Beneficial for cycling ?

[fandacious]

Runners are also amazing people. Very friendly and helpful. I joined a club that is known for "runners with a drinking problem."

 

Thats a coincidence... I belong to a club called "Drinkers with a cycling problem" 

[Fromage_blanc]

I'll give it a try bikemax, see how it pans out..

 

Maybe do a session in the morning then before breakfast,

and then another session later day/evening with intensity.

[BikeMax]

 

I'll give it a try bikemax' date=' see how it pans out..

 

Maybe do a session in the morning then before breakfast,

and then another session later day/evening with intensity.

[/quote']

 

Then all the morning session will do is tire you out and compromise the evening session - do one and do it 100% (whenever you have the time)

 

[Trackz]

I respectfully disagree with those learned people here ... IMHO ... and after seeing this on the big hills on Epic ... running and especially hill training is very beneficial to cycling strength to the extent I would suggest cyclists replace a cycling session with a hill running session. I have seen several strong runners (Nick incl) klap cyclists on the hills with little cycling training.

 

I have a theory on this ... I read the comments on LAT yesterday and not being able to get a 2nd session as hard as the first. My theory is that not everyone, few in fact, can push themselves to the levels on the bike required for proper strength training. Firstly due to not being able to endure the pain or burn and secondly because there is always another gear to rescue us. In hill running there is no escape ... you burn and you suffer to the top without escape.

 

IMHO ... get out those running shoes and hit the hills once a week. At least give it a go and see what diffs it makes. I suspect we'll all be surprised.

 

Bikemax ... how about you take a couple of average cyclists of similar ability and have half the group do hills on bikes and the other running hills and compare power gains after 4-6 weeks?

 

So next time you see a bloke in cycling bibs running up hills in Pretoria ... stop and greet me!

[Fromage_blanc]

So Bikemax you dont think that double sessions are a good idea at all then ?! I've heard that you can specify your intensity and loads better when splitting a session. Say for instance have 2 x 2hr rides instead of a 4hr.

 

Sure long rides are needed for endurance aswell..

Just an unknown topic for me I'm wandering upon.

[BikeMax]

 

I respectfully disagree with those learned people here ... IMHO ... and after seeing this on the big hills on Epic ... running and especially hill training is very beneficial to cycling strength to the extent I would suggest cyclists replace a cycling session with a hill running session. I have seen several strong runners (Nick incl) klap cyclists on the hills with little cycling training.

 

I have a theory on this ... I read the comments on LAT yesterday and not being able to get a 2nd session as hard as the first. My theory is that not everyone' date=' few in fact, can push themselves to the levels on the bike required for proper strength training. Firstly due to not being able to endure the pain or burn and secondly because there is always another gear to rescue us. In hill running there is no escape ... you burn and you suffer to the top without escape.

 

IMHO ... get out those running shoes and hit the hills once a week. At least give it a go and see what diffs it makes. I suspect we'll all be surprised.

 

Bikemax ... how about you take a couple of average cyclists of similar ability and have half the group do hills on bikes and the other running hills and compare power gains after 4-6 weeks?

 

So next time you see a bloke in cycling bibs running up hills in Pretoria ... stop and greet me!

[/quote']

 

Strength is not a limiting factor to performance in endurance cycling - the average unfit person has sufficient leg strength to put the necessary force through the pedals to get up the steepest climbs.

 

Look at it like this - if strength were the factor that contributed to climbing well then why do you think the best climbers are generally the smallest and least muscular in stature ? (given that muscular strength is accompanied by girth)

 

You may be right about running being a better form of exercise to achieve the correct training zone - I agree 100% that most runners train harder than most cyclists and as such get relatively fitter.

 

The fact remains however that the level of intensity is what leads to performance improvement and not the level of strength.

 

[BikeMax]

 

So Bikemax you dont think that double sessions are a good idea at all then ?! I've heard that you can specify your intensity and loads better when splitting a session. Say for instance have 2 x 2hr rides instead of a 4hr.

 

Sure long rides are needed for endurance aswell..

Just an unknown topic for me I'm wandering upon.

 

I have generally found that double sessions tend to compromise quality - better to do one quality session than two reduced quality sessions.

 

Most of us have time constraints and as such one high quality session will produce better results.

 

The second session in any day will always be affected adversely by the first. Likewise the first session the next day will be adversely affected the last the day before etc etc

 

Train hard and rest hard.