In-line Skating and Running

I must admit it would take a lot to get me to put on a pair of in-line skates, but that’s more because of my love of running and utter lack of coordination than any inherent problem with the activity. Certainly, the ever-growing number of skaters get something out of doing it.
Studies have shown that a similar effort between in-line skating and running requires you to skate twice as fast as you run. As with cycling, it’s important to be mindful of your effort. Otherwise, you might find yourself coasting and not getting as good of a workout. But if you stay on top of your effort and have done it enough so that you don’t spend all of your time picking yourself off the ground, in-line skating can give you a good workout in a concentrated time, as does running, but without the pounding.

Cycling for Runners

Cycling has long been a favorite of cross-training runners. Besides the fact that the two exercises complement each other in developing your legs, both give you that great feeling of exercising outside. Cycling can be almost as convenient as running if you don’t live in a high-traffic area, and because you cover so much more distance, it’s a great way for runners to discover other places to enjoy their favorite sport.
The main drawbacks to cycling are weather and money constraints. As Chapter 16, “Weathering the Elements,” explains, you can safely run in just about any conditions. But even the most committed cyclists have to reconsider things during and after heavy rains and snows when they’re likely to take a spill. (If you’ve ever fallen while riding 20 miles per hour, you know that it does a bit more damage than tripping over a root on a run.) Also, once it gets below 30 degrees, cycling outside remains uncomfortable no matter how hard you’re working because of the windchill that you generate. It’s also not the safest practice to ride in the dark.
Financially, a good bike and the necessary equipment (helmet, gloves, shoes, and so on) can easily cost you close to $1,000. Indoor cycling on a stationary bike involves less hassle and cost, but a lot more boredom. It’s tough to be motivated to stay on these machines for long enough to get a real workout in.
If you want to cross-train with cycling, you better be pretty committed to it. Ride at least two days a week so that your legs remain accustomed enough to the activity to allow your heart to reap the benefits.

Swimming for Runners

If I had to pick one supplementary activity that would help you the most as a runner, it would be swimming. Once you get your stroke down, swimming has many benefits: You can work hard enough to sustain a solid effort; it’s a great upper-body strengthener, it’s a nonimpact activity; and the kicking is terrific for loosening tight tendons and muscles in your feet, ankles, and legs.
The other great use of a pool for runners is water running. This activity is pretty straightforward: You head to the deep end of the pool, usually with a flotation device on, and start running in place. After a few times, it will feel pretty much like running on land. Water running is especially good for injured runners who don’t want to lose their land legs during a lay-off, as well as for cross-training runners who get injured beyond a certain level of mileage, but don’t like other activities. As with swimming, you have to work a little harder than you would on land to maintain the same heart rate. Many pools now offer water running classes.
The two main drawbacks to swimming are convenience and gauging effort. Finding a suitable pool (one that’s big enough to legitimately swim laps in) that isn’t too crowded and that has decent hours can be a real challenge. If you don’t have good technique, you’ll spend your swim flailing around rather than giving your heart a good workout. Even when you do become adept, comparing swimming to running takes a little extra math. Because you’re supported by the water, and because you stay so much cooler than when working out on land, your heart will beat about 15 fewer times per minute for the same effort. So you really have to keep at it to keep your pulse near what it is when you run. Kicking vigorously with your legs is a good way to do this.

Measuring Progress by Effort

If you’re cross-training because you’re too injured to run, then you want to have some general idea of whether you’re doing enough in other sports to compensate for your lack of running. Even when you’re cross-training to supplement your running, it’s nice to have some general idea of how much work you’re doing in a language you’re used to. So at the risk of contradicting what I said in the preceding paragraph, try this: Figure that you’re getting roughly the same cardiovascular benefits as running for every minute that you cross-train at a similar intensity to the level of effort that you normally sustain while running.
If 4 miles in 40 minutes is an average, medium-effort run for you, then sustaining that level of effort for 40 minutes on a stair machine will provide roughly the same aerobic benefits. Your heart doesn’t care what’s getting it going, so long as it’s an activity that uses major muscle groups for an extended period. Admittedly, this system is imprecise, but I would rather add cross-training to horseshoes and hand grenades and consider “close enough” as being worthwhile than worry too much about exact trade-offs.
After all, those same runners who so precisely say, “I ran 43 miles last week” are deluding themselves unless all of their running is on precisely calibrated courses. Most days, they’re making rough estimations about how far they ran based on the amount of time they were out for. I don’t see much harm in taking the same approach to cross-training. However, notice that I said, “every minute that you cross-train at a similar intensity to the level of effort that you normally sustain while running.” That’s different than just counting the number of minutes that you cross-train. On a stair machine, for example, you’ll often spend the first 10 minutes or so getting going; if so, those 10 minutes aren’t really at the same intensity as the first 10 minutes of most runs. During a two-hour bike ride, you’re likely to spend a nice chunk of that time going downhill, drafting, coasting, and so on.
If you’re new to a sport, it can be difficult to gauge accurately how hard you’re working. It might seem as though you’re really putting in a good effort, but that could be because your legs are easily tired by the unaccustomed motion, rather than because you’re working at a high heart rate. Many runners experience this kind of fatigue on their first few bike rides.
If you have a heart rate monitor, use it when you cross-train to gauge whether your pulse stays in the neighborhood that it usually does when you run. Otherwise, expect to spend at least the first few workouts in a new sport learning how to assess your effort.

