I have not run for fun/fitness since last fall and have started riding my uni fair distances quite often. I feel very fit and my resting heart-rate is down to around 45 BPM which is the lowest it has ever been. I felt like i could run a marathon.
I went home for Easter and my mom is starting to train for a half marathon and I decided to go for a run with her along with my brother and sister. We went on a 6 mile loop on the grid.
Right off the bat it felt weird to run, i was not expecting this because i have always been a decent distance runner. It felt almost like when i was learning to uni and was not used to using those particular muscles. I fell into a good rhythm and had no troubles keeping up at all. I raced my little bro for the last 2 km back to town and felt very rubber-leged at the end of it but i was not out of breath. In the past my legs would be up to the task of running fast but I would get out of breath if i ran quickly, this time it was the opposite.
Does anybody else find that they have great cardiovascular fitness but can no-longer run as well as they used to? I didn’t think that the muscles used for running were that much different than unicycling but the soreness in my legs today tell me they are.
Yup, I get that. The problem is that cycling develops CV fitness very well, and develops some of the muscles in the legs, but not in the same way. Part of the problem is that cycling tends to shorten the leg muscles, because you don’t usually fully extend the muscles in the legs. Running is the opposite - it lengthens the leg muscles because of the different movement and the impacts involved. As for using the same muscles, I think the same major muscles are involved, but the slight differences in movement mean that some of the smaller muscles aren’t used in the same way, so don’t develop equally from each sport. It’s not just running and unicycling either, the same applies when moving between bikes and unicycles, although maybe to a lesser extent.
I do find I have to take it easy after I’ve not been running for a while. I can go fast enough for long enough to make my legs really ache for a day or so afterwards. Having said that, it does mean you have a good basis for getting back into running, so as long as you take it easy you’ll be doing marathons in no time.
John
(and I should point out I’m an electronic engineer, so don’t take any of that as coming from a proper medical/physio type person)
cycling, any type shortens the hamstring and so when you run it feels different and is harder than what it used to be, if you want to run alot and still ride do this stretch often to stretch out the hamstring.
Lie on your back. Grab a rope, cable, belt or similar and put it under your foot like on the base. Lift it up as high as you can . (Leg should be 90degree to your body) and hold you will feel it stretch, repeat for the other leg. It helps alot with your running if you ride alot.
I raced my little bro for the last 2 km back to town and felt very rubber-leged at the end of it but i was not out of breath. In the past my legs would be up to the task of running fast but I would get out of breath if i ran quickly, this time it was the opposite.