How many miles on bike = miles on road? (Read 1932 times)

I am healing (hopefully) from a Google-diagnosed metatarsal stress fracture and I have a stationary bike in my condo to use in the meantime.  If I was running 25 miles a week before, how many miles should I cycle? 50? And do I have to maintain my heart rate (average was about 141 when running) while cycling?  I have been doing a pre-programmed "random hills" program on the cycle but having trouble getting my heart rate up that high.  I don't have the strength in my legs to push up the resistance yet.  

 

Oh, and I will be getting a proper diagnosis hopefully on Friday when I see a sports doc. 

HR on a bike should be about 10 beats lower then when you run. Te reason being is that cycling ie essentially a non weight bearing activity.

How many minutes did you run each day? Ride the bike that much.

When it comes to calories used, it's about 3 to 1. 

If you're use 100 calories per mile running, you'll use about 35 on the bike.

or so I've heard.

It's complicated.  It depends on your bike for one thing.  A mountain bike on a road is going to be a lot harder to ride than a fancy road bike.

With my crappy, ancient 10-speed road bike it felt like a 4-1 ratio.  I went on two 60 mile rides that felt somewhat like a 15 mile run in terms of energy spent.  But I wasn't in particularly good shape on the bike and my bike is crappy.  I did a lot of shorter rides around 20-24 miles and they too felt like 4-6 miles of running to me. 

But it's not the same.  I didn't push myself on my bike so my heart rate didn't get anywhere close to what it does when I run.

Which weighs more, a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers?

Would those be features from an African or European swallow?

(no idea why Monty Python came to  mind when I read your response).

Last night I rode my bike on my rollers for 30 minutes. I averaged 20.08 mph, rode for 10.04 miles with an average HR of 140. I burned 542 calories (RA calculator).

12/01 I went for an easy 33 min run. I ran 3.3 miles with an average HR of 139. I burned 505 calories (RA calculator).

Again, your HR on a bike will be about 10 beats lower because it is essentially non weight bearing. For swimming, you can take another 10 beats of your bike max HR due to the your bodies bouyancy in the water.

To the OP, if you ride the bike with a HR around 131, you should burn close to the same amount of calories per minute when you run.

Also, use a higher cadence while your biking with as lower resistance. Your cadence should be around 90 rpm's.

Thanks.  Not so much worried about calories, just want to survive my 6 week hiatus without losing too much fitness.  Okay, I will lower resistance, keep rpm at 90 and double/triple my time on the bike.  (Stationary bike) 

 

Last night I rode 60 minutes, 17 miles at random hills and felt almost like I ran 5k. 

As SRLopez said, biking and running are not the same so you will lose some running fitness. Don't expect to pick up where you left off just because your biking a lot.

Can you aqua jog? I believe that is the best thing to do to lessen the loss of your running fitness.

I'm in a similar situation right now. I've been self diagnosed with Posterior Tibial tendonitis in my left ankle and have an appointment tomorrow with the sports doc. I have stopped running for a couple days to RICE my ankle and plan on biking, swimming and possibly aqua jogging if the doc says I need to stop running for awhile.

Based on what time it takes me (and I am a universal measurement), it is a four to one ratio.  Four miles on a bike equals one mile of running.  

You're welcome.