I have done some research on water running in place of actual road running. There is some pretty good research I found that seems to indicate that it works. In one piece of research there were two groups where one continued do their regular road training and the other did only water running and there was little or no loss of fitness for running.
I have been supplementing my regular road running for a IM/Marathon race I have coming up. I have been road running four days a week and water running two. But I just don’t get what I am getting out of it. I do my regular training, swimming and biking, that would seem to get me regular fitness. My running form in the water is not really exactly like road running. I try. Plus I do not really get my heart rate up in the water. Honestly I run so slow now that my heart rate is pretty low even road running compared to swimming or biking.
So I was curious what does water running get you? Is it the working of the correct muscles that cross training does not get you?
You should be doing intervals. You get cardio fitness w/o the pounding.
There are shoes for it that help with form. Bill Rodgers Running Center in Boston is the only place I’ve ever seen them for sale.
I do intervals to help with the heart rate. But when I do road running I run pretty slow so my heart rate is pretty low anyway.
I actually run in the pool where it is 10 feet deep and don’t touch the bottom. I believe there are different approaches.
I am curious to what my body gets out of the pool running. I am guessing it is the working of the specific muscles. More this than cardiovascular system. Because when I road run my cardiovascular system does not get nearly the workout as when swimming or cycling.
Only anecdotal- I suffered a stress fracture in the spring and water ran 3-4/week with biking as usual. No intervals but did 35min as hard as possible- deep end, no floatation. After 8 weeks off running, my running Vdot was very close to my pre-injury value. Heart rates in the pool were consistently 170/min- about 10bpm under my running threshold HR.
Since then I’ve taken up water running to cut back my easy running milage and prevent injury.
I don’t agree with the previous comment that your just as well to swim- water running probably closely mimics running with similar muscle activation, and similar benefits to vo2 max, which is activity dependent.
Although I’m not familiar with the literature, a good study would be to compare VO2max on a treadmill before and after training with water running or swimming.
I would incorporate water running as a way to cut down on junk milage. If you’re healthy/uninjured, I wouldn’t bother doing intervals in the pool. Use it to stay fresh and healthy so your track/speed workouts count.
I never do water running in just my bare feet for the reasons you describe - it feels like you are spinning your wheels. I always wear shoes or wet suit booties which increase the drag enough for a good workout. My heart rate doesn’t get very high but after a swim workout and then a water running workout, I can tell I’ve done something extra. Running with shoes also makes it feel more like running. I wear one of those water exercise float belts. Water running is one of the few things more boring than swimming - the clock crawls.
it would be an interesting question whether water running is beneficial to the triathlete.
perhaps you would get more out of just biking and swimming more instead. maybe nobody knows the answer to this for sure.
No proof, but I think that ^ is likely correct. I’ve never seen the point of water running. A lot of the “benefit” from running is the actual pounding.
I’ve always believed (all things considered) running is probably bad for you. Doesn’t stop me from doing it.
Only anecdotal- I suffered a stress fracture in the spring and water ran 3-4/week with biking as usual. No intervals but did 35min as hard as possible- deep end, no floatation. After 8 weeks off running, my running Vdot was very close to my pre-injury value. Heart rates in the pool were consistently 170/min- about 10bpm under my running threshold HR.
Since then I’ve taken up water running to cut back my easy running milage and prevent injury.
I don’t agree with the previous comment that your just as well to swim- water running probably closely mimics running with similar muscle activation, and similar benefits to vo2 max, which is activity dependent.
Although I’m not familiar with the literature, a good study would be to compare VO2max on a treadmill before and after training with water running or swimming.
I would incorporate water running as a way to cut down on junk milage. If you’re healthy/uninjured, I wouldn’t bother doing intervals in the pool. Use it to stay fresh and healthy so your track/speed workouts count.
doug
Did you use a flotation belt, and what kind did you find most effective?
No floatation belt- makes it too easy. I also keep my hands in a fist to prevent my arms from contributing. There is a tendency to want to start swimming so you should try to keep your body as vertical as possible. There should also be minimal forward progress.
This is probably the closest to torture I’ve been- worse than an indoor trainer. My only hope is that they’re playing good music.
Same experience as Dougo. I did it in deep water no flotation belt and actually raced up and down the swimming lane. Used a Finis tempo trainer to maintain fast run cadence. Did for 5 months while out with a meniscus tear, and rebounded to the run portion of HIM with no deterioration of time. The wierd looks of the others in the pool were worse for me than the boredom. You can sort of hypnotize yourself to the beep of the tempo trainer. I have to say that running on the bottom of the pool seems completely benefitless.
