[Alexander Collins]

(I’m working with Jesse so he can tell me, but I’m asking here as I haven’t found good answers using Google and others may benefit.)

I am getting back into training after 15 months of very little volume. I’m now running for about 6 hours a week, mostly Z1, and have 1 or 2 cross training sessions on the bike.

I know that cycling or swimming lack the weight bearing component and are not useful for mountain sports other than early in a training cycle or when used for recovery. My current training has quite a few Z1 runs for 1 hour, with one of those per week replaced by a 2 hour Z1 bike ride.

What guidelines would you give for time needed when substituting running with cycling or swimming?

Is it approx 1h run = 2h bike?
And 1h run = 1h swim?

Many thanks,
Alex

[Scott Johnston]

Alex;

You’re right that cycling doesn’t have the weight-bearing specificity of running. But it does allow you to accumulate much time more in the aerobic base training zone without the beating running imposes. It would be unwise, and Jesse certainly knows this well, to ramp up your running mileage very quickly after this layoff. So adding biking especially is a good way to add volume. My old Norwegian ski coach told us back in the day that a 1hour run= 3hours on the bike. That was depressing to hear but it correlates well with what the world’s best road runners and road cyclists do. 10 hours of running is a big week for a marathoner and 30 hours is a big week for a cyclist.

I coach a pro runner, Tom Evans and he often rides 3-6 hours/week on top of running. He loves riding and is good at it. So he gets some more aerobic base volume while letting his legs recover a bit between runs.

As for swimming: I recommend that for recovery sessions as it is just too far away from running specificity to carry over much training-wise. But, IMHO it is the BEAT recovery tool for really beat-up legs.

I hope this helps.
Scott

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Scott Johnston.

[Brian Bauer]

there can be a time and place for riding a bike in training. Jim Walmsley and Hillary Allen have both shown how bike riding can contribute to success. I can’t answer the math problem about converting volume to a run-equivalent, but here are 2 articles talking about when/why Jim and Hillary wer3e doing bike workouts:

Jim Walmsley opens up about injury ahead of Western States 100

Finding the Balance: An Ultra Runner on a Gravel Bike

and don’t forget uphill ski touring. Some of the best Sky runners in the world dedicate the entire winter to Skimo racing!

[Author]

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