Either that or I am doing it all wrong…not sure which.
Unfortunately I am stuck getting my last bunches of “miles” in before IM Louisville in the pool due to a “Mad Calf Disease” flareup a few weeks ago leaving me afraid to push and risk irritating it now with no time left to rest it before race day so…
I am doing the deep water running thing…30 minutes on Mon and Fri, 45 minutes on Wed…I did 1 hour this past Wed and while my legs were tired (not sore) I just want to make sure I’m not wasting my time…in summary it feels like a bad swimming drill except I’m allowed to bend my knees and my legs are going up and down/round and round??
The idea is to get as close to your normal running form as possible. If you’re doing it right, it’ll be a harder workout than most of your ‘real’ runs.
What part do you think you’re doing wrong? … is it that it doesn’t seem like you’re getting your heart rate up enough to be a worthwhile workout? When I’ve done this in the past I found I really had to go nuts churning away to get my heart rate up to a ‘real’ workout level.
Also - Water running tends to work best when you can remain stationary in the pool … when I was doing PT sessions a while back the facility had a dedicated ‘dunk tank’ where you’re tethered from behind and then holding on to a cross bar in front. That seemed ideal for being able to concentrate on holding form while still getting up to a tempo where you’re feeling like you’re working hard enough. If you’re doing these workouts in a lap pool, its not quite as easy, but you can either scull to keep your position in the water or hold onto to a lane line… sculling makes you work a little harder, at least.
Maybe the staying stationary thing is part of it…I do “travel” through the water but slowly and I can get my HR up decently…sometimes it feels like I am overreaching downward in a fashion that doesn’t seem to mimic my running motion…then I try to focus on lifting my knees and heels as part of the motion as well…not real sure about the methodology in general, I guess.
I don’t think you’re doing it wrong. Its only ever going to a partial substitute for your normal running motion… Its the nature of the beast that its going to feel different than normal running and that you’re going to feel like your legs are overreaching a bit since the hip angle where your feet normally would contact the ground doesn’t apply in the water. The whole motion ends up being exaggerated compared to running on land. Think of it as doing high-knee drills for an extended period of time… if you were running that way on land that way, you’d poop out in a few hundred yards (?)… in the water, you can keep it up for quite a long time since you’re not launching your body weight with each stride.
A side benefit of running in the water is that you’ll probably feel better stability in your ankles and core than before. (I was getting PT for having blown out my left ankle back then.) On the downside, however, you should be prepared that running on land again probably will ‘Sux’ big-time at first since your joints will have lost conditioning for the impact of running. I don’t know how to get around that part…
Check out this article: http://www.pfitzinger.com/labreports/water.shtml And see if you’re doing it right. Basically, it’s kind of like you’re really running (or a run/Eliptical hybrid). You CAN move, if you want to…or you can stay relatively stationary (You still move a little).
The Pfitz article also has a training program in it. I’ve used a version of this a number of times, and it worked well…including coming back from a sfx with a 10 mile PR on almost no land running.
Oh, and you think it sux after 30 minutes? get back to me after you’ve added two HOURS on to that 30 minutes.
For inspiration check out Spirit of the Marathon - - I know firsthand that water-running can be MONOTONOUS but if water running kept Deena Kastor fit enough for the level she competes at, It should work for you too
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Excited to see this thread. I was going to post a similar one.
I’m on the mend after neuroma surgery and just bought an Aquajogger and trying to figure out how to use it. I did buy the tether line so hopefully that will help.
And the water running that Deena did is not like getting in your muni pool with a float belt on. She had a really nice setup.
I had to do that last year before and IM. It totally sucked, but was effective for me. Only good thing, when I was in the pool and all the good lookin’ moms were hanging around for their toddlers swim lessons.
