- The relationship between your bike cadence
and your cadence running off the bike
is a subject that's been debated for years in triathalon.
- Yeah, it's commonly said that your bike cadence
needs to match your running cadence so that your muscles
are prime and ready to run straight off the bike.
- Well, it has been proven that running
with a slightly high cadence is more efficient.
So should we be cycling with a cadence in line with that?
Well, the issue is some people prefer to cycle
with a lower cadence, but is that,
then, impacting their run off?
- Well, that's why we're here at Team Bath,
and we're gonna be using the help
of head physioligist Jonathan Robinson
to help us shed some light on this.
Now, I'm afraid to say, Mark,
we're gonna be the guinea pigs.
(upbeat rock music)
- Okay, whilst Heather is getting set up behind me,
let's run through what we are going to be doing today.
And given that there's only two of us
with a relatively limited amount of time,
we're gonna be condensing the experiment
into very short but intense brick sessions.
Going straight from a 10 minute bike
to a five minute run off.
And Heather's gonna be doing that
at her half Ironman intensity whilst I'm
gonna be doing it at my sprint distance intensity.
I think we're gonna be doing three experiments each.
And we're gonna hold our number run cadence of around
170 steps per minute throughout all the tests
but we're gonna change our bike cadence.
We're gonna do one test with our bike cadence quite low,
around 65 rpm, we're gonna do one where we match
our run cadence, so around 85 rpm,
and then, finally, we'll do one with
a high cadence on the bike, around 105 rpm.
So we really do cover both ends of the spectrum.
And to make things fair, we're gonna do them
in completely different orders.
Heather is gonna start with a high cadence
and I'm gonna start with a low cadence.
And you may be wondering what we're
going to be recording for our analysis.
Well, to be honest, given that
there haven't really been any solid
scientific findings on this subject,
we're just gonna record everything from VO2,
heart rate, perceived effort of exertion, and even lactate.
And, perhaps, one or more of those
will help us draw our own conclusions.
(upbeat electronic music)
- Well, Jonathan has very kindly
put the results together for us, and done a bit of analysis.
But there was so much for us to look at,
we decided it was best to come back here
to the studio where we can take our time
and have a look properly.
- Yeah, and obviously, there were only
two of us and we crammed a heck of a lot
into a short space of time.
So this is hardly the most accurate experiment,
but it will be interesting to see what it shows.
But before we look at any data,
let's talk about how it felt.
So how did you find the different bike cadences?
- Well, obviously, I had the slightly easier test anyway,
and doing half Ironman pace for just ten minutes,
none of it felt that hard.
I did start with the high cadence,
which is a bit of a shock to the system on the bike.
But it it did mean when I went to the run
that running at that pace on the treadmill,
it felt fairly comfortable.
As for the 85 rpm, it all felt fairly comfortable.
But, interestingly, the lower cadence on the bike
actually felt the easiest, but then
when it came to the run, it did feel
a little bit sluggish to get going.
Mixed feelings, what about yours?
- Yeah, well, obviously, I started with the low cadence.
And the obvious part was when I ran off,
I just felt like I was stomping the treadmill.
I really struggled to find the rhythm on the run.
And then, on the 85 rpm, to be honest,
that's really my preferred cadence anyway,
so I just felt really at home and
really comfortable on that.
And then, with the the high cadence,
admittedly, I was probably pretty tired by then.
So I think it just all felt quite hard.
My RPE was higher on both the bike and the run.
But it will be interesting to see what the data shows.
So, should we take a look? - Yeah, Let's have a look.
Well, starting off, we're just gonna
look at the data from the cycling.
And, interestingly, I had a lower
VO2 score for the lower cadence.
- [Mark Threlfall] Yeah, likewise, I actually had
a lower VO2 with the low cadence, and then,
my highest VO2 was with the highest cadence.
And then, the matching cadence, that's
somewhere between the two.
- Yeah, I think I was pretty similar
to that as well, actually.
- Yeah, and that's funny.
So basically, our bodies are running
more efficiently when we're riding at a lower cadence.
And, perhaps, we are just better-trained
at the lower cadence, that's our preferred riding style.
- Yeah, but anyway, we wanted to find out
how the changing cadence affected our runs,
so let's have a look at those results.
Well, there you can see my VO2 started low
on the run after the low cadence.
But then, quite quickly, it started to go up dramatically.
And when I did the high cadence,
it was the completely opposite way around.
- Yeah, mine did exactly the same.
And maybe it's because we're working
our muscles harder on the bike with the low cadence.
So, eventually it catches up with us,
which is a bit like what you said.
Perhaps, if we extended the bike length,
that we would have seen it on the bike.
And other than a slight increase in my VO2
with the low cadence when I got on to the run,
my other VO2 scores were pretty close.
So it does all really come down to your personal preference.
- Yeah and I could actually get
some of my results to support that
because 85 rpm is my personal preference, as is yours, Mark.
And on the run, from that, my heart rate
was lowest, my perceived effort was lowest,
and my lactate, even though, for my distance,
it was very small margins, it was still noticeable.
- Yeah, and one other thing I noticed,
having done the low cadence first,
was just how much fatigue I felt in my muscles.
It was almost like I'd been in the gym
doing squats or dead lifts.
So I definitely know I won't be choosing
the low cadence for my racing.
Well, as expected, we don't really have a definitive answer,
but what was really interesting
was just how efficient the low cadence
appeared to be, and then, it all switched,
and turned out to be the less efficient.
Especially when we got later on into the run.
It just really kicked up.
- Yeah, well, that brings us back to the 85 rpm.
And maybe we're a little biassed because
that's what we cycle at and then run at,
but I think it does match that theory
that if you're cycling at the same cadence,
it is then naturally easier to run
at that cadence when you get off the bike.
- So I guess our recommendation would be
to test it yourself.
And an ideal opportunity to do that in is a brick session.
You can do different cadences and then run off.
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- And whilst we're on the topic,
if you want to watch a video on running cadence,
just click here.
- And we have a great little video on
Draught Legal Triathlon, comparing
clip-on bars versus on the drops.
And you can see that by clicking here.