{"id":110836,"date":"2025-09-01T13:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T13:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/110836\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T13:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T13:25:08","slug":"how-to-balance-running-and-cycling-on-the-same-day-without-burning-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/110836\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Balance Running and Cycling on the Same Day \u2013 Without Burning Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve laced up for a morning run and pencilled in a cycling session later, but does doubling your running and cycling on the same day improve fitness<\/a>, or just leave you exhausted?<\/p>\n

The short answer is: it depends how you do it. Both running and cycling<\/a> will put additional stress on your body, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Exercise is a form of physical stress which causes your body to adapt and get fitter. Running<\/a> and cycling are both cardiovascularly demanding. Programmed strategically, they can improve endurance, performance and VO2 max<\/a>. Programmed haphazardly, they can tank both performance and recovery. <\/p>\n

\"Play\"manThe Benefits of Running and Cycling on the Same Day<\/p>\n

Subbing some of your running volume for cycling won’t harm your aerobic fitness according to research<\/a>. A study involving distance runners found that replacing 50% of their running volume with cycling over a five\u2011week recovery phase did not significantly change their 3,000\u202fmetre times or estimated VO2 max compared to runners who trained solely by running. In other words, mixed running and cycling training preserved aerobic capacity. So if you are aiming to decrease your running volume, adding in cycling instead won’t hinder your aerobic fitness.
<\/p>\n

What to read nextAvoid These Cross-Training Mistakes<\/p>\n

According to ultrarunner and coach Lee Grantham<\/a>, the priority should always be running. ‘Prioritise the running. Run first. And then if you’re going to cycle later in the day, for me, it works six hours later. Second best is three hours later. And the next best is immediately after I finish a recovery run or an easy run.’<\/p>\n

Grantham adds, ‘And if I’m cycling, as I should be in zone one [or] zone two, I’m just building that aerobic base at high cadence. And as long as I don’t go too far and I keep it short enough, then I’m actually enhancing the recovery because you’re still pushing oxygen rich blood around the muscles.’<\/p>\n

That means if you’re running and cycling on the same day, save your energy for interval<\/a> sessions and long runs, and treat cycling as aerobic support, not a replacement.<\/p>\n

‘If you get this right, it’s literally free mileage and pretty fun as well,’ concludes Grantham. ‘You’re adding the aerobic base from cycling without the pounding and the same level of muscle breakdown.’<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/p>\n

You can run and cycle on the same day, but you need to pay closer attention to intensity, timing and recovery. Run first where possible, or push the intensity in just one session, leaving at least three to six hours between the two. Refuel with carbs<\/a> and protein<\/a> in-between, and prioritise a solid night\u2019s sleep to recover from a heavy training day.<\/p>\n

Related Stories\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Kate is a fitness writer for Men\u2019s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men\u2019s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn\u2019t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019ve laced up for a morning run and pencilled in a cycling session later, but does doubling your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,2372,79374,784,430,429,79373,85],"class_list":["post-110836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-content-type-default","tag-contentid-3fc53045-36d9-430f-9489-fe0a3407b4bb","tag-cycling","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-how-to-balance-running-and-cycling-on-the-same-day","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}