Hey there! I have been lurking a bit and now feel that it is time to post. I am an avid cyclist (not hog, but pedal) and am interested in running a 10 k July 6th. I have the option of a 5 K run instead, but then I would be upstaged my my dear friend, and well, we don't want that to happen, do we?? I am currently training for a 100 mile century ride on June 7th. My week looks like this: One super long training ride - my next ride will be 60 miles, 70 the next, 80 the following. Then I have one recovery ride of about 15 miles. Sometimes I will go to a pretty intense 1 hour spin class if I am in the mood. I would like to throw running in somewhere - I can easily give up spin class now that the weather is taking a turn for the better. I am not a runner (yet). I did mess around on the treadmill this winter and did one run of 3 miles but that was prior to the Christmas baking season! Usually my runs were 1.5 miles. My questions are as follows: 1. Is it unreasonable to think I can do a 10 K by July 6th? I am not willing to let the century ride goal go. I will finish the ride June 7th and then my time will be freed greatly. 2. If it isn't unreasonable, what is the best training plan to use? 3. Should I focus on treadmill runs or outdoor runs? Treadmill running seems like cheating - the asphalt doesn't move under my feet when I run outside! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Go for the 10k. There are lots of training plans online... I'm not qualified to suggest a plan. I went from being a big, fat, couch potato to running a 10K in less than 3 months. As an avid cyclist I'm SURE you have a much better fitness level than I had when I started to run. You can do it! Try the Smart coach on Runners World

I think what you're planning is perfectly reasonable, although you're probably going to be surprised to find that your bicycle conditioning doesn't translate completely into running fitness (just ask Lance ). The biggest problem you're goin to have is the fact that your legs will be subject to more stress while running (due to the pounding of the pavement) than they're used to on the bike. In order to start getting them acclimated to this extra stress I'd suggest putting in one or two short (3-4 miles each) runs during the next month. (You probably don't have time for anything more than this anyway.) I'd also suggest that you do these runs on a treadmill - at least at first - because it's going to be more foregiving than the road and you'll be able to "toughen them up" more gradually. After your century you can switch to more running. I don't have a specific plan to suggest, but a lot of your bike training philosophy can transfer directly over to running (alternate hard-easy workouts, weekly long runs, etc.). You might do a google search for "one hour runner" and see if that plan works for you, and adjust it as you get more comfortable with knowing how your body is reacting. You'll also want to move at least a couple of your weekly runs outside just to get acclimated to the roads. You can gain the necessary conditioning on a treadmill, but you need the road miles to get used to the stress of the hard pavement. Good luck and have fun.

You are more than fit aerobically for a 10K and that is both good news and bad news. The problem is that your legs are not conditioned to the considerable stresses of running and it will be very easy to do more running than you should because you can. I would suggest starting with a mile or two at a very slow pace a few times a week and pay attention to how your legs feel. As long as they aren't getting excessively sore or fatigued, continue to add mileage at a rate of around 10% a week. Keep in mind that it takes around four times the effort to run as it does to cycle, in other words your 60 mile bike ride is roughly equivalent to a 15 mile run, aerobically. Most 10K programs are around three months long so you are starting too late to seriously train for a 10K. I would suggest that you just work on building your mileage to the point where you can run 10K and give it your best shot. Tom

1. Is it unreasonable to think I can do a 10 K by July 6th? I am not willing to let the century ride goal go. I will finish the ride June 7th and then my time will be freed greatly. 2. If it isn't unreasonable, what is the best training plan to use? 3. Should I focus on treadmill runs or outdoor runs? Treadmill running seems like cheating - the asphalt doesn't move under my feet when I run outside!

Hi there Flybye! I'm a 40 year old female cyclist who started running last October. Cycling is great for single peeps, but not with kids, husband and a house to tend. Takes wayyyy too long for me. Hence the reason I took up running. I have been keeping up with my riding here and there with a few rides a month over the past year. I just did the Wildflower Century in Chico Ca last weekend. Well, I only did the 65 miler, but did it with only 1 ride a week for a few months for training. It was a piece of cake. My neck and ...ehh emmm.. "other areas" hurt a bit after, but the endurance and cardio was no biggy. Are you riding for a specific time? Is it a race? Or is it just a cycling club ride for fun? What I did was toss out one running day to fit in a cycling day. I ran 4 days a week and rode 1. Now that the century ride is over, I'm going back to running 5 days and cycling only a few times a month or when time permits. You are training plenty for 100 miler. I see in your log that you have about 4 days a week with nothing at all. Why not start a C25k program for those days. I did my very first 10k on April 13th. I don't see why you couldn't do a 10k by July if you start building up some miles now. Treadmill or outdoor, whatever you want. I do both. I don't think TM is cheating at all. You're still running. Good luck!!

I think you'll be fine finishing (rather than racing) a 10K, but otherwise concentrate on being slow and consistent.

Arla and Tom are right. Slow and steady. Recall a few years ago this cyclist named Lance something or another wanted to blow the dors down at NYC Marathon. He seemed pretty fit based on his cycling. His quote at the post race press conference while having ice bags taped to his lower legs and blisters on his feet was something like "running a marthon is a lot harder than I thought". Of course he was trying a sub 3 but still best way to avoid injury is slow and steady (I've been there and have that t-shirt)

Flybye - nice to see another cyclist on here. I got back into cycling last year (after 10+ years of being a couch potato) when a friend asked me to do a week long bike ride. I trained starting last January and then found out she couldn't go. That was a blessing in disguise, because the ride she wanted to do was way beyond me at that point. But, I didn't want the training to go to waste, so I convinced DH to do a 5 day 245 mile ride last July and we were hooked after that. This year we are signed up for a 6 day, 360 mile ride and I hope to be better prepared for it. In fact, I'm thinking we will have to watch our mileage, because it would be fun to be able to say we did 6 consecutive days of metric centuries! I started running last August (C25K) and found I was way out of shape in spite of the biking. Due to injury, I've just finished the C25k plan (again) and started the OHR. Even though I'm just a beginner, I would agree with the advice you have had here - go slow and increase mileage gradually. Being on the sidelines is no fun. I find that if I run first, I can still bike, but not the other way around. Most important: what kind of bike do you have?

I tried Specialized and Giant and just didn't feel comfortable on them. I finally bought the Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD and absolutely love it. I've had back issues over the years, and the more upright position is better for me in spite of what some of the bike shops told me. (I have 15 years on you, and I wanted to be comfortable!)