The Importance of Cross-Training

By Ira Yermish ira@yermish.com

Before you read any further, enter “Bone Density and Cycling” in your Google Search Box.

Have you clicked on a few of the articles? If so, read on.

I started cycling in my mid-30’s as part of some serious life-adjusting strategies that included a change of profession, serious weight loss, and new connections with singing and cycling. I found my place in front of a classroom, on stage and in the saddle. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like had I not made those changes. For years I cycled at least four times per week building my annual mileage up from a few thousand to nearly seven thousand. My teaching career made it easy. I loved cycling, especially when I found that I had some serious “endurance” genes. Fondly, I remember the younger folks yelling from the back of the train on the old Beast of the Yeast for me to slow the pace. I was obsessed with getting in those miles, logging and graphing them diligently on the computer.

Ten years ago I started dating Leah, a nationally ranked marathon runner. I escorted her to her races for a year before I broke down and bought a pair of running shoes. The complete story can be found at my blog-site (http://iraman.yermish.com) so I won’t go into the details here. I started running and it cost me cycling days. Then I read where each running mile was worth 3-5 cycling miles and my computer logs and annual increases in mileage were safe. I did my first 5K and finished just out of placing and I was hooked. The relationship didn’t last but the running did. Eventually, I found myself at the starting line of a triathlon and I became a true multi-sport athlete and that, as Robert Frost said, “has made all of the difference.”

When I first started running my friend Joan said I had cyclists legs. She was right. Over the next few years of cycling, running and then adding swimming has had a wonderful effect on my body. The Tanita scale kept me informed that not only was the weight right where I wanted it but so was the body-fat. The heart-rate monitor demonstrated that my resting heart rate was declining as the running speed-work increased.

It is about balance.

The old approach to running was miles, miles, and more miles. (Sound familiar cyclists?) I have friends who used to run 50 and more miles per week in the goal of that perfect marathon just as I knew that I had to bike 100 to 150 miles per week to reach my peak. After doing my first marathon I found myself concentrating on running, often doing it five or six times a week. I could see the improvement as my race times declined and that positive feedback can reinforce the obsession. In running, I was starting to do “garbage miles”, runs just to get miles.

I am obsessive about reading about cycling and running and triathlon. (No comments, please.)  There was a growing movement in running, especially for those over 40 that running more than three times a week made no improvement in race times, provided that the three runs were “purposeful”. For the long-distance runner the three runs were: Tempo, Track, and the nostalgically for this child of the 60’s, LSD (long-slow day). There is no need to go into the details here but the equivalents for cycling are those intervals, hill-repeats, and weekend centuries. In the pool, the same regimen applied. Each workout must have a purpose.

And so it is with cross-training. Perhaps the best summary that I’ve found, though from the running perspective, is in a recent book, Run Less Run Faster, by Pierce, Murr and Moss. The book outlines the FIRST (3plus2) approach for competitive runners but obviously applies to cyclists. The “3” refers to the number of days of running and the “2” represents the number of cross-training days but you can swap cycling for running for the same effect.

Here are their cross-training “Essentials”

• “Cross-training is typically defined as an exercise program that uses several modes of training to develop a specific component of fitness, in this instance, aerobic fitness.
• Each week, perform two cross-training workouts.
• Replace easy run [bike] days (junk mileage) with cross-training.
• Cross-training helps to reduce the risk of injuries.
• Cross-training allows for a tremendous volume of central circulatory training without overuse of a particular muscle group.
• Cross-training allows for a greater daily training intensity. Even though the same muscle groups are being used, they are being used differently.
• Non-weight-bearing cross-training activities give the legs and running muscles a well-deserved break, promoting recovery. [Obviously for cyclists, it is the weight-bearing exercises that comprise your cross-training activities.]
• Cross-training provides variety in the training regimen.
• Cross-training workouts can be based on time rather than distance.” [page 98]

I can’t promise (or even recommend) that you will become Ironman triathletes, but adding some time on the treadmill or elliptical, or some supervised lifting or energetic aerobics training, will make for a stronger body with fewer injuries.