As a runner, have you ever been injured or wanted to substitute a running workout with bike workout?  Recently when training for my most recent half marathon training, my legs were tired but I still wanted to maintain my fitness.  I decided on a bike ride as a substitute, however, I wondered how many miles on my bike ride would equal one mile running? After doing research through multiple scientific papers and studies, 1 mile running approximately equals 3 miles cycling at equivalent effort levels.  Let’s look into some things to consider when replacing a running workout with cycling / biking and a comparison table to help you understand your cross-training workout.

Running Miles to Biking Miles Conversion Table 

For your next bike / cycling workout, we have created an easy to follow Running Miles to Biking Miles Conversion Table.

Figure 1. Running Miles to Biking Miles Conversion Table

3 Benefits of Replacing a Run With a Bike Workout

1. Injury Prevention

One of the greatest benefits to doing replacing a run workout with a bike workout is the injury prevention.  Because biking or cycling is a low impact sport as compared to running, it allows your joints and bones to recover from your running training.  During your runs you are constantly impacting your legs and body each time you take a stride. This repetitive impact causes muscles to become fatigued and results in a higher chance of injury.  Replacing one of your run workouts with a bike ride can allow your muscles to recover from this impact.  

2. Improved Fitness

Another great benefit of implementing cycling cross-training into your running training schedule is that it can improve your fitness.  There are multiple factors of bike cross-training that can improve your running. One of these factors is that because cycling is a low-impact sport you can combine your running workout with a cycling workout.  By implementing cycling into your run training schedule you can build muscle and endurance with methods other than running. Although it is similar, cycling actually utilizes muscles differently than running. The motion of pushing and pulling uses highly uses quadriceps and hamstrings.  This will build strength and help improve endurance.

3. Active Recovery

Active recovery is an important component in running training.  Active recovery is when you recover while being active rather than just resting.  This is especially effective when you are feeling fatigued and want to maintain your fitness.  Instead of completely taking the day off of running, you could do a beneficial cycling workout while letting your muscles recover from running impact.  Many studies show that active recovery can actually be more beneficial than static recovery because more blood will flow to your muscles and allow for faster recovery.  Make sure to listen to your body when determining the effort level of your cross-training.

3 Key Differences Between Run and Bike Training

1. Lower Body Workout

There are some differences to consider when substituting a cycling workout for a running workout.  Although running seems like purely a lower body workout, it is actually a whole body workout. When running you are constantly engaging your core, abs, and arms.  Conversely, biking utilizes mainly your lower body and does not build as much arm or core strength. If you plan on doing a bike workout in place of a running workout, it is beneficial to implement some core exercises to maintain your overall fitness.

2. Different Leg Muscles Used

As discussed previously, cycling uses muscles differently than running.  Because of this, you have to be cautious of not replacing too many workouts with cycling workouts because your body may start to build muscles more closely associated with biking.  Additionally, because the muscles used are not identical to running, the running-to-cycling ratio of 1:3 miles is not perfectly correlated. However, these cycling workouts are still beneficial to your running fitness.

3. Outdoor Biking vs Stationary Biking

One consideration that is not commonly addressed is the difference between outdoor biking and stationary biking and how that affects the running-to-cycling ratio.  In outdoor biking, there are many times you are able to use your momentum (without pedaling) to move. Whereas, stationary biking required you to pedal constantly without many breaks.  Comparing this to running, you are not able to move without striding. Therefore, stationary biking is more closely representative of running due to the constant leg motion.  Additionally, the running to cycling 1:3 mile ratio more representative with stationary biking. 

How To Determine The Best Pace for Cross-Training

So, you may be asking yourself what is the best way to determine the pace I should go for cycling cross training.  Because running and cycling paces do not correlate directly, it is more effective to use effort levels. Therefore, if this is a recovery ride you should be pretty comfortable to moderate pace.  Listen to how your body is feeling to determine your effort level. If your legs are tired from the workout in the previous day’s you should take it easy on your cross-training. One thing to keep in mind for cross-training is that you do not want to push yourself too hard.  Cross-training is mainly used for recovery or supplemental training. For beginners you should try to make this area of training the fun part of it. A helpful tip is to find some training partners and do your cross training together. This works especially well because no matter how advanced you are, you are able to train together.  So, for your next cross-training adventure grab a training buddy get a great workout on the stationary bike.

Verdict

One mile running is equivalent to approximately three miles cycling or biking.  As long as you consider the slight differences between the two workouts, the 1:3 running-to-cycling ratio is effective in calculating the equivalent mileage of your next cycling cross-training workout.