Cross Training

by Dathan Ritzenhein | Feb 01, 2010 |

Over the past few months I have had a few questions about injuries and what I do to stay fit, so I wanted to dedicate this blog to cross training.

I always seem to come back from injuries better than ever, and I feel I have a pretty good grasp on what it takes to get back to peak form quickly. I think when I am done running I should just coach injured runners and send them back to their coaches ready to go. There is no secret recipe to cross training, and you don’t have to have access to an Alter-G treadmill, even though they are much more readily available and the easiest way to simulate actual outdoor running. However, the type of injury you have will dictate what range of cross training you will be able to do.

I have had every kind of injury possible, and have maintained my fitness through each one, but I think the key to maintaining fitness is to always think high intensity! High intensity exercise is really the only way I think you can simulate a true running effort. I don’t believe it does anything for you to go out for an easy four hour bike ride. The thing about running is that your HR average is much higher than the average you would get from most other activities. If I was to go out for an easy 45 minute run at 6:30 per mile, I would probably have a HR around 140 BPM. Unless you have been doing a lot of a specific activity such as swimming or biking, it is hard muscularly to solely do the same form of cross training day after day, but I think mentally it can be even more difficult if you have to continue the same cross training activity for several months. An easy 45 minute bike ride can be mind numbing for a runner, and before you know it, you just rode 45 minutes at 120 HR, and really didn’t get much benefit out of that workout. However, I’ve found that if you do 45 minutes of 30 seconds on 30 seconds off, or one minute on one minute off, you can get a much higher calorie burn and higher HR average, and at the same time it was much easier mentally to tolerate the session. Even threshold workouts can be done, with just a variation of different intervals at slightly different paces. This helps to shake things up while keeping a high heart rate average.

Another huge component to cross training is strength training. Weights, core, and modified drills can make your comeback much easier. One thing people often forget is that you may be able to continue some drills that do not effect the injured area. For example, if you have a metatarsal problem, you may be able to do several drills that don’t involve toe off, in turn, this can really help your biomechanics to come back quickly.

My final advice for maintaining fitness while battling injuries, is to try to spend the same amount of time each day, plus 30 minutes of aerobic training, at the same HR, as you would have running outdoors. I have found that these tips are a good example of what to do on a daily basis to keep your fitness high while taking a step back from running. These little tips have worked for me. Let me know what you guys have done for workouts in the past?

