Tour Stages compared to Marathons

Pendejo said:

A world-class marathoner would never even consider racing a marathon in two consecutive days - maybe not even in two consecutive weeks. It just takes too long to recover from such a race.

Yet the TDF has three mountain stages in a row: five hours of exertion at near maximal effort (at least for the contenders) for three consecutive days (in contrast to a marathon duration of a bit over two hours), and all this in the middle of three weeks of racing, with only two rest days.

So how is this possible? Is a world-class performance in a TDF mountain stage just a lot less taxing than a world-class marathon? That just doesn't seem plausible. I'm not implying anything in particular here. Something just seems out of whack here.

Have you ever pounded the pavement for 26.2 miles? It's brutal on the body because of the impact. Running doesn't compare at all.

Pendejo said:

A world-class marathoner would never even consider racing a marathon in two consecutive days - maybe not even in two consecutive weeks. It just takes too long to recover from such a race.

Yet the TDF has three mountain stages in a row: five hours of exertion at near maximal effort (at least for the contenders) for three consecutive days (in contrast to a marathon duration of a bit over two hours), and all this in the middle of three weeks of racing, with only two rest days.

So how is this possible? Is a world-class performance in a TDF mountain stage just a lot less taxing than a world-class marathon? That just doesn't seem plausible. I'm not implying anything in particular here. Something just seems out of whack here.

The one big difference between running and cycling is cycling is not weight bearing. Running a marathon puts extreme stress on the body, simply from the pounding. I have run several marathons in my life, and I know my body needs weeks to recover from the stress.

Of course, a three week stage race is no picnic either.

Main difference is that on a bike your are most of the time sitted, and in some cases your can take a break and some breath such as on descends and certain parts on the flat. When running you must keep running all the time even on descents, you can not stop.

Runners use their arms too, while riders hardly use them except when they are out of the saddle.

The equivalent of running a Marathon in cycling could be to ride 500 kilometers???

I would see the difference as impact sport to non impact sport. In running you are doing damage to your muscles both through using them, and through battering them senseless every time your leg hits the ground. Cycling you're just abusing the muscles through use (except when you crash). The impact damage takes longer to repair.

I think that if you removed the impact aspect from running whilst keeping it essentially the same in terms of effort then you could run marathons on consecutive days.

Another point might be this: Marathon runners take on a lot less fuel during the racing, they pretty much all hit the wall at some point. Cyclists eat continuously through a stage, and should never hit the wall.

Pendejo said:

A world-class marathoner would never even consider racing a marathon in two consecutive days - maybe not even in two consecutive weeks. It just takes too long to recover from such a race.

Yet the TDF has three mountain stages in a row: five hours of exertion at near maximal effort (at least for the contenders) for three consecutive days (in contrast to a marathon duration of a bit over two hours), and all this in the middle of three weeks of racing, with only two rest days.

So how is this possible? Is a world-class performance in a TDF mountain stage just a lot less taxing than a world-class marathon? That just doesn't seem plausible. I'm not implying anything in particular here. Something just seems out of whack here.

http://endurance50.thenorthface.com/

50 marathons in 50 days. He's certainly not going to be running at a world class pace but it's an impressive (crazy) goal none the less.

Eldrack said:

Another point might be this: Marathon runners take on a lot less fuel during the racing, they pretty much all hit the wall at some point. Cyclists eat continuously through a stage, and should never hit the wall.

Hmm! Why is this? Why can't a runner eat gels or something the way cyclists do? One would guess - and hey, it may be completely obvious, but I'm not a runner - that the avoidance of bonking would be worth the slowed pace for a bit while one swallows a gel.

All the above is true, and add in a couple more factors:

1) cyclist are also sitting the draft saving about 20-30% soft pedaling, dont get me wrong, when they go hard they go hard

2) THE BIGGEST REASON, if anyone watched the real time SRM telementary on some of the riders that was streamed over the internet, these guys in the pack were riding 27-30mph at 50-65,70% of their MAX for almost the whole day, the front guys that would chase were at about 85% of max and when they came to a climb the tempo pace was 300-400watts & about 85% of MAX until they got within a few Ks from the top & attacked. The finishing Ks for the sprint, the lead out guys were at 90-95%. So the bottom line is they built their bodies to put out a huge amount of power at a certain % of their MAX, if we could do our 2,3,4 hour races only at 65-75% of our MAX we should be able to race day in and day out also, since we didnt go anaerobic.

Running you cant just run at 65% when the front guys are at 85% because theres no draft to pull you along, you will loose ground that probably wont be able make up.

Notice I said they go up climbs at about 85%, not like our races where the pack hammers up the begining of the hill & goes anaerobic 1/2-3/4 the way
up & then the speed slows.

3) These guys also time trial about 30mph (400watts +/-) AT THRESHOLD :eek: just think what they are doing when sitting in the pack at 30mph 🙄

They were also showing on TV the HRs & % that they were at of some of the riders.

JRMDC said:

Hmm! Why is this? Why can't a runner eat gels or something the way cyclists do? One would guess - and hey, it may be completely obvious, but I'm not a runner - that the avoidance of bonking would be worth the slowed pace for a bit while one swallows a gel.

It's alot harder to get food down while running, heck I even have trouble getting water down while in mid stride. I have to slow down alot to be able to eat anything, even then it's a lil tough. Then you put me on a bike and I can devour a powerbar in 30 seconds and down water like air.

meandmybike said:

endurance50.thenorthface.comendurance50.thenorthface.comOpen ↗

50 marathons in 50 days. He's certainly not going to be running at a world class pace but it's an impressive (crazy) goal none the less.

But obviously he's an exception. The general rule is, that you cannot do more than two or three Marathons a year.

Obviously, running and riding are two very different disciplines and not really comparable, but on the other hand, at least the Marathon runners don't have to run uphill. (Speakuing of "normal" city marathons here).

Deli said:

I have run several marathons in my life, and I know my body needs weeks to recover from the stress.

The last time I ran a hundred mile trail running race, I did not feel like doing any sort of exercise for about two months. My whole body was wasted.

Smilf said:

It's alot harder to get food down while running, heck I even have trouble getting water down while in mid stride. I have to slow down alot to be able to eat anything, even then it's a lil tough. Then you put me on a bike and I can devour a powerbar in 30 seconds and down water like air.

yeah man when i'm out runnign it's really easy to puke, esp. if i have to muh food in my stomach from an earlier meal. if i try to eat anything during the run it's instant heartburn at best and more than likely a nice vomit session.

SaintAndrew said:

yeah man when i'm out runnign it's really easy to puke, esp. if i have to muh food in my stomach from an earlier meal. if i try to eat anything during the run it's instant heartburn at best and more than likely a nice vomit session.

I know exactly what you mean. I started running to compliment riding. Any run that was more than 45 minutes took several days of recovery from the beating the joints and muscles take. You don't feel it while you're running. Its after, when you cool down and when you wake up the next morning that you feel the strain. I can't imagine running long distances day after day. In contrast its not a big issue on the bike when you're fit

Eldrack said:

Another point might be this: Marathon runners take on a lot less fuel during the racing, they pretty much all hit the wall at some point. Cyclists eat continuously through a stage, and should never hit the wall.

THat is because if a Marathon runner eats as much as a cyclist, he would puke everything he eats most likely, becasue the stomach can not asimilate the food due the the up and down movement of the body and the continuous impacts. On cycling is different becasue the athlete is sitted on the bike and there is not up and down movement, so he can eat .