Posted: January 23, 2005

Science of Sport: Bicycle Lessons

The Running Research News Weekly Training Update

Hi Everyone,

To many runners, cycling is a very appealing sport - and for good reason. Research has shown that bicycle workouts can almost perfectly preserve running fitness during a furlough from running caused by injury. In addition, one investigation actually linked the addition of cycling sessions to a running program with upgraded 10-K running performances. The mechanism proposed for this 10-K upgrade was that cycling improved leg-muscle strength, but it is also possible that the runners who hopped on bikes on certain days instead of running managed to do a better job of preventing their legs from turning to chalk dust. Chalk filings, of course, have a bad habit of showing up when runners insist on pounding away, day after day, with strenuous running training; cycling, with its lack of hard impacts with the ground (hopefully) and its less-severe utilization of eccentric contractions, tends to be much easier on the sinews. Naturally, these two potential mechanisms are not mutually exclusive.

Cycling also has some very unique and intriguing aspects which differentiate the sport from running and swimming. Take the case of high-speed interval workouts, for example, with 15- to 30-second work intervals completed at close to maximal speed and recovery intervals which are usually longer in duration than the work intervals (such sessions are great for improving max speed and for enhancing one's efficiency while running/cycling/swimming at competitive paces). Research has consistently shown that the quality of the work intervals during such sessions is higher when cyclists use active rather than passive recoveries (that is, when they cycle along at about 60 percent of work-interval speed during recovery, instead of coasting).

In contrast, research indicates that runners and swimmers improve the quality of their high-speed work intervals when they utilize passive recoveries rather than active ones (reference # 1). In other words, when runners walk around or stand during their recovery intervals, they tend to run faster work intervals, compared with jogging during the rests. When swimmers stand in the pool during recovery, instead of swimming lightly, they also complete faster work intervals (bear in mind that these findings with runners and swimmers apply to very high-velocity workouts with relatively short work-interval durations).

Studies of Tour-de-France competitors do reveal that top runners and top cyclists are similar in certain ways (reference # 2). For example, just as maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) and aerobic threshold do not do a good job of predicting running performances, those physiological variables fail to discriminate between the best Tour performers and the less-strong ones, or even between top Tour athletes and non-Tour cyclists of lesser ability. The distinguishing characteristics of Tour-de-France competitors (compared to less-capable cyclists) are their gross mechanical efficiencies while riding and their cycling economies at high intensities. When they cruise along at an intensity of about 80 percent of VO2max, for example, top-10 finishers and stage winners in the Tour de France are able to operate with a gross efficiency of 24 percent (that sounds bad, but it is actually good for cycling) and an economy of 85 Watts per liter of oxygen consumed per minute, significantly better than the values observed in experienced cyclists of lower competitive stature. In addition, even-niftier values are observed in Tour winners, with gross efficiencies in the range of 25 percent and economies of 88 Watts per liter of oxygen consumed each minute.

Economy is also a sound predictor of running performance; those runners who have a low oxygen "cost" associated with competitive running speeds tend to fare very well in races, compared with harriers with higher costs. Running economy is enhanced by high-quality training, by hill work, and via explosive and conventional strength training (3).

Despite this basic similarity, the Tour research demonstrates that top cyclists can do something that elite runners can not do (in addition to exercising strenuously for five hours per day for about 21 days in a row). One study found that the winners of the 60- to 65-kilometer individual time-trial stages within the Tour can cycle at an intensity which is above 90 percent of VO2max for 75 consecutive minutes (4). Conservatively, an above-90-percent-of-VO2max intensity would correspond with 10-K-race intensity for elite runners. Thus, for an elite runner with a 10-K PB of 28 minutes to match (in terms of sustained intensity) the individual time-trial performance of a top Tour cyclist, he would have to run more than two and one-half 10-K races at his best-possible single-race pace, back to back, with no rest between races!

How are the best Tour athletes able to pull this off? There are different theories to account for this, but I would like to hear from you. Please send your answer to me at owen@rrnews.com. I'll select the best response, publish it in next-week's Update (with the writer's permission, of course), and give our top responder a free copy of my e-book, Great Workouts for Popular Races (http://www.runningresearchnews.com).

If you enjoy reading about Tour-de-France cyclists and/or about how cycling might aid your running, please consider a subscription to Cycling Research News. When you subscribe to CRN, I'll send the Tour-de-France issue to you free, with my compliments (just send me a note at owen@rrnews.com to let me know that you have subscribed). Individuals who already subscribe to Running Research News will get CRN for half-price; if you subscribe to RRN, please don't forget to log in with your username and password at www.rrnews.com before entering the CRN sub.

With very kindest regards,

Owen Anderson

References

(1) "Should You Use Active or Passive Recoveries during Your High-Speed Interval Workouts?" Swimming Research News, Vol. 1-8 (October), pp. 1-4, 2004
(2) "Lessons Learned from Tour-de-France Cyclists," Cycling Research News, Vol. 1-9 (November), pp. 1-6, 2004
(3) "Explosive Strength Training Leads to Major Gains in Running Performance," Running Research News, Vol. 19-4 (May), pp. 1-5, 2003
(4) "Heart-Rate Response to Professional Road Cycling: The Tour de France," International Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol. 20, pp. 167-172, 1999

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