Hi! I am currently a college distance runner who has a stress fracture and hasn’t ran in almost two months.
I am looking for a distance cross training plan for a runner used to running 50-60 mile weeks
i only have access to a bike and elliptical currently. Workouts, easy days and strength please all without running currently. Not sure if I’m going to run for my team, but want to build up again.
I’ve had 2 stress fractures this year so have spent a ton of time cross training. I’m no expert by any means but what I do is essentially try to mimic a running week. Example:
M-elliptical 60-90 minutes keeping hr similar to what your easy pace is
T: Bike workout- 12x3 minutes w/1 min rest, 6x6 mins with 1 min rest. 15-25x1 min w/30 seconds rest. Basically mimic any workout you would be doing by time.
W- same as monday
Thu- same as Tuesday
Fri- Same as Monday
Sat- same as T/Th
Sun- 90-120 minutes on the elliptical or 2-3 hours on the bike. Usually keep this fairly easy to mimic the long run.
i like to do my workout days on the bike but can absolutely use the elliptical too. As far as strength goes pretty much the same as you normally would but obviously stay away from loading the affected area.
Hope this helps but of course others may have different or better suggestions. Good luck!
You’re amazing thank you so much!
how long is the most you’ve had to cross train for length? And how did you return to running smoothly?
also on the easy days if I have to bike instead of elliptical, how long should I go? Thanks!
Not a problem! About 4 months is the longest for me. I’m 37 so it takes a bit longer for me to heal than I was in college like you. Started back super slowly. 3 20-30 minute runs per week and kept cross training on the other days. Worked up to my normal 6 days a week and it’s done smoothly so far.
As far as the biking goes, I would probably go relatively the same as the elliptical but maybe an extra 30 minutes or so longer just because when going easy on the bike it’s much harder to get hr up unless doing a workout. Elliptical seems to give me a similar heart rate as running so that’s why I prefer it for the easy days but biking definitely beats doing nothing! If you have access to a pool, aqua jogging is also great. You can get a belt on Amazon for about 30 bucks and for that I would do similar to the elliptical.
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