Cycling vs Running

If you guys didn’t already know, I do compete in running and train cycling as well. I’ve been doing long-distanced running for about 2 years now. I’m not entirely new to it, I was a track and field sprinter during my high school years that competed in the 800m, 1500m, and 3000m races. I wanted to make a comeback to track and field originally, but I couldn’t find events to do, so that lead me to take up long-distanced running. Performance cycling was started at the conclusion of the 2022 Honolulu Marathon. I wasn’t new to riding a bike, I started to do it as an activity in 2018 when I lived in Los Angeles, well its a huge city, and things are way too spread out to be walking around there and the traffic is horrendous, so I avoided using public transit as much as possible unless it was to use the rail system there, then I continued on with the bike to get to my final destination where I was going that particular day. Performance cycling is a completely different matter though. Since I was so unhappy with my running performance in the Honolulu Marathon, I took a look at what actually happened during the race that caused me to complete it in 5 hours and 37 minutes instead of running a sub-4 hour race. My legs didn't have enough total mileage on it to run this kind of race. It takes a completely different level of training to do that. That made me bring cycling into the training to cross-train, I definitely had to invest on a capable bike to do the job, Walmart bikes just don’t cut it, they break easily, and isn’t made for doing that kind of training I was looking to do, so that lead me to buy a Trek Marlin 7 MTB, then later on, a used Cannonade CAAD 10 105 to take care of that, I was lucky to find that bike on the Facebook Marketplace for such a cheap $650 deal, those new road bikes costs $3,000 now for a Shimano 105 group set on the bike. Alright, back to the performance, cycling allows me to get in a ton of aerobic base training, and easy mileage on the legs, without the impact to the joints that running does. Its not the same work rate as running, but it preserves my joints. Running as only the feet as the support point takes up more energy to do than cycling does. The other day, I did 26.2 miles cycling, then ran 9 miles. I took a look at the caloric burn for those activities, I burned 1,300 calories for that ride, running 9 miles burned up 900 calories, its more work to run than it is to cycle, it’s the truth. I just told you why. If you cycle for intensity and speed, you’ll use up more energy to maintain the speed of the bike, running is just constant. There’s also a 253% inflammation rate with running, so you’re bound to get some kind of inflammation from running, its how it goes in that sport. I’m very selective with my training when it comes to running, I run when my body feels good to do it, I end up staying on the saddle for most of my training sessions. When it comes to CIM in Sacramento come December 3, 2023, I’ll be ready to go and do the best I can do. My advice to you guys when it comes to sports like this especially with running, train smart and listen to your body, don’t overdo it, it’s not worth getting hurt over a Boston Marathon qualification time or the Olympics. Push yourself and challenge yourself, its the only way you’ll grow, improve, and get better, but regulate yourself as well, its your responsibility as the athlete to make sure you’re getting results you’re looking for and training safe.