Maintaining gains during cycling season

garystrickland357

During the warm months I focus on cycling. I live in a great rural area that allows me to ride great farm-to-market and county dirt roads. I can ride 30-50 miles and often only see one or two vehicles - so I ride a lot.
I enjoy running and focus on that mainly when it's colder and the days are shorter. As we know both activities are great for cardiovascular fitness but they engage different muscles and the leg stresses are different.
This summer I will be preparing for a 200K road/gravel cycling event that takes place in August. After that event I will have 30 weeks to prepare for a full marathon in February.

Here's the question for you experienced runners. How many miles and how often do I need to run just to maintain the running fitness I gained preparing for the 1/2 marathon I just completed? I'm wondering if a 5/6 mile run a couple of times during the week and then a longer weekend run of 8-10 miles will allow me to maintain my "running legs". Keep in mind I'll probably be cycling 100 miles a week within the next few weeks and build up to 150-200 miles a week by mid summer. I'll be putting my legs to work... So I want to run the least I need to run without losing everything I spent the last 24 weeks gaining.

What are your thoughts?

MobyCarp

I am not a cyclist, but I'll give you a conditional, "probably enough" for your proposed running. This is based on asking a friend who does Iron Man tris how much he runs in the off season; his answer was 20 miles per week. During that time he will also be mountain biking on trails if there isn't snow, snowshoeing and ice climbing if there is. He's also a young guy, in his late 40s.

My personal observation is that if I run 30 miles per week with one long run of at least 10 miles each week, I'm pretty much in shape to complete a half marathon whenever I see one I want to enter. I might want to do more than that to optimize finish time, but this is enough to finish and not beat myself up too bad on race day. Given additional cardio from your cycling, I *think* 20 miles per week with a long run of 10 miles will be enough; but you will find out by trying it and seeing what it does for you.

lporter229

MobyCarp wrote: »

I am not a cyclist, but I'll give you a conditional, "probably enough" for your proposed running. This is based on asking a friend who does Iron Man tris how much he runs in the off season; his answer was 20 miles per week. During that time he will also be mountain biking on trails if there isn't snow, snowshoeing and ice climbing if there is. He's also a young guy, in his late 40s.

My personal observation is that if I run 30 miles per week with one long run of at least 10 miles each week, I'm pretty much in shape to complete a half marathon whenever I see one I want to enter. I might want to do more than that to optimize finish time, but this is enough to finish and not beat myself up too bad on race day. Given additional cardio from your cycling, I *think* 20 miles per week with a long run of 10 miles will be enough; but you will find out by trying it and seeing what it does for you.

I agree with this. I think the key is maintaining that long run of at least 8-10 miles and the other cardio you get from cycling should be enough to account for the lower mileage. Like, @MobyCarp, I also try to stay in HM shape year round. For me that means maintaining at least 25 miles per week with a long run of 8-14 miles. I usually focus on strength training and other stuff when I am not in a training cycle, so I am not getting the added cardio benefits that you would be getting from cycling. I believe that 20 miles per week with one longer run along with all of the cycling you are doing should be more than enough to maintain your running fitness. You may even be able to get away with less overall mileage, depending on how much you cycle.

garystrickland357

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback.

Tacklewasher

MobyCarp wrote: »

My personal observation is that if I run 30 miles per week with one long run of at least 10 miles each week, I'm pretty much in shape to complete a half marathon whenever I see one I want to enter. I might want to do more than that to optimize finish time, but this is enough to finish and not beat myself up too bad on race day.

I know it's off topic, but this is interesting. Kinda my goal for 2019 until I train for an October marathon. 50km per week with one run of 20.

Now if it would just stop snowing.

garystrickland357

I was watching YouTube videos last night by triathletes. The general consensus was that three runs a week were sufficient for maintaining running fitness provided you are doing rigorous cross training. The idea was that the runs in excess of three are as much about general fitness as about running fitness. There was some agreement that maintaining one long run a week and at least one tempo run were needed.
I know that's from YouTube "experts" - so I always take the information with an open mind and skepticism. That's why I ask questions here as well. It seems to confirm though that somewhere around 20-30 miles per week will allow a person to maintain running fitness. I'll be increasing my bike rides to 4-5 days a week soon. We'll see how this all works out.