Same experience as Dougo. I did it in deep water no flotation belt and actually raced up and down the swimming lane. Used a Finis tempo trainer to maintain fast run cadence. Did for 5 months while out with a meniscus tear, and rebounded to the run portion of HIM with no deterioration of time. The wierd looks of the others in the pool were worse for me than the boredom. You can sort of hypnotize yourself to the beep of the tempo trainer. I have to say that running on the bottom of the pool seems completely benefitless.
Dang you guys are hardcore. I did water running briefly and it was definitely the most boringest thing I have ever done - and I love my bike trainer and TM! I guess you can actually stay afloat just with the running motion?
How long did you guys go for on average and at longest in the pool per session? And is this even possible to do in non-deep pools? (All the pools in my area are only 3-4 feet deep in the deepest areas.)
Also sounds like a good way to stay in shape on a cruise ship, if you go one one.
I used to do it from 7-10 every saturday morning instead of a long run. I’m 5’5" so the 6 ft lane was deep enough. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it again, I have to say. It would be more tolerable as intense, short intervals work out of perhaps 45 minutes. Depends on what you’re training for. For me, I was trying to keep up marathon aerobic capacity. If you can bribe a friend and race up and down the lanes, it’s also less horrible. Met some really nice other injured folks and got some great reco’s for orthpeds while doing it.
I had a stress fracture this year and a plantar fascia episode and relied heavily on water running. I used a heart rate monitor and did intervals with water jogging. Example: 12 x 1 minute with 1 minute active rest. I, like a previous post, was ok when it came time to race. My fitness was fine. I recomend this to anyone. (I did bike/swim without interruption by the injuries). I think you just have to push it harder than your would outdoors and keep your arms pumping but without using them to pull you through the water. I didn’t believe it would work but I have to say it definitely has a benefit.
Also, I found it beneficial to swim my regular set then intervals (deep end) for 20 minutes directly after.
Side note: All of this was done in the deep end, never touching bottom.
I’ve water run in the past while healing from a tibial stress fracture and it was very helpful. Unlike others here, I did use a flotation belt and used intervals to keep my heart rate up. Yes, water running is very boring and mentally challenging for this reason. If you make an effort to keep good form, I do think you can stimulate the same use of muscles that you use on land. Obviously you do not get the pounding but it will make a much greater contribution to your running than just more swimming or biking.
The training studies that have used DWR successfully seem to incorporate high intensity intervals.
There is some research on muscle activity while running in the water and it looks like you need to exercise at a higher ‘perceived’ intensity to reach the same muscle activity while running on land (in general) for muscles like the quadriceps and hamstrings.
Something to keep in mind is that there are at least two ‘styles’ of DWR: high knee and cross country.
I did it. It worked for me. I guess because, when done correctly, you are training the very same muscles, in the very same motions, as road running. The only thing you are not doing is building up resistance to the pounding.
I’m curious, though, why you equate ‘slow’ running with ‘low HR’. Of course your HR will be lower when you run slower as compared to when you (I mean YOU, not the other guy) run faster, but it sounds like you are saying that your HR during run training is generally lower than it is for bike or swim, and that you attribute this to being ‘slow’ (compared to whom?).
Only anecdotal- I suffered a stress fracture in the spring and water ran 3-4/week with biking as usual. No intervals but did 35min as hard as possible- deep end, no floatation. After 8 weeks off running, my running Vdot was very close to my pre-injury value. Heart rates in the pool were consistently 170/min- about 10bpm under my running threshold HR.
Since then I’ve taken up water running to cut back my easy running milage and prevent injury.
I don’t agree with the previous comment that your just as well to swim- water running probably closely mimics running with similar muscle activation, and similar benefits to vo2 max, which is activity dependent.
Although I’m not familiar with the literature, a good study would be to compare VO2max on a treadmill before and after training with water running or swimming.
I would incorporate water running as a way to cut down on junk milage. If you’re healthy/uninjured, I wouldn’t bother doing intervals in the pool. Use it to stay fresh and healthy so your track/speed workouts count.
doug
I also had some running injuries and used DWR witha flotation belt, the benefits of running with out the pounding. Plus if you have lower back aches, the fact that most triathletes have a dense lower body and the flotation belt lifts your upper body means you’re giving your spine an extended stretching session
It keeps you running fast… not entirely clear how it does that, but the results are clear. The key is as you noted, “little to no loss of fitness”, rather than “effective training”. That is, if you’re not injured I would not bother with water running: it’s mostly for maintaining fitness when you can’t run otherwise.
There’s tons of anecdotal evidence that it works, too. Joan Benoit used DWR to stay in shape after her knee surgery, just before the 84 Oly marathon which she won. I used DWR with a calf muscle tear, didn’t run for 8 weeks except for the DWR, then did Boulder tri: in 2002 the run took me 42min, 2003 it was 45min and I was taking it easy, think I could have run 42 again if I’d been willing to risk it.