by Paul Hayes
Welcome to Cross-Train! This section will be devoted to how cross-training impacts running. As of right now I plan on exploring common methods of cross-training, specifically the two I know best: swimming and weight training. I am certainly willing to research and put information together on anything else that anyone is curious about (yoga, cycling, core workouts, whatever), but I need people to express those interests in the comments section, so please leave feedback. Each method that is explored will have at least one post explaining how/why it helps with running, and at least one post giving the tools and knowledge for you to go out and try it. Because of my own background of over a decade of swimming experience, as of right now there will be more posts about swimming, and swimming posts will be more detailed.
As for answers to the questions on the front page post, the simple answer is swimming. Both the Ritz and Hoey families have all swam competitively at some point, and from personal knowledge I know that Jaxson and Josh, as well as Sam Ritz get in the pool at least once per week in season. I’m speculating a tad here, but I have to imagine that Jaxson got in the pool more often while dealing with his broken foot, in order to try to keep his aerobic fitness levels up. It’s important to note that any exercise in the water has virtually zero-impact upon joints, bones, and ligaments. This is why doctors recommend aqua-jogging to aid recovery, and why I end up watching a bunch of arthritis-ridden elderly folks do simple exercises in the water every morning (I get paid to watch and make sure they don’t die. Lifeguarding is a pretty sweet deal). Ritz on the other hand, I have to believe/speculate/theorize that he uses the pool to recover from hard workouts or races. A light swimming workout is an excellent way to speed up recovery, as evidenced by a study here, swimming can aid recovery by 14% on average. Consider again that Sam Ritz has easy access to the pool at Germantown Academy, and now it’s more reasonable that he’s able to race 3x per week, or have two good races in a weekend that he flies across the country twice.
Again, let me know what you guys are interested in, what you do or don’t like, or whether or not anybody even reads this in the comments section below.
Coming soon: Why runners should swim, part 1: Recovery
sounds like an awesome idea!
ReplyDeleteLove it!! Was considering doing something like this for a while, but I am so happy it will be coming from an expert.
ReplyDeleteThank you Paul!
--ForrestCRN
I think all you have to do is look at photos of Alan Webb. I'm just guessing he didn't get this way by only running.
ReplyDeletehttp://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/2012/olympics/2012/writers/tim_layden/06/22/alan-webb-dathan-ritzenhein-2012-olympic-track-and-field-trials/alan-webb.jpg
You would be correct. Webb: weight trained, swam, pool ran, etc.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/the-x-factor
I tried swimming last summer as cross training. I'm very bad at swimming and my goal by the end of the summer was to be able to swim a mile in under 40 minutes. What are swimming workouts that you recommend for a novice swimme for cross trainingr?
ReplyDeleteSo this is a pretty general question that I will be answering through a couple full-length posts later.
DeleteThe short answer still depends on your overall goal, so i'll put two different sets up here. Set 1 assumes the only goal is to lower mile swim time, while set 2 is a better example of a runner's swim workout, focusing on aerobic work and a leg-driven workout.
Set 1:
Take your goal time for the mile and work the math out for how fast each 100 yards (or meters) would need to be using either your own math skills, or just using an online tool such as this one http://www.swimbikerun.net.nz/sbr/Calculators/SwimmingPaceCalculator . Add ~ 20% to the goal pace and make that your interval. Do as many 100's on this interval while holding no more than 5s slower than goal pace until you fail. For example, if your goal time is 30:00, your pace in yards would be 1:40 and your interval would be 2:00. This means that you would start the first 100, try to finish it in anywhere in 1:38-1:45, and exactly 2:00 after the start of the first 100, the second 100 starts. Once you fail to make the time, you're done, you can cool down and leave. (but if you've done like 20 or more, than feel free to cool down and leave, with pace times re-evaluated for the next workout).
Set 2: (These are suggestions that you can just play around with, change the order of, whatever)
3x200 kick on stomach with head down, breathing only as necessary, working at a moderate effort level (enough to feel as though your doing some work, but not killing your legs).
2-3 rounds of 4x50 hypoxic breathing on 15s rest. This means on the first 50 you breathe every 3 strokes, on the second 50 every 5, then 7, then 9, then take an extra 1-2 minutes betwen rounds.
6 x underwater dolphin kick as far as possible on initial breath from wall.
Full posts with detailed explanations for some of these workouts, as well as more workouts are to come later.
Also I should mention that an easy warm-up of anywhere from 300-700 yards easy is recommended to activate muscles before starting main sets. Cool downs should be anywhere from 100-400 yards of easy swimming. Both warm-up and cool down are good times to incorporate other strokes or just kinda do whatever you need to feel ready for a workout.
Thanks so much for the feedback so far and I'm a little embarrassed to say that i didn't even know that about Alan Webb, so thanks for pointing that out to me!
-Paul Hayes