Like some running version of Godwin's law, the more running articles you read the more inevitable it becomes that someone, somewhere will pop up and recommend cross-training.
The first problem I had with cross-training, I'll admit, is I wasn't sure what it meant. Did it mean using one of those "cross-training" machines in a gym, or just training in a different type of activity to your usual one? I eventually figured out it's the latter, but that one of those alternate activities may in fact involve using a cross-training machine. Kind of cross-training to the power of two.
In normal circumstances, I never have time for cross-training. Part of the reason I run is the ability to do so without much planning, fitted in whenever an opportunity arises, and alternative activities don't generally cater for that. Plus the limited time I have, I try to use running - generally falling behind on any training plan as it is - and there's not any spare time to do other exercise.
The exception is when an injury prevents me from running, at a time when I've already signed up for something - that's when I enter this twilight world of cross-training, in an attempt to keep up fitness levels and a sense of progress. At those times, swimming is my preferred choice, not least because it's normally a leg injury so the weightlessness and lack of impact of swimming is a boon. You get to use your arms and the rest of your upper body a bit more for a change, and stretch out a bit.
For all #running niggles and injuries the answer seems to be swimming. Ligaments? swim. Hamstring? swim. Calf? swim. Bored? swim.
— Mark Barlow (@markbarlow) December 1, 2016
There's also a sauna and steam room at my local pool, so there's some reward in there too. And even without that, it is quite relaxing isn't it?
As for the cross-training to the power of two, recently in desperate times I broke my gym rule and had a go at that too. The tale of that dark day is for another time.
photo by Fabrizio Fogliani