When we got hit by that ice storm a couple weeks back, running was impossible for a couple days so I broke out a jumprope in the garage to stay active. Surprisingly, I got a really good workout in and actually enjoyed it, so I've kept it up a couple days a week. Just shelled out $10 for a rope with weighted handles. Anybody else want to admit to jumping rope? Did it help your running at all?
Any tricks to keep it interesting once the novelty wears off?
I just finished a rope session. Not for running, but for boxing. I've found that it will work your muscles alot more than your metabolic systems. If you're training for a race 800 or below, it doesn't hurt. But there are so much better ways to crosstrain for running. If you can do an hour of steady jumping a day, and work your aerobic system well, then by all means go for it. But most people will end up infinitely better with an equal length session on a trainer. If you really like it though, I would suggest learning doubles, crossovers, and advanced patterns.
Jump rope is an awesome moderate-intense plyo workout; however I wouldn't recommend it to supplement an aerobic workout. I think it can benefit anyone from a short,fast sprint to a marathon. It helps recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers and teach or maintain firing of those motor neurons. It's also just a great way in general to work a lot of smaller muscles/tendons/ligaments and strengthen them (especially from the knees, down).
HOWEVER, the last thing you want to do is go get a jump-rope and then pound out a supplementary "cardio" workout. It's one thing to do 2-3 easy sets of something structured and build up in volume/intensity. But it's another thing to pound out a 45-60 minute session of jump rope. I learned this the heard way when I was stuck on a cruise ship for 12 days (it was more like a Russian vessel). It went to Antarctica and back. There were no treadmills or ellipticals and the ship wasn't big enough to run around on (besides the fact it was way too cold and windy). I decided to experiment with a jump-rope. But being an ignorant 20 year old who was pissed about not being able to train I decided to pump out 50 minutes. Long story short I woke up the next morning barely being able to walk because my calves were SO tight and cramped and I had broken down so many muscle fibers that weren't used to that movement or impact. I looked like an idiot hobbling around the islands - I pretty much wobbled like the penguins.
Haha yeah I tried an "easy" :75 early on and definitely regretted it the next morning. Fortunately I didn't have to explore Antarctica that day. I think I'm going to keep the experiment going though, mixing in "sprint" intervals and those fancier patterns if I can figure them out without tripping. I'm betting there's significant benefit to footstrike/turnover in developing all those lower leg fast-twitch fibers.