For newer runners or people who haven’t trained a ton in the past, I’d recommend supplementing some running with cross-training along the way.
I’ve used TR as a cross-training tool for marathon training in the past. It’s great for building out the framework of a training schedule. You can do your best to follow the rhythm of the plan while running when you can and cycling when you can’t.
There are two sides of the equation here:
- Aerobic development
- Musculoskeletal conditioning
You can develop your aerobic system in lots of different ways. Cycling is one of the best since it’s generally accessible to most people, extremely efficient, and very low-impact.
At first, it’s probably best to do the hard workouts of the week on the bike to ensure that you’re able to knock them out with quality and avoid any injuries. Fill in the other days with as much easy running as you’re comfortable with.
As you continue to get some miles on your legs, you’ll start to feel stronger, and you can start adding in some strides to the end of those easy runs. At some point, you’ll be able to start transitioning some of the hard workouts to runs and use the bike for some of your recovery days.
It needs to be a slow transition, but ultimately, having something like a bike to offload some of the stress is a really key part of getting into running shape quickly. Many athletes aren’t running for 100% of their training stimulus, as the threshold of running volume in hours is much lower than in something like cycling.
At this point, I typically do most of my hard days running and fill in with easy time on the bike to give my legs a rest when I need it. If I’m feeling particularly sore on any one day/week, I’ll transition more of my work to the bike so that I can continue getting good stimulus while resting some of those running-specific muscles and tendons at the same time.
I’ve found that it’s really important to be in tune with how you’re feeling and be a bit conservative with running stress. If you’re wondering whether you should be running or cycling one day, just get on the bike. You won’t lose too much in terms of musculoskeletal conditioning by getting on the bike a few times a week as long as you’re consistent with your running.
Here is a great marathon training plan where if you stay on the low end of mileage recommendations, you’re peaking at around 35 miles/week, which is sort of a bare minimum for marathon training. You could use something like this as a template and make adjustments as needed. Cross-training is included too!