Crosstraining

Running can get boring at times, especially in the winter when everything seems like hard work. When you’ve decided you can’t run your several routes any more, the less committed sometimes pack it in and give up. Crosstraining is ideal for these people as it gives you some variation, without losing your base fitness. There are many different crosstraining techniques you can use, but for running the best tends to be swimming, cycling or rowing, all good cardio-vascular exercises. But as a general rule for all sports, good all-round body fitness is necessary.

Unless you’re fortunate to live near a body of still water, rowing will be limited to a gym. Even though, a gym isn’t the most entertaining place on the earth. If you circuit train it can cut down the tedious element of it. To circuit train warm up on an elliptical trainer, and then spend 2-3 minutes on several cardio-vascular machines around the gym. Most work should be done anaerobically, so make sure you have a recovery session built in to help stop pulled muscles.

If you do find you’re getting tired of running, try cycling. It uses virtually the same muscles and does just as good a job as running. It's also nice to get out in the fresh air rather than stuck inside. Possibly the best way to crosstrain if you really can’t hack the same sport all the time is to alternate between sports: 1 week bike, 1 week run, 1 week swim, and 1 week gym. If you rotate you’ll keep your base fitness, get more endurance training and you’ll be able to compete eventually in some other sporting events other than running.

But crosstraining isn’t limited to standard exercises. Some of the most strenuous sports are those that you wouldn’t think of: canoeing is a brilliant sport to mix with running, along with rock climbing or even skiing (if you put some effort in)!