Comparing Apples and Oranges

One of the reasons that hard-core runners don’t do more cross-training is because they don’t know how to compare it to their running. The major way that they track their progress is to recite their weekly running mileage to anyone who will listen. A five-mile run is a five-mile run is a fivemile run, so if you only run, keeping records is pretty easy. But what about a two-hour bike ride, a half hour in the pool, or 45 minutes on a stair machine? How do these compare to running miles?
My advice is different than what most people are going to tell you. I say, don’t worry about it. That’s because I’m recommending that you cross-train to add to your running, not replace it. In that case, there’s not much point in obsessing about whether three cycling miles equals one running mile and how many minutes on a rowing machine equal one mile of running. To paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes a two-hour bike ride is just a two-hour bike ride.

Cross-Training Time

You wouldn’t expect to feel comfortable running if you did it only once a week, but that’s the approach that many runners take to their alternative exercises. This approach isn’t a good idea, because you’ll never become adept enough at the activity for it to contribute significantly toward your fitness. So when you find a second sport that works for you, try to practice it at least twice a week.
Unless you’re injured and are cross-training as a substitute for running, don’t let your aerobic alternatives take precedence over your running. For example, you don’t want to put in such a long, hard effort on a bike that your running is compromised for the next few days. Once you get used to your activity, treat it the same as an easy running day. You shouldn’t be sore or overly fatigued from your cross-training. One of the best times to schedule cross-training into your routine is on the day after a hard or long run. The exercise will help to remove waste products that might have built up from the previous day’s effort and will help work out any stiffness, but you won’t be subjecting tired legs to as much pounding as if you ran.

Should You Cross-Train?

So what about my old buddy Tom Fleming’s point, that if you want to be a good runner, then you should run? After all, you don’t become a better cook by washing dishes. First of all, remember that he’s talking about runners who are trying to be among the best in the world. These people live by their running mileage, much as a factory lives by the number of widgets it produces per day. (I should know. Having averaged 130 miles per week for most of the ’70s and ’80s, I was one of these people.)
I’m not suggesting that you replace running with other aerobic activities, but that you supplement your mileage with them. Among the benefits of doing so are the following:

• Fewer muscle imbalances, which are a leading source of injury. For example, running strengthens and shortens your hamstrings while pretty much neglecting your quadriceps (thigh muscles). But cycling does just the opposite, so combining running with riding helps your legs to keep the proper ratio of strength between front and back muscles.
• Greater aerobic capacity. A lot of runners can take only so much pounding from running each week before their bodies start to break down. If you find what that level is for you, stay just below it, and add other activities, you can continue to develop your aerobic base beyond what you could just through running. To a large degree, your heart doesn’t distinguish what exercise is making it pump more vigorously.
• Greater weight loss. Because you’ll be able to work out more often without getting injured.
• A more interesting exercise routine. Some people love running so much that they don’t need other activities to stay motivated. But a lot of runners find that they look forward to working out more if they alternate among a few sports.
• The chance to work out with non-running friends. You probably have friends who aren’t going to join for a five-mile run, but they might go for an hour’s bike ride with you.

Finally, even the most hard-core runners become cross-trainers when they’re injured and are desperate to maintain their fitness. If you can run as much as you like without getting injured, can meet your weight goals through running only, are endlessly fascinated by doing just one activity, and regularly do stretching and strengthening exercises that develop whole-body fitness, maybe you don’t have to worry about cross-training.

What Is Cross-Training?

Like cooking, cross-training is one of those formerly precise terms that has been used in so many ways that it has come to mean pretty much whatever the user wants it to. Just like people call popping a frozen dinner in the microwave cooking, you’ll hear people say that they’re cross-training when they’re mowing their lawn, shoveling snow, or heading out for a night of dancing.
I want to use a narrower definition. For the purposes of this chapter, cross-training means aerobic exercises that you plan as part of your regular running program. With this tighter definition, I think that most runners, especially beginners, can benefit from cross-training.
Cross-training doesn’t mean anything that you do physically in addition to your running. Household chores, walks around town, and so on should be seen as part of your everyday activities, not as cross-training. Doing yoga or lifting weights doesn’t count as cross-training either. Although these stretching and strengthening exercises are important for runners to do, they don’t provide the aerobic benefits that crosstraining activities do.