16 Comments for this entry

JKal
February 1st, 2010 on 6:16 pm
XC skiers have the largest VO2 values of nearly all endurance athletes (i think?) and the total body workout gets the old heart rate up there VERY fast. I remember first learning to XC ski in Michigan and the experienced skiers would regularly kick my butt while i could kill them running. Learn to XC ski Dathan, of course the limit here is access to snow and equipment. But, of course, you could move back to Rockford and have decent snow – there is a quite a large skiing community there in the GR area who regularly do well in big ski races. Bend, Oregon is also a hot spot for XC skiers. Give it a shot, tough to learn, amazing workout. I ski all winter, run all summer.
Stuart Warners
February 2nd, 2010 on 11:00 am
Two things I’ve found to be useful. First, on the bike, whether in the gym or outside, alternating one day on a high gear and one day on a low–each one affects muscle strength and the aerobic system differently. Second, I’ll do a set of pushups and situps about once every half hour, trying to provide some continuous stress throughout the day.
Running Dog
February 2nd, 2010 on 11:05 am
plus with the skiing, it is 0 impact on the body.
Rolo Tony
February 2nd, 2010 on 12:24 pm
Dathan, thanks for the consistent blog posts. People really enjoy these.
Steve
February 2nd, 2010 on 2:03 pm
Cross training aside, are you suggesting that easy runs that don’t exceed 120 HR are “junk miles” and don’t give you much benefit?
Sebastian Carmichael
February 2nd, 2010 on 7:43 pm
Hey, could you give some examples of worthwhile drills you can do with different injuries?
Ricky Alvarez
February 3rd, 2010 on 9:17 am
Dathan, Thank you for all the advice, I have had two stress fractures in both femurs at the same time, and that was right around when you were out for a stress fracture as well(03), I still run at a high level, but in a smarter way.I am a full time boxer(United states Olympic Education Center) and i must say if you were a boxer, you would be a world champion. Good luck and thanks again.
Scott
February 3rd, 2010 on 12:42 pm
Whilst I respect your achievements as an athlete, some of your advice doesn’t really fall inline with current exercise theory. You emphasise the need to replicate high heart rates to maintain fitness but there is a lot of theory that says maintaining a base fitness which would mean lower intensity workouts, is just as important if not more so than replicating high intensity efforts. If you can keep a good base endurance level working below lactate threshold, then you can regain higher levels of fitness through intensity later, or for that matter, keep those bits like vo2 max, lactate clearance topped up with a few selective interval sessions. I fear the advice you present hear would lead people to push to hard through injury and most people need the overload to be distinctly lowered to aid injury recovery
Karl
February 3rd, 2010 on 7:34 pm
Scott, whilst I understand where you are coming from, I don’t think you understand what Dathan was saying. He is saying that he has to work much harder on a bike to reach the same heart rate that he would even on an easy run (yes 6:30/mi pace is “easy” for Dathan). A HR of 140 is probably only around 70% of Dathan’s max, a very low intensity, but because of his huge aerobic base he has to work harder on the bike to get his heart rate up that high. Also what may seem “easy” on the bike barely raises his heart rate above walking rate. You can certainly try and replicate threshold workouts through cross training as well but you would have to work even that much harder on the bike or in the pool.
Scott
February 4th, 2010 on 6:44 am
I understand what Dathan is saying. Just not sure I agree with ‘the key to maintaining fitness is to always think high intensity’. But yes, I know it is difficult for pure runners to get HR up on bike rides. Hills are key but that can be too muscle dependent if you don’t regularly ride. As for doing a pool workout to raise HR- good luck!

I can see what Dathan is saying, only short burst sessions of cross training will get you to running HR levels. I totally agree, but I would maintain that a 4hr bike at low HR level is going to help maintain a level of endurance fitness as well. I guess it depends on how long your injury is likely to be putting you out of running and whether you are likely to lose your base fitness in this time.

Aside from this, I’ve always found uphill walking on the highest incline of a treadmill an excellent way to push up the HR in a non-impact way.
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February 13th, 2010 on 9:25 pm
Hi, I applaud your blog for informing people, very interesting article, keep up it coming
Liam
February 13th, 2010 on 11:20 pm
Dathan,
I’m an 8th grade runner who broke his arm over the winter holidays. I haven’t gotten a sure answer from my doctor, but it sounds like i’ll be able to run again in late march which is right before the start of my school’s track season. I haven’t been able to work out for at least 7 weeks. Can you tell me how i can get back in shape really quickly? I need to drop 20 seconds in the 1600 to qualify for state this year.
Joey
February 13th, 2010 on 11:29 pm
Congrats on the Championship Dathan!
Jackie
February 15th, 2010 on 2:37 pm
There are a lot of serious runners who might even consider running on a regular treadmill as cross-training. I live in an area where there is a lot of concrete and not a lot of asphalt or soft surfaces to run on.

As a result, I run probably half my miles on a treadmill to prevent injury. Do you think this hinders my fitness or could it possibly help and improve my form, pacing, etc.? Or could it affect how I efficiently I run on the ground?

Congratulations at USATF XC! Any advice always appreciated.
Shane
March 4th, 2010 on 2:44 pm
Hey Dathan, Im training for the Bayshore Marathon and i just found out I have a stress fracture on the femur. I know you have had stress fractures when you were running for in and for Colorado. Is there anything cross training wise that helped you stay somewhat fit without bearing weight on your foot. I dont have access to alter g treadmill.
Peter Gilmore
May 1st, 2010 on 8:32 am
Dathan – I do a lot of the same stuff that you are explaining. I have access to a pool so I did a lot of aqua jogging, which is terribly boring but gets the job done. I would always do things like 8×3′ pickups in the pool focusing on trying to get the heart rate up. Always just doing surges like that. I have recently started running again and can definitely feel the fitness still there.