Returning from injuries better than before

I will add that, as had been stated by others, I am also able to produce huge amounts of sweat on the bike. The workouts can be very intense. I do not particularly like one-minute bursts (and speed work in general, either running or biking), and so I have used longer blocks of high intensity, anywhere from five to 30 minutes. This makes for a good sweat, and it something that I can tolerate.

Before I forget: I have found the recumbent bike to be much more comfortable. Even if my injury did not include areas of my buttock, I would still ride the recumbent stationary bike.

I found the key on the bike is high rpms. 100-110 seems to be the sweet spot where i can get the HR up and maintain it for quite a while without frying the quads. This is great for longer "T" intervals and steady state stuff. for shorter stuff, i can up the gears and shoot for the mid 90s but too much of this and the HR starts stabilizing cause i don't have the power to turn the gears.

To the guy who wants to ride outside. it's tough to do these kinds of workouts unless you live in a rural area. Any slowing to maneuver around people makes the HR drop really quickly which is a key difference from running.

Agree, great thread.

Is backstretch the OP still around?

Excellent points, spinhore.

I have been thinking of increasing my cadence. I have been in the 85-95 range. I will do a bike session tomorrow, and I will dial down the resistance a notch or two and shoot for a cadence of 100-110...and see what happens. My coach cross-trains for triathlons, and so this whole cross-training thing interests me as a runner. Can I get faster if I have my coach insert 1-2 days per week of stationary biking? He has put in 2-3 days per week in an effort to deal with my injury. Now that I am healing, I am wondering how we should move forward into a regular training schedule.

Just got back from the gym. I applied some of the principles described in this thread. Had an excellent workout. Again, the 20 x 1 stuff is not my cup of tea, but this workout was pretty intense nonetheless. It was done on a recumbent stationary bike that has level settings from 1-20.

first 10 minutes at level 10, cadence mostly 90-100

next 15 minutes at level 11, cadence mostly 90-100

next 25 minutes level 12, cadence mostly 85-90

next 3 minutes level 13, cadence mostly 82-84

next 4 minutes level 12, cadence mostly 84-88

final 3 minutes lève 11, cadence mostly 89-92

The first 10 minutes I think of as more or less steady warm-up, and the next 15 is sold/steady aerobic work. For me, the third block is the key--it is like my "5k" block. It seems similar to 5k pace in terms of intensity, and I want it to span at least the length (in time) of a 5k (my 5k PR is 18:57). I was not thinking of going to level 13 today, but as I approached the 50:00 mark, thought: push it for just 2-3 minutes. This three minutes really worked me. I bounced back a little though in that final three minutes at level 11.

Some other thoughts...I also did a negative split in this workout, as I was at 9.76 miles at the 30:00 mark, and 19.70 miles at the 60:00. I actually went a little beyond 60:00 just to get to 20 miles. Sometimes it is little things like this that make a difference psychologically. The negative split felt good, too.

I recommend this workout, or something like it, for those of you who may be coming off of an injury or for those who simply want to get away from the pounding for a day...especially those who tend to not like conventional interval sessions. I basically "went as I felt," and so I did not feel the pressure of "Oh no, here comes another 6:00 pace interval." Further, for those who love progression runs (I surely do), you will enjoy this workout. It is basically a progression, as it "progresses" for 50 minutes.

I think this workout useful, and so I will start a new thread with it. Thanks for all the ideas in this thread.

Great thread...just found this thread after a lower calf injury, probably soleus m, that will keep me out of running for the next 2 weeks or so.

If its good enough for Zersenay Tadese.....

"Tadese’s first love was cycling. "I dreamed of being a cycling professional with one of the great teams in Europe,” he said. “I would have loved to have ridden in a big race like the Tour de France. I won a number of races, mainly over distances of 30km to 50km.” However, this was no preparation for European races, held over longer distances.

“My success at cycling suggested to some local athletics people that I might have good stamina and they invited me to compete in a race,” Tadese said. “I won that and I did well in my following races, so I carried on running." He began training seriously in 2002 and he considers his background in cycling to be fundamental to his development as an athlete, helping to build his endurance base."

http://www.iaaf.org/news/news/tadese-a-man-for-all-surfaces-world-half-ma

Will spin bike work as well as an upright bike for cross training?

There are also [/u]North York chiropractor[/b] that can help with any injuries. Leg injuries are pretty common and they can help with certain adjustments to avoid more problems.https://brightpathhealth.ca/team/

This post is now 14 years old. I really like the biking program prescribed and wonder if anyone else has found success. Also if anyone's opinions have changed over the years on what the best way to maintain or even build fitness when injured.

Bump

I've been looking for this thread for years now, and I've been meaning to thank the author of this training. I used this my senior year of high school when I was out injured from late December through March. Some bits were tweaked to add some more volume, but it was virtually the same as what's been posted here. That said, I can testify that this does work. About 8 weeks off the bike and this training regimen I ran 1:47--a solid PR and I time I could not beat for almost 2 years.

For people feeling discouraged with injuries or unsure whether cross training works, I promise you, it does. You can get fitter and you can come back stronger. You just have to work for it a bit.

Best of luck to whoever uses this next and thank you to the coach who shared his/her wisdom here. Much appreciated from a guy who benefited greatly from it.

Dude. Same. Literally looked this up again as I have had the post screen shotted from my first stress fracture. It’s pretty brutal but it does work for sure. I didn’t run any 1:47 but I did make it to state. Glad to see someone else still looked at it recently lol. This post is a classic.

also. Is backstretch still around? Seems like a great coach.

I don't understand why more people don't do this; I tend to train harder when injured than I do when healthy.

Sure, you might not enjoy the bike at first, but you can find ways to make it enjoyable (go outside for example) or find a similar activity that's more agreeable.

Anyway, after my last injury, I did a cycling version of Jakob's training. Double threshold is much more manageable on a bike.

What is the best way to return to running after training like this?

Love this thread, I had a mild hamstring injury but have kept up my workouts on the stationary bike through out.

Now I have no more symptons of my injury and there is no tenderness/discomfort anywhere in the hamstring area but am now unsure how to return to running. I have a simple training plan ealry in fall marathon training. So 3 easy/base runs, 1 workout at 5k pace, 1 workout at tempo/marathon pace and 1 long run for the next few weeks. Im assumings it unwise to jump right back into all running?

Would it be better to keep doing the hard days on the bike and start with the easy days running or keep the base days on the bike and do the hard workouts running to get better aclimated?

Bump

Is this still accurate 18 years later?

Bump