Thoughts On Cross Training

Other than maintaining sanity when you can’t get out the door for a run, cross-training has some obvious benefits. It also has some glaring negatives and today we’re going to go through what these positives and negatives are. 

Positives:

As mentioned above, mental sanity is one of the main reasons that I cross-train and suggest cross-training when running isn’t an option. We’re all used to getting our daily run in, and the days when that doesn’t happen tend to make us a little more difficult to get along with and less energized during the day. Rest days and periods of injury tend to be rather unproductive for me (at least that’s how I perceive them).

Aerobic cross-training activities may not be as beneficial to running as...running, but they can still lead to aerobic adaptations that make the transition back into running a little easier. For example, blood volume quickly decreases as a result of taking a break from running (we’ll say that this is a ‘detraining’ response).

Increased blood volume leads to increased stroke volume and thus improved cardiac output/cardiovascular function. Biking or swimming or other cross-training activities also rely on this increased cardiac output for efficiency and thus will help to maintain higher blood volume levels than in an untrained state.

Non-running aerobic activities tend to have less impact on the body than running does as well. Replacing an easy run with a bike ride is always a great option to continue potential aerobic development without the wear and tear associated with running.

Strength training and supplementary work can be great for running longevity and may also increase running economy depending on implementation. General body strength is ‘ok’ for running, but probably better as you start to run longer and on more varied terrain. Doing a pull up isn’t necessary to run a sub-4 min mile, but having extra strength on board may be useful when ‘crawling’ up a big climb at mile 75 of a long ultra-race.

Strength training also seems to be more and more important as we age as things break down more readily. Catabolic states and activities break a body down (like running) and anabolic activities can help to offset those losses so long as we aren’t increasing a training load ‘too much’.

Additionally, strength training has been shown to increase running economy, especially when implemented early in a training block. Similar to ‘running strides’, which help our running economy partially by recruiting faster twitch muscle fibers, certain movement patterns under load will help to improve the running economy! These same movement patterns can help to ‘iron out’ some imbalances that occur when running with a slightly uneven form as well. 

Negatives: 

The most obvious negative for me is the non-specific nature of cross-training in regards to running. Time spent cross-training is good for aerobic fitness and development, but not as good for running as running would be. Neuromuscular adaptations are made for a more efficient bike pedal, a more efficient swim stroke, or a more efficient elliptical ‘stride’. Neuromuscular adaptations (or