My training app recently posted the article below. Did my first run yesterday 2 minutes rpe 4-6, 2 minutes rpe 2-3 repeated 4 times, that hurt! But I guess it’s necessary for my future bone health
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Congratulations on taking up something new! Take it very slow. I find that my trained cycling endurance causes me to want to go farther and faster than I should when running and it’s really really hard to reel it in and build up slowly. More than 50% of runners experience some form of injury every year, so take it slow!
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Thank. For as far as I can see the first few weeks are no longer than 20 minutes and rpe 4-6 max though
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The most important piece of advice on this thread. I spent years fighting injuries because my cardio fitness allowed me to run faster and farther than I should have been doing.
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An anecdote for you:
I went to the French Alps with a buddy this summer. Lots of 1000m fire road climbs. We’ve always been of a similar standard but whilst he’s been maintaining a high specialisation in long, hilly cycling, I’d not ridden a bike in over a year. However I had been training for running and was very fit from that and lots of strength work.
On all the climbs, my natural z2 pace was enough for me to lie down and have a little snooze in the sun whilst waiting at the top! It blew apart the theory of specialisation for me.
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Pay very close attention to your calves, ankles and feet, and work to slowly build strength and mobility in those areas as you ramp up. Cycling inherently isolates these areas and most cyclists have weak ankles and connective tissue, which can lead to quick injury when you jump right in. A few things I’ve done that are helpful…
- Single leg split squats, start with body weight if you’re not already lifting
- Foam rolling your calve/lower legs as much as possible, ideally every day
- Ankle stretching and tracing the A, B, C’s with your feet while lounging
Running is fun, and we cyclists have a tendency to overdo it. Just ease in, listen to your body, and take the extra steps to do the body work, especially if you’re seasoned (IE… old).
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When starting out running, don’t forget the run/walk technique. You can go for a long walk and start with 200 meter cruise intervals - just run 200 meters with good form and then do more walking - repeat. I think this may be better than shuffling along continuously in bad form. 10 x 200m during a 3 mile walk is a surprisingly good workout for a beginner.
Paavo Nurmi who held the world record in the 5k and 10k used to go on 3-6 hour walks for his ‘long slow distance’ training. This is clearly extreme by today’s standard but I think there is a lesson in there for cyclists. Walking can be part of cross training. Go on a long hike with your dog on a beautiful trail…power up the hills.
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+1.
Humans are super efficient at walking (evolution and all) and surprisingly expend very little calories doing it. So from an exercise standpoint not the best… but there are so many other health benefits. When my wife was pregnant and monitoring blood sugar due to gestational diabetes a 20 minute walk would bring her blood sugar down to normal. Strengthening joints, increases bone density, increases white blood cells count… Great activity to do on an “off the bike” day.
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Thanks all. I am taking it very slow…uo to about 3.5kms now and adding very few minutes a week. At this rate it’ll be a while before I can get to 5km!
Feet having some discomfort but seem to be OK as long as I’m having breaks (will be 1 week between last and next run due to various commitments) and easing up the time very slowly.
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I spent over half a year getting to 5km. Was conscious of the fact I was fit but not robust for running.
2nd year I ran a half and then a trail marathon. 3rd year I could run 50 milers (and podium on 2 of them!)
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It will be hard for you to build run durability if you only run 1 time per week. Ideally, you’d like to run at least 2 to 3 days per week to build the run muscles/ligaments. If you only have time for two run days per week then run on Sunday and Wednesday (or Saturday and Tuesday)…not back to back days. This way the body is getting a consistent dose of running stimulus.
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I hear you - normally I’m managing 2-3 runs a week depending on what else is happening, but with Xmas and so on, I’ll be having a week break between runs. Probably not bad as my knee is now sore (I has an acl replacement in that knee).
This aging thing is not for the faint hearted!
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Join has me doing runs between 15-20 minutes and for running you don’t need a lot of preparation time either. So I think you should be able to fit in something short
I did my 2nd run yesterday. Wednesday I noticed an immediate pain after the run in the region of what I believe is where my vastus intermedius is but no pain yesterday. I do wonder if my short running intervals are too fast (tempo between 4.3-4.5 min/km for the short 3 minute intervals)
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I hear you on the aging thing. I am 56 years old and weigh 180 pounds at 5’ 10". So I’m also really too heavy to be a “runner”. But, after several years of cycling only, I was able to add running back into my routine by slowly adding walk/runs back into the equation for 2 to 3 days per week. After several months I am now running pain free up to 8 miles at a time. When I “don’t have time for a dedicated run”, I will add short jogging segments when I am “walking my dog”. We will jog from one pee spot to the next. During your Christmas break, pack your sneakers, and go out for a 10 minute walk/jog…it’s better than losing all your run training by doing nothing.