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No running before IM
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Doing my first full in 6 weeks, have mostly done olympics and running races before. Got a leg injury earlier in the summer which has meant a lot of time off running, had a 70.3 a few weeks ago but still felt pain so didn't want to risk further injury. Now leg is feeling a lot better after 2 weeks of rest from running and lots of rehab. Now to my dilemma, I'm gonna take at least one more week off from running, maybe 2 so best case I will get 2 weeks of quality running before my race. Luckily I'm a decent runner and run sub 3 open so hope that I won't have lost too much.
During these past weeks I have cycled a lot, and will do 300+km/week for the next couple of weeks along with elliptical.
So to my question, has anyone fully exchanged running for elliptical? Am I better off just doing bike focus?

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon
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Re: No running before IM [oscaro] [ In reply to ]
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I would divide up your running time into the bike and swim. The elliptical isn't going to help you now at this point. Can you walk on it without causing further injury? Then if you don't want to do the extra swimming/biking substitute the running with walking on a treadmill with slight incline (get your HR up) this crosses over better for running.
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Re: No running before IM [oscaro] [ In reply to ]
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I just ran into this exact same things leading into my 70.3 this weekend. On June 20 I strained a tendon in my calf and took 16 days off of running completely. Started back up last Friday with 9 days to go until the race.

I tried the Elliptical but it really didn't work for me--pretty awkward and it just didn't feel like it was working the muscles necessary to maintain my run form. My PT recommended I use a "skier" (lateral movement) machine to engage my glutes and hamstrings more, since I was still hammering the bike which works my quads and calf muscles.

I was using an Octane LateralX and it seemed to work pretty well.

As far as your bike volume since you can't run...hammer the hell out of it. If you're not experiencing pain with your leg on the bike, then get after it! The elliptical/lateral would probably be best kept at Z2 endurance pace. Really don't want to stress the injury any more. Getting healthy and to 100% is more important than being at peak running form come race day.
Last edited by: TriowaCPA: Jul 11, 17 8:18
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Re: No running before IM [oscaro] [ In reply to ]
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The running injury protocol I heard of and followed was to split run time into biking more and water running. For IM Coeur D'Alene I was recovering from a broken metatarsal and did not run a step (other than water) in April or most of May. In the 5 weeks leading up to plus race week, my weekly miles were 6 - 10 - 12 - 12 - 16 - 10. My legs felt just as crappy as they did when running 30+ for the other IM's.
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Re: No running before IM [trimac2] [ In reply to ]
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trimac2 wrote:
I would divide up your running time into the bike and swim. The elliptical isn't going to help you now at this point. Can you walk on it without causing further injury? Then if you don't want to do the extra swimming/biking substitute the running with walking on a treadmill with slight incline (get your HR up) this crosses over better for running.
No problem walking on it, and elliptical + skier works fine, so have been doing a few tempo+z2 workouts on them to maintain and feels quite well. Will add a few inclined walks as well.

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon
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Re: No running before IM [TriowaCPA] [ In reply to ]
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TriowaCPA wrote:
I just ran into this exact same things leading into my 70.3 this weekend. On June 20 I strained a tendon in my calf and took 16 days off of running completely. Started back up last Friday with 9 days to go until the race.

I tried the Elliptical but it really didn't work for me--pretty awkward and it just didn't feel like it was working the muscles necessary to maintain my run form. My PT recommended I use a "skier" (lateral movement) machine to engage my glutes and hamstrings more, since I was still hammering the bike which works my quads and calf muscles.

I was using an Octane LateralX and it seemed to work pretty well.

As far as your bike volume since you can't run...hammer the hell out of it. If you're not experiencing pain with your leg on the bike, then get after it! The elliptical/lateral would probably be best kept at Z2 endurance pace. Really don't want to stress the injury any more. Getting healthy and to 100% is more important than being at peak running form come race day.
Might be able to get up to 400km cycling/week the next two weeks, but more than that won't work.
All of this really sucks as I was hoping for a great season but so far my races have been terrible. 1st Olympic this year I got a flat, got stomach issues during my marathon, have only really had a decent 10k this year.

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon
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Re: No running before IM [oscaro] [ In reply to ]
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I don't really even know if that much distance is necessary. Get some intensity in there and sharpen your knife.

You are still set up to have a great race. The aerobic engine won't be going anywhere with your bike and swim volumes largely unaffected.

Stay positive and focus on getting to the race as healthy as possible!
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Re: No running before IM [TriowaCPA] [ In reply to ]
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TriowaCPA wrote:
I don't really even know if that much distance is necessary. Get some intensity in there and sharpen your knife.

You are still set up to have a great race. The aerobic engine won't be going anywhere with your bike and swim volumes largely unaffected.

Stay positive and focus on getting to the race as healthy as possible!

Def still keeping intensity, do vO2 on tuesdays ( Just finished and feel awful) and 2x20 on Thursday. Distance is partly because I'm doing century rides every week now.
Thanks for the encouraging words though!

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon
Last edited by: oscaro: Jul 11, 17 9:58
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Re: No running before IM [oscaro] [ In reply to ]
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The #1 recommendation is water running but that can be a pain. I've seen arc trainers recommended as well.

With a sub 3 marathon finish you clearly are a great runner so really the question your asking is can you not run and finish within expectations. I think you know the answer to that.

At this point, getting to the start line healthy is probably more important than trying to build run fitness and potentially risking re-injury.
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Re: No running before IM [oscaro] [ In reply to ]
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oscaro wrote:
Doing my first full in 6 weeks, have mostly done olympics and running races before. Got a leg injury earlier in the summer which has meant a lot of time off running, had a 70.3 a few weeks ago but still felt pain so didn't want to risk further injury. Now leg is feeling a lot better after 2 weeks of rest from running and lots of rehab. Now to my dilemma, I'm gonna take at least one more week off from running, maybe 2 so best case I will get 2 weeks of quality running before my race. Luckily I'm a decent runner and run sub 3 open so hope that I won't have lost too much.
During these past weeks I have cycled a lot, and will do 300+km/week for the next couple of weeks along with elliptical.
So to my question, has anyone fully exchanged running for elliptical? Am I better off just doing bike focus?

I am the same 'open' time as you. I did not run from end of May to end of July for IM Canada year before last, due to injury. I was basically babying a pelvic issue and once it had got okay-ish I did three runs in the two weeks prior to the race - 45 mins, 1 hour, 1 hour 30. Too many variables in an IM to say whether it effected me but I ran 3:25 and given that it was a bit hot and Whistler's bike course takes a toll on your legs I was only expecting a 3:15 at best.

As will all IM's I find the run comes down to strength not cardio. Of course run training would have been better but as a decent runner anyway it will not effect you as much as you think. I also upped the cycling to accommodate. Not only does that add a little leg strength but also you come off the bike in a better condition, which eats into any run training deficit.

I did not do elliptical for IMC that year. I did for Kona after a bike crash last year. I would say yes to elliptical. It certainly fired up my usually lazy glutes too. I vowed I would add some into normal training but never did, mainly because it's boring.

Hope that helps.

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Re: No running before IM [JayPeeWhy] [ In reply to ]
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Did you pace the bike as you normally would?

An alternative would be to increase the IF on the bike knowing the run would not be optimal regardless. But I can see the circle of destruction in that plan.

Scott
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