Is there any problem...?

[shaun]

I am a cyclist for past 15 years..so my question is can i jog daily to avoid my muscle pulls when i ride...

[spokewench]

What? You want to run to avoid muscle pulls? Running is much harder on the body than riding a bike? What kind of muscle pulls are you talking about?

spoke

[KSH]

What? You want to run to avoid muscle pulls? Running is much harder on the body than riding a bike? What kind of muscle pulls are you talking about?

spoke

What she said... I guess I'm confused by the question as I don't see how running will improve pulled muscles. Stretching or yoga might help with that?

But can you cycle and then run? Sure... triathletes do it all the time... it's called a brick workout.

[RoadRaven]

Shaun, if you have been a cyclist for 15 years then you'll know that the best way to warm up for a bike ride is to ride the bike gently. And the best way to ease sore muscles from riding is to ride the bike gently.

"They" say, as a rough calculation, that you should warm up one minute for every year of your life (so typically, before a race, I warm up for 40 or so minutes at least - I'm 42). On a training ride, I expect my legs to possibly feel muddy for the first half hour or so.

This is similar if tryig to ease sore musles. I find a gentle "recovery" ride on the flat (no hills) for about 45 minutes does wonders for sore legs caused from cycling.

I would not recommend running or jogging as a cross-training choice unless you wanted to become a multi-sporter, or unless you liked to run/jog.

At events like the Olympics, you will notice in the opening ceremony that the cycling teams do not walk round the stadium in the parade - because even walking can upset their muscles.

My three eldest sons have raced or do race while in their high school years. I write notes each week excusing them from PE classes if it involves running (including games like basketball) on Thursdays and Fridays because it messes with how their legs feel and operate for the Saturday race.

Cycling and running have no real correlation in muscle use... so the reason you mention is not physiologically grounded. The others have suggested specific stretches, and perhaps these will suit your more.

Having said all that - if you want to run - do. Thats all the reason you need.

[indysteel]

As Road Raven said, warming up and cooling down are very important. I find that it takes me about 9 miles to warm up, which seemed high until I read RR's age/minute correlation (I'm 38). I'm bad about cooling down on weekday training rides, mostly because the light is often failing and it's time to pack in it. I try, however, when possible to ride to weekend rides so that I have a built in cool down.

Having run for the first time this past Sunday in 13 years, I cannot imagine using running as a way to avoid muscle strain or pulls. I can barely walk right now. I did, however, go to yoga last night as per usual. That's my official cross-training. Granted, not all yoga classes or teachers are created equally. You can easily overdo it if you don't know what you're doing and/or when to back off from a pose. That said, it's an excellent way to work on flexibility, balance, and strength. Thanks to the regular hamstring, calf and hip flexor stretches that I do, I largely avoided some of the lower back pain that plagued me when I first started riding.

[RoadRaven]

Having run for the first time this past Sunday in 13 years, I cannot imagine using running as a way to avoid muscle strain or pulls. I can barely walk right now.

Oh yes. Good point.
You just reminded me.
After Christmas we have a family get-together - a sports day where we play tabloids, baseball, piggyback races etc. And have a bar-b-q. Its very relaxed and a way for the whole family (my partner has 4 siblings... between us all we have 16 kids) to get together without worrying about upsetting in-laws and no pressies are given out. For me, its our "real" Christmas day

Anyways, this year I participated (I managed to avoid it every year because I felt fat and unfit - but a year or two of mincing about in lycra on a skinny bike seat has left me with fewer inhibitions!).
I played baseball - yay me - I hit the ball - yay me - I had to run between the bases, in both innings... lol, if you call what I do running...

My legs, oh my legs... they were SOOOO sore the next day - I didn't ride. I should have. I rode the day after that. I rode for two hours, gently... steadily... my legs felt almost back to normal by the end of it.

There is no way I would have been any good for racing or for a hilly training course for at least 3 days...

[three]

This thread is confusing me just a wee bit. What about someone like me, who is wanting to do a duathlon (or two or three or more)...am I doing two exercises that actually harm one another? Everything you're saying insinuates that running is harmful to cycling muscles. What do I do if those two exercises are the only ones in the race?

Then I think, triathletes do the same and add a third. And, they do so wonderfully.

So, I'm a bit confused. Please clear this up for my novice self. Thanks.

[KSH]

This thread is confusing me just a wee bit. What about someone like me, who is wanting to do a duathlon (or two or three or more)...am I doing two exercises that actually harm one another? Everything you're saying insinuates that running is harmful to cycling muscles. What do I do if those two exercises are the only ones in the race?

Then I think, triathletes do the same and add a third. And, they do so wonderfully.

So, I'm a bit confused. Please clear this up for my novice self. Thanks.

Girl... keep doing what you are doing. Don't let this confuse you. I'm a triathlete... my running doesn't hurt my cycling. In fact, I think it helps my cycling. I'm sure some could argue that though.

I'm a bit cynical and I think this guy is a troll. AKA: Just posting weird stuff on this board as a joke.

Let's think about it... this guy has been cycling for 15 years... and he's asking us questions about running to help pulled muscles. Makes ya go... hhhhuuummmmm.

[Wahine]

If you are a duathlete you have to train both disciplines, that's the nature of the game. But at the same time you cannot expect to compete at an elite level in one of those disciplines. That's just fine because you aren't going to be racing against elite cyclists, you'll be racing against other duathletes.

Although I will never run as fast as a triathlete as I did when I only ran, I have way fewer injuries now, I like my body better and I think that my general conditioning is very good. So there are great benefits to cross training. But it's true, if you're a cyclist and you are serious about doing well, running can impede your performance and it does nothing for injury prevention IMHO.

The goal is to be as good as you can at the activities that you want to compete in.

[maillotpois]

Let's think about it... this guy has been cycling for 15 years... and he's asking us questions about running to help pulled muscles. Makes ya go... hhhhuuummmmm.

Lots of things make you go "hmm?" here.

Seriously, anyone speak Arabic?

[crazycanuck]

THe links in Shauns' posts are to an Arabic site which does not have a translation key @ the bottom.

I was wary when i saw this gent's posts..

What is the forum on his links about...

[three]

While I am weary to be suspect here, because I am unsure if we would be as suspicious if the language was Spanish or French. My first thought in seeing repeated posts wondering what the signature says was...man folks, don't race profile here or jump on the 'fear all Arabs' bandwagon. And if that's not what you're doing, please know that it could certainly be interpreted that way.

My bet is that it is simply a name and quote, like most of our signatures are. But, to figure it out, I've forwarded it to my best friend who happens to be Egyptian. Hopefully he'll email me back soon with the translation and ease any concerns. He's a doctor and busy guy, but as soon as I hear back from him - I'll let you guys know the translation. Unless someone has already posted the clarification.

Let's not be suspicious of things because of someone's native language. Such weariness could create an air of concern for any TE members who are people of color, non-native English speakers, or those from the international community. Thank you.

[crazycanuck]

Hang on, i'm not xenophobic! I was just more curious that anything else.

I do get a bit wary though when someone posts weird questions like he has. Don't get namsy pamsy on me either We've had weird posters before like this but then again we had one where the person was coolio.

I clicked on his links & am quite curious of what the forums are about. I thought it might be another sports related forum for the country he's in. If it is, I wondered what info they had there! Geezzz..

Curious crazyc

[three]

Tangent: I wasn't saying you were xenophobic, which is why I specifically stated that you consider the appearance of the statements. Everyone reads things in different ways and I just wanted to make sure nobody's toes got stepped on.

I understand thinking the posts were unusual and understand your curiosity. As someone who is part of one of the communities I mentioned, my red flags went up when I read the posts - and out of concern that others who are also members of those communities might think the same thing, I just wanted to make sure the issue was addressed.

I also understand the curiosity and will post the translation as soon as I get it. Thanks.

[Wahine]

I am curious but I also think that this is innocent. My thoughts were that, yes this fella is asking some questions that are unusual for someone with 15 years cycling experience but if he is from an Arabic country than could explain it. I doubt that he would have as ready access to cycling information as we do, or as many people to interact with and it would be very intimidating for someone in his situation to post on another cycling forum. And whatever information he is getting could be very different from what most of us seem to think of as common knowledge in our cultural context.

I also think it's very interesting that we don't have someone on the board that speaks Arabic, at least not anyone who's come forward yet. It's surprising to me seeing as we have so many other languages represented here.