People who cycle and run

[ShinyHatStand]

What would you consider the cycling equivalent of running a marathon?

DS2 has challenged himself to run marathon distance and I'd like to use this to motivate myself to extend my cycling range.
What would you consider a reasonable match?

I've wondered this so watching with interest. Great question.

Watching with interest!

100 miles

About 150 km

I agree, 100 miles.

Oh crap.
Based on his half marathon time I reckon with a bit more training ds could do a marathon distance in about 5.5 hours.
But based on my 50 mile time, 100 miles would take me about 8 hours and I'm not sure I could physically sit on a bike for that long let alone pedal.

Maybe I could claim an old person's discount and do 80miles?

I agree it's usually considered to be a century and yes it can take a long time. You will get used to longer hours in the saddle during training.

I've done both and agree 100 miles is about the same as a marathon. It's quite relative though. For both it's a case of building up gradually.
The cycling side, split it up mentally into 25 mile sections, take mini breaks and adjust position frequently.
If you can eat / drink whilst on the bike then that's good.

Thanks all

Bib shorts with a decent chamois are v.important.

Yeah about 100 miles sounds about right i think x

It depends very much on the bike and the terrain and the level of exertion. I cycle and run so have some direct comparisons.

I built up to 50 miles on a road bike after about 10 rides and it was not especially challenging. I could probably have done a 50 third time out but wanted to ease into cycling. I still struggle to run 10miles without absolutely blowing out of my arse by the end.

For reference 9kg road bike with 25mm slick tyres. In my opinion a 26 mile run would equate to a circa 150-200 mile road ride depending on wind speed and elevation.

However do not assume that once you do one you will be able to do the other. They involve very different movements.

Thanks @JellyBabiesFan
I can't run which is why I have no way of comparing.
I think I need to focus on improving my speed over mid range distances so I can get through the miles faster.
At the moment I'm just too slow to contemplate anything beyond 100miles.

And good point about the bike. I'm on a hybrid, which def makes a difference.

JellyBabiesFan makes a really good point about the terrain. Where I live has few hills, so 100 miles is a different prospect to say someone in Yorkshire. It does get windy though.
British Cycling has a 100 mile training plan on their website which was free to download. I used it for my first 100 miler.

As both a runner and cyclist I would say there isn't really an equivalent because running is so much tougher on your body

I've run 3 marathons and cycled 2 x 100 mile sportives

In terms of the training required and effort on your body the sportives were a walk in the park compares to the marathons!

I'm not saying the sportives weren't tough and I didn't feel a huge sense of achievement at the end but it wasn't comparable to how your body feels after running a marathon

I'd agree that 100 miles is probably the closest equivalent.

I have run a number of full marathons as well as loads of halfs (albeit a long time ago ). The thing i like about half marathons is that I can could pretty much run them on a modicum of training I was younger then using my basic fitness. But marathons required proper concentrated training. If I didn't feel like going out for a run while training for a half, that was ok - I'd just end up doing a slower time - but in order to complete a full marathon, you need to go out for all your training runs.

I've completed a 56 mile cycle ride (Glasgow-Edinburgh, plus getting to/from Glasgow Green) on not much training (6 miles a day, cycling to/from work) - but suffered for it the following day(s).

Ditto with a day cycle touring in France from St Malo to Mont St Michel where we were forced into a 15 mile detour Suffered the following day - but was ok the day after to go to Dinard from St Malo.

I'd want to be doing 50+ miles regularly on the bike before doing a 100 mile ride, but provided I'd put the miles in, it's do-able.

DH, mad cyclist, is saying 200 miles probably as equivalent. Not least Because he dislikes running. That's at his pace so would be about 8 hours of riding. First he said a 12 hour ride, but then decided that was actually a bit too much. So 100 miles in OP's 8 hours is sounding similar...

You could just do a fixed route in laps for 5.5-6 hours at a similar % of peak HR, if you want to compare, so do it TT style, maintaining the avg power/HR output the whole time to correspond with what your H. will do.

You have power meters & heart monitors, right?

I'm more of a runner than a cyclist. I've done maybe 10 or so marathons and an ultra, but I have very little cycling experience.
Last year I signed up for the London Classics - if you aren't familiar with them it's Swim Serpentine (2 mile open water swim), London Marathon and Ride London 100. You don't have to do it all in one year and the bike ride was my missing event, and it was cancelled due to covid. They put it on virtually at the last minute so I just rode it with minimal training (I'd probably only been on my bike about half a dozen times in the last year, and never for longer than 35 miles). It took about 8 hours, including coffee and cake stops.
I did similar for my first marathon in terms of the lack of training but walking the next day was much much harder despite being about 15 years younger. Knowing how to eat during an endurance event is totally transferable between sports and makes the most massive difference to your performance and recovery:

• don't be on a diet. If you are on a diet, come off it a couple of weeks before. You should be maintaining weight not losing.
• carb loading is really important at this level. Eat your carbs the day before and morning of the event (and rehearse it, with your long runs/rides, so you know what you can stomach)
• eat and drink your carbs during the event. For cycling I alternated between bottles of zero cal hydration drink, water and lucozade. Then add snacks aiming for 100 cal/hour. Swap between sweet and salty so you don't get fed up of eating.
• eat as soon as you can face it after the event. Have a protein rich meal.
• walk around after.

I know that wasn't so much what you asked but it honestly made the century so much more achievable for me and I really enjoyed doing it, and still felt good even during the last 25 miles. And I didn't know that stuff when I started running and did things like run a whole marathon just drinking water, and wondered why I felt so shocking for a week afterwards. Good luck with your challenge!

100 miles on a hybrid would be much harder than 100 miles on a road bike so I reckon based off effort you could knock it down to 80! Your mph average will be at least 3mph less than for the same effort I reckon.

Definitely you'd need padded shorts.

I'm now researching buying a road bike 😁

And googling to find out what a power meter is 😁

And generally feeling out of my depth 😁

i don't have power meter or interest in one, either, I was teasing... :)