You have a 1.5 weeks in the middle of your peak season to maintain fitness by ONLY cross training: what do you do?

aquajog.

Well to start you can go a lot longer on the bike; it is no where near as taxing of the aerobic system and you can recover a lot faster from a hard session. I think that alternating between interval sessions (any type of session you can think of) and steady state rides should help you maintain fitness pretty well. Also, I would suggest picking a single cross training discipline and sticking with it. It takes a few days to adjust to a new discipline, and during that time you won't get as much out of the workouts (because your muscles are holding you back).

Lastly, rowing on a rowing machine is a great form of cross training

aqua. jog.

thejeff wrote:

aqua. jog.

I'll try that. How about lifting? Worth it or waste of time?

Your season is over. Better luck next year.

Eliptical works pretty well if your foot doesn't hurt while doing it. I stayed in good running shape 8 weeks by only doing the elliptical during the week and racing every weekend.

I ran a HUGE 800 pr last year after having to xtrain for a week at the brink of my peak period. Hang in there and have faith that you can come back strong. The workouts sound like good quality stuff. Just do the best thing that can simulate the workouts you WOULD be doing if you could run on any particular day.

Lifting is definitely worth it.

If you can do it, I would us a combo of elliptical/rower/and aqua jogging. Use the elliptical for "base" and the rower for interval workouts (something like 8x500r/1min). The aqua jogging is just to retain a bit of muscle memory in regards to running.

Because xtraining is low impact, you can really notch it up and do hard workouts every day. In the past I've done stuff like:

Mon: 3hr elliptical HR 150+

Tues: 2hr elliptical HR 150+ followed by 8x500m r/1min on the erg

Wed: 1hr on elliptical "easy" (HR 140-50) + 30min "hard" (HR 175+) Erg: 3k/2k/1k w/4min rest

Thurs: 90min elliptical + 4x2k on the erg r/2min

Fri: 2.5hr on the elliptical HR 150+

Yes it sucks, but it definitely will keep you in shape. You might even get in better aerobic shape and once you get some speed back come back stronger than before...if you put in the work. Honestly 1.5wks is nothing, try doing it for 12.

Road bike. Small chainring only. 50-70 miles per day. Mix in 5-7 one block long all out hammer sessions in the smallest gear available to you.

How does this sound for the next four days?

Today: swim, ~1000y total

Tomorrow: 20-mile road bike

Saturday: 8x500m rowing

Sunday: 1.5-2 hour elliptical (depending on attention span)

Monday: hopefully return to running

untimely injury wrote:

How does this sound for the next four days?

Today: swim, ~1000y total

Tomorrow: 20-mile road bike

Saturday: 8x500m rowing

Sunday: 1.5-2 hour elliptical (depending on attention span)

Monday: hopefully return to running

I mean if you only have four days left it probably doesn't matter at this point. The erg will definitely give the best replication for hard interval workouts (even though the muscles are different). I knew lightweight rowers in college (myself included) who could run 4:30-4:35 with no running whatsoever.

Lifting = Impact.

Aquajogging = Zero Impact.

Lifting is great for long term performance and injury prevention, a few weeks before your A race is not the time to start, injury or no.

Assuming you are near peak fitness before the injury 10 days or so of no training at all won't have that much of an impact. How many hard sessions would you have done in that week and a half? Yes, you would feel a bit rusty for the first couple of days back but you would be surprised how little you will have lost. Psychologically it is very hard but all the science, and personal experience, tells us that you won't suffer chronic loss of fitness.

You can maintain fitness by doing a small fraction of the work needed to acquire that fitness just as a pan of water on a stove needs a lot of heat to raise it to boiling point but once there you can turn the heat right down and it will remain at boiling point. But, to repeat, it is mentally tough to do nothing or very little, possibly the hardest thing for any dedicated runner to do?