good substitute for running?

WH said:

I'm recovering from an ITB injury. I do a lot of other cross training
like biking and swimming but I'm really nervous about losing my running
fitness. The elliptical machines at the gym don't seem to bother the ITB.
It seems simlar to the running motion and really does give a good cardio
workout. Is this a good way to maintain most of the running fitness I have
built up.

You'll lose some running fitness, and there's not much you can do about that.

I would guess that the elliptical is pretty good, but it's still not specific
training.

Depending on your level of conditioning, and the length of your layoff, you
could take anywhere between 6 weeks and 6 months to get fully up to speed
again. Realistically, I'd expect to be in reasonable condition about 12 weeks
after returning to regular training. I think even with crosstraining, if you
take a layoff from running you'll be somewhat detrained when you return unless
it's very short (say 3 weeks or less)

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

You're worried about losing your "running fitness"? Not to
worry..........once a sissy mouth breather, always a sissy mouth
breather.

WH wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

I'm recovering from an ITB injury. I do a lot of other cross training
like biking and swimming but I'm really nervous about losing my running
fitness. The elliptical machines at the gym don't seem to bother the ITB.
It seems simlar to the running motion and really does give a good cardio
workout. Is this a good way to maintain most of the running fitness I have
built up.

Thanks,
WH

Leg work. Heel raises seemed to help the most. They might not help much
with your distance running, but they will help on your finishing line sprint
and up steep hills.

As a matter of fact. I tried out for a 1/4 mile up hill sprint this year,
where about all I have done is leg work. Considering how little I've run
lately, I still ran it within 5 seconds of what I used to run it in.

Oh ya, even Khalid Khannouchi does leg work. Talking about Khalid, I wonder
where he has been lately.

Roger - nice to see Ozzie is still around -

Donovan Rebbechi said:

I would guess that the elliptical is pretty good, but it's still not specific
training.

True! And you should get a NordicTrack 910 eliptical trainer. Ours
gets an hour to two hours of abuse everyday, and it is STILL going
strong.
I just threw that in, because a few dolts who don't own them, like
talking trash about them.

"WH" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm recovering from an ITB injury. I do a lot of other cross training
like biking and swimming but I'm really nervous about losing my running
fitness. The elliptical machines at the gym don't seem to bother the ITB.
It seems simlar to the running motion and really does give a good cardio
workout. Is this a good way to maintain most of the running fitness I
have
built up.

Thanks,
WH

Deep water running is a good substitute in some situations.

However, like the others said, there will still be a very noticeable
adjustment period when you get back to actual running. Hopefully with good
alternative training this switchover will be much shorter.

Dave

I was using only my elliptical trainer because of a back injury and when I
started running again, I felt the main difference in my arms. As it turns
out, on the trainer I was holding on while I "ran". So, I have learned to
use the trainer with my arms free as if I am running. That helps one aspect
in terms of mimicking the running, but it still will not be exactly the
same.

Marianne
"WH" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm recovering from an ITB injury. I do a lot of other cross training
like biking and swimming but I'm really nervous about losing my running
fitness. The elliptical machines at the gym don't seem to bother the ITB.
It seems simlar to the running motion and really does give a good cardio
workout. Is this a good way to maintain most of the running fitness I
have
built up.

Thanks,
WH

On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 01:37:00 GMT, "OceanLover" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I was using only my elliptical trainer because of a back injury and when I
started running again, I felt the main difference in my arms. As it turns
out, on the trainer I was holding on while I "ran". So, I have learned to
use the trainer with my arms free as if I am running. That helps one aspect
in terms of mimicking the running, but it still will not be exactly the
same.

Good observations. I use my arms to push and pull, and it helps a lot.
I also breakup the routine by using my arms like in running. However
using your arms that way does decrease the cardio aspect of the
eliptical, so there's a tradeoff there.