Autumn 2007 - British Milers Club

Pedal power principlesby Mark MitchellAbout 35 years ago, Costill and Cooper estimated that 4 miles of cycling equalled one mile of running. So, if you went for ahundred mile spin on a Sunday morning this was the equivalent of running 25 miles. The big difference being your feet andlegs were given a rest from pounding the road. The latest information on cycling and its equivalent to running is that 3k ofcycling is worth 1k of running, so that if you cycle 16k at a good clip this is worth 5.3k of running or to use the oldmeasure, 4 miles of cycling is worth just over a mile and a quarter, so the old figures weren’t too far off the mark.Last June 2006 at the USA Track Nationals, Lauren Fleshman won the women’s 5k title with a training schedule typical ofworld-class runners: long efforts, intervals and hills. But half the time Fleshman’s feet never touched the ground. Instead,they were clipped into her bike. Fleshman started alternating riding and running when she contracted tendonitis in her rightankle in the autumn of 2005. The unexpected result was that it proved to be more than a way to stay fit while injured: thebike improved her running. “No doubt, cycling has made me stronger and more explosive,” says Fleshman, 25. Today,Fleshman is fit, but she still hops on her cycle twice a week as part of her training routine For Fleshman, fast times onwheels translate to fast times on the track and road, and cycling can do the same for you, a long as you do the rightsessions.Here is Fleshman’s routine:General plan is to record 80 to 90% of maximum heart rate for intense workouts. All cycling starts with 10 minutes of easywork.Week 1Day 1 - 5 x 800 metre hills hard followed by a 10k gradual hill climb.Day 4 - Ride hard for 30 minutes in the middle of an hour workout.Week 2Day 1 - 6 x 10 minute hard riding with 60secs slow riding recovery as part of one hour cycling.Day 4 - 8 x 4 minute spells with a 2-minute recovery. Out for an hour.Week 3Day 1 - Sprint cycling for 15, 30 or 60secs with 30 secs rest repeated many times.Day 4 - 8 x 15 second sprints with 15secs recovery followed by 10 x 90 second hard intervals with 30secs rest and10mins easyWeek 4Day 1 - 2 hourcycle attempting 60miles distance.Day 5 - As for Week2.Fleshman sums upher runningexcursions, “cyclingopened my eyes tosomething outside ofrunning. It’s nice tosee the world fly byat a different pace.”44 BMC News : Autumn 2007