Question for runners: Are some people just not capable of running?

[OakLeaf]

I'm working on a theory here. I actually haven't been running since I crashed my bike last month (pain at first, but a whole lot of other stuff in the last few weeks). I'm hoping to get out for a run later today. But anyway here's my idea:

Cyclists are used to nice LONG workouts. It's not even worth getting all suited up and going out the door unless we're going to ride at least an hour, and that's a really short ride. We prefer two hours on work nights and a whole lot more than that on weekends. Am I right so far?

So then the cyclist decides to go running. But our running muscles just aren't in the same kind of shape as our cycling muscles, besides the fact that even slow running is pretty intense cardiovascularly (whereas on a bike, if you want you can just take the pace down and pretty much cruise forever, long after you feel like your muscles are done).

So we're reaching our running lactate threshold at a HR that doesn't even begin to challenge a cardiovascular system that's in pretty good shape from cycling.

And SO... because we're going out to get some freakin' CARDIO, we keep our running at a pace that we can maintain for 45 minutes to an hour. It ain't even what we'd consider a minimum workout on the bike. But otherwise, we have this idea in our head that it wasn't worth the time to put on our shorts and two layers of high-impact bras and tape up all the blister-prone areas on our feet. We probably don't even think that we're limiting the pace. We just think that that's all the faster we can run, just because that's all we can maintain for five or six miles. Am I still right so far?

But then, as the saying goes,.... train slow, race slow.

I think just maybe, in order for a cyclist to learn to run, we have to be willing to go out for really short runs. Warm up, do some one-minute intervals at a seven-minute pace, then cool down and quit. (Or eight minute, or nine, or whatever's just SHORT of all-out.) Even if we've only been out for 20 minutes. Do it as the warmup to our strength day or Pilates day, or before a shorter bike ride, if keeping a workout so short would result in temper tantrums, insomnia, fighting with the spouse, inefficiency at work, or just general cranial detonation. Then incrementally increase the pace, length and number of the intervals, while leaving the rest periods the same.

That's my new training plan, anyway. I'll let you know if it works.