Have you considered cross training?

The beauty of coaching is that there are several right ways to train an athlete to reach their fullest potential. Some athletes thrive on high miles while others struggle to stay healthy when the road miles increase. A lot of us do not have access in training to AlterG treadmills or soft surface running paths. As a result, we see runners experience injuries during their training programs when mileage increases.  If you are someone who struggles to stay healthy when your miles go up in training, consider replacing a few runs during the week with a cross training workout. Examples of these types of workouts are swimming, biking, elliptical, pool running, or anything low impact that will give you close to the same aerobic benefits without the same pounding on your body.  The most important thing you can remember going into a cross training workout is that you want to sustain a higher heart rate for a significant amount of time. The goal of these workouts are to compliment your running goals. Here is an example of one of my athletes who trains for marathons while incorporating cross training into her routine. This last cycle we had her workout 6 days a week. She ran 4 days, biked for 2 days and then took Sundays completely off.   In previous cycles I had trained her 5-6 days a week of just running with the occasional cross training workout here and there. Over the last few years she has qualified for Boston and has achieved plenty of success. However, she also ran into a few overuse injuries along the way. It was a great chance for us to come together and build a new strategy for how we could train her more effectively in the future so she could reach her goals while having a better shot at staying healthy. This time around, she felt healthier and stronger than ever. She shaved nearly 14 minutes off her marathon time and benefited from the cross training in her routine.  There isn’t one plan that fits all in this sport. I encourage anyone interested in changing their training regimen to seek out a running coach before doing so. Whether you are running 60 miles a week or running 30 miles with cross training mixed in there, you will benefit from an unbiased person writing your program ensuring you are doing things that make the most sense for your overall health and running goals. The best thing any runner can do is listen to your body and remember to train smarter not harder. Good luck! *Spewak Training coaches are accepting new clients. Please feel free to reach out to us contact@spewaktraining.com to learn more about our training services.*