DILEMMA: Training for two different fall events...

[colby]

Usually riding counts for running and vice-versa as far as endurance goes, but not as far as muscle-specific development goes (you'd also need to ride farther to count for the same running endurance, which actually benefits your situation since you're training for a MUCH longer ride than you are run). You still want to do both, but if you're doing a long ride/long run, it will benefit both disciplines.

For triathlons, I do long rides one day and long runs the other day - but it's different because you plan on doing them in succession, so you kind of "want" that "legs are tired" feeling. You could put a rest day inbetween the two if you wanted to do them both in the same weekend. Something ilke:

Mon - short ride
Tues - short run
Wed - short ride (or intervals, hills, etc)
Thur - short run (or intervals, hills, etc)
Fri - long ride
Sat - off
Sun - long run
Mon - short ride
etc

I find that riding after a long run is easier than running after a long ride.

I have done it the other way, too - rest day before your long ride/run days rather than after. I've never been able to split them because I've always been triathlon training and I need to do it on the weekends.

I also agree that you could consider a short ride/long run and short run/long ride variation that alternated every other week. Since you're building endurance either way and don't intend to do them both in one day (or back to back), you'll be benefiting yourself a lot. It would suck to over-train and miss both targets - or be too exhausted to do the half marathon after your ride.

[KSH]

So when you say long ride or long run... what range might those distances be?

I really don't see an issue with having those back to back. That's what I did during IM training. Now, I won't lie, it was HARD to get up and run sometimes on Sunday, but once I got going I was fine.

You might feel some soreness and fatigue when you start doing these back to back, but your body will adapt. You just can't give in to the soreness or feeling tired. Have to push through it.

But with half marathon training.. you longest run will be.... 13 miles? Or less?

It's doable.

You could also work on making sure you don't have too long of a run on Sunday after high mileage on the bike Saturday.

OH! And if you sit down and write out a training plan, you will probably find that you won't start doing really high miles running until later in the bike training... when that taper hits.

Have you written out a plan for miles on each of these days? I think if you do, you will find that the two will work together nicely based on when they are.

For instance, I was able to put marathon training on my calendar with my Half Ironman training. My Half IM is end of October and my mary is the first week in December. Works out perfectly. The high miles for running doesn't start till after my Half IM!

The key is creating a calendar and putting a plan on it.

[indigoiis]

You're right - when I put it on a calendar it is completely reasonable. My long Saturday riding distances are all at like, 25/35 for this month (although I usually do more since I ride with a club...) and my long runs don't gear up past 5 miles until after August. By then I should be acclimated pretty well.

I am also going away for a week in August but will hike and run while I'm away... won't be doing any biking. No biggie.

[OakLeaf]

my long runs don't gear up past 5 miles until after August. By then I should be acclimated pretty well.

So you're planning to almost triple your mileage in a month and a half? That sounds a little excessive.

It seems to me, the more you can front-load the training and make it a gradual build, the less chance you'll have of injuries... or of being thrown completely off track by some unforeseen glitch late in your schedule.

But what do I know, this is all new to me too.

Personally, right at the moment my hilly long run is 10 miles and I just rode my first 100 of the year, which was pretty flat (about 3300 feet total gain). I've done 70-80 mile rides that have been pretty hilly, but not as hilly as CFC, and not on consecutive days. I'm fairly confident about the flat half-mary, but I'm kind of stressing about the ride.