Cross training+low base mileage

Aqua jogging,exercise bike,gym circuit/light weight training. This may supplement strength and stamina.

For all the miles you should be doing that you can't..try and spend 1.5-2xs the amount of time you would spend running in spin class or in the pool. Worked for me last year, had my best fall ever.

Stairmaster and eliptical work really well. If you bike, get on a stationary and have the resistence set pretty high so you have to work hard. As said before, double the time you would have been running.

All the aforementioned have been pretty good suggestions.

Another might be nordic track on a time basis. Be careful on doubling the time,build gradually.

Either way make sure the "problem " has been corrected so you do not become a repeat offender.

You didn't state whether you are starting from ground zero or are currently at some point in training volume. Instead of increasing 10% I would increase your volume by less than that. Mix up your volume ( think time more than distance) on a daily basis so that you are not doing the same volume daily. This allows recovery and variety. Again you didn't mention what type of injury you had but be patient remember the cardiovacular system comes along alot faster than the musculoskeletal system so be disciplined enough to hold back a bit to allow proper adaptation of the tendons. Good luck to a great summer of prep work!

to run at a high level it doesn't take a lot of running just some work, i found that just doing some swimming worked great. it is a great cardio workout especially for runners who spend there time their time working into a good heart rate. i would go for a good hard short jog followed by some freestyle swimming winding down with some time just treating water. for a cooldown i would run again that way i would still get a few decent miles of running in

rippy cripple wrote:

Stairmaster and eliptical work really well. If you bike, get on a stationary and have the resistence set pretty high so you have to work hard. As said before, double the time you would have been running.

I would say it's better to have a moderate resistance on the stationary bike and pedal at a quick cadence (90-100 RPM). This is from personal experience rather than scientific rationale but possibly due to getting the legs working at a similar level to the commonly accepted 180 strides/min turnover and reducing the likelihood of adding bulk to the upper leg muscles which is very possible using high resistance on the bike.

Point well stated. Muscle recruitment is different than running as well.

IceCold wrote:

I would say it's better to have a moderate resistance on the stationary bike and pedal at a quick cadence (90-100 RPM). This is from personal experience rather than scientific rationale but possibly due to getting the legs working at a similar level to the commonly accepted 180 strides/min turnover and reducing the likelihood of adding bulk to the upper leg muscles which is very possible using high resistance on the bike.

I normally go between 95-100 rpm but I also have the resistence high so I am working very hard. I still think biking is not nearly as good for crosstraining as the stairmaster though. The stairmaster is my first choice.

I have been biking primarily for two years and have not gained any "bulk". Most runners gain their "bulk" from biking around their mid-section, not from more muscular legs.