for running.

Gebrselassie may well be moving his "I" training to the bike, but I'm pretty sure he throws in a 20-miler on foot every week.

Hmmm... very interesting.
I've said a couple time to people I know "Runners can cycle, but cyclists can't run". Or at least be as good on the run as the cycle.
I'm speaking from personal experiences,
Couple years ago I was a lean mean running machine, all I did for every training session was run.
Then I got introduced to mountain biking and then thats what I did for most of my training.
I still remained in very good shape but noticed that my body was changing into a bulkier more endurance in the lower torso and legs.
I'd noticed how my running times started slipping even though i was "fit"
I'm 5kg's heavier now than when I was running. I'm 24, and getting back into the running again. I'm having a hard time getting rid of the 5kg's of bulk muscle, all in the legs.

No amount of training on the bike will help you develop a good effiecient running stride/technique, and lean powerful muscle.
Besides, who has time to sit on the bike >1hr30 a day.
Running gets the training (job) done faster :)

Yup. I'm about 10 pounds lighter now than when I was racing bikes semi-pro. And my body fat is certainly higher now than it was then. Cycling gives you a big ole ass, and that really hurts in any running race longer than 20 minutes.