My primary sport is cycling. However, during the offseason I
picked up running as a means of cross-training as well as a
tool while I travel for work. Even though running is my
secondary sport, I want to get better (faster). My question
involves the balancing of running and cycling with a focus
on improving both.
My typical cycling schedule is
Monday - off Tuesday - moderate to hard (tempo, LT
intervals, or anaerobic intervals), 60-150 minutes Wednesday
- easy 45-60 minute spin Thursday - moderate to hard (tempo,
LT intervals, or anaerobic intervals), 60-150 minutes Friday
- easy 45-60 minute spin Saturday - long ride with mix of
easy to anaerobic, 120-240 minutes Sunday - long ride with
mix of easy to anaerobic, 120-240 minutes
My typical run schedule these days has me running on
only 3 days:
Tuesday - tempo or 1-mile LT intervals (1/4 mile rest
period), 5-7 miles total running usually within 30-45
minutes of the bike workout Thursday - either moderate (sub
tempo) or tempo run of 5-7 miles, usually 30-45 minutes
after riding Sunday - long run of 10-15 miles, usually in
the evening (6+ hours after cycling)
I was in Japan for a few weeks and was doing nothing but
running. I noticed that my 1-mile intervals were rather
quick for me (6:00-6:30 or so). By comparison, after a
pretty good 2 hour ride Tuesday, which involved 90+ minutes
of tempo riding (85-90% of hour threshold power), my legs
only managed 7:00-7:15 miles at pretty close to the same
heart rate and perceived effort as the "Japan mile repeats."
My legs obviously were affected by the riding. I imagine it
will only get worse once I start doing some 6x5 minute
anaerobic intervals on the bike.
Until daylight savings time arrives, splitting the workouts
into morning and evening is out of the question. As it is I
am work a 630 AM so I can get back early enough to ride in
the late afternoon. Also, I'm fairly protective of keeping
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as days off or very easy days
to allow the hard days to be harder.
So the question is, are the running interval or tempo
sessions after my strenuous cycling workouts improving my
speed or are they a waste of time? I'm sure the benefit
wouldn't be as great as if I was focusing on running only.
If you were in my shoes, how would you schedule your
workouts?
My running related goals include a sub 20:00 5k, a sub 1:40
half marathon, perhaps a sub 5:30 mile, and perhaps some
duathlons.