RIDE YOUR WAY TO RUN FITNESS 1. LEG SPEED 2. LEG STRENGTH 3. CORE WARM-UP CORE (5X) STRENGTH (5X) LEG SPEED (5X) COOL-DOWN

CYCLING AND THE INJURED TRIATHLETE COMMON TERM

TRIATHLETES OFTEN GET injured from their run training. Swimming and cycling can lead to injuries, too, but not as frequently as running. When you’re injured, the key is to maintain (or develop) a positive mental outlook on the situation and act accordingly. Fortunately, being a triathlete means you have one of the best tools to help expedite recovery from a run injury: your bike.

Provided that your run injury doesn’t prevent you from cycling, there are three key components of your running which you can hone while using your bike:

Many of us have a cadence meter on their bike, but how many of us know our cadence when running? While everyone is different, the generally recommended cadence on the run is 80 to 90 steps per foot per minute (80 to 90 rpm). You can maintain and even improve your running leg speed by incorporating high-cadence intervals on the bike.

Running up hills requires strength. Running off the bike requires strength. Strong running comes from strong glutes, hip flexors, quads, hamstrings and lower leg muscles (those below the knee). Most of these muscles can be trained effectively on the bike with low cadence, high-resistance intervals.

Have you ever tried one-legged cycling? It’s generally an unpleasant experience. But it is a trainable skill (one that can improve with practice over time). One-legged cycling is fantastic at working the hip flexors, which translates into improved running.

Try this time-efficient 60-minute indoor trainer ride to address all three issues above:

10 minutes easy

30 seconds right leg (Zone 1–2)

30 seconds left leg (Zone 1–2)

1:30 both legs (Zone 1–2)

2 minutes at 50 to 60 rpm at high power/torque (Zone 4)

2 minutes at easy power/effort at 85 to 95 rpm (Zone 1–2) 1 minute high cadence at low power (Zone 1). Add 5 rpm per interval, such that the 6th and final interval is maximum-cadence effort.

1 minute at 75 to 85 rpm recovery (Zone 1)

5 minutes easy

ZONE

Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

Zone 4

Zone 5

Recovery

Base

Tempo

Threshold

VO2 Max

APPROXIMATE EFFORT

Ridiculously easy

All day effort

A couple of hours effort

45 to 75 minute effort

5 to 8 minutes