The indoor cycling craze seems to be here to stay. Classes are packed and most gyms have spin bikes available to use for independent workouts outside the cycling studio. These non-impact cardio-focused workouts can compliment your running and maybe even increase your fitness level.
Knowing how to incorporate indoor cycling into your training schedule isn’t always clear. Work too hard in class and you might ruin the next day’s training run. Spend too much time on the bike and you may not get in enough miles to support your running goals.
Here are the best ways to incorporate one weekly indoor cycling class into your training schedule:
1. As recovery after a hard workout: Give yourself just enough resistance on the bike that you feel in control of the pedals while spinning out the legs. You’ll want to focus on keeping the effort level low to moderate to facilitate recovery.
2. To improve cardiovascular fitness after taking time off from running: You’ll most likely be able to keep the intensity higher for longer periods of time while on the bike than you can while running. Work hard on the bike using both climbing and sprint intervals with periods of recovery between hard efforts. A typical indoor cycling class is great for this.
3. To replace one running workout with a non-impact workout: Riding out of the saddle correlates more to running fitness than riding in the saddle does. If you want your indoor-cycling workout to replace one of your weekly runs, you’ll have to spend as much time out of the saddle as possible while on the bike.
This article first appeared on Women’s Running. Check out my other posts for Women’s Running here.
I love this article! Very helpful for spinners everywhere (which is most people) and love that it was all about fitting fitness into a busy schedule, something that is hard to do but everyone seems to need to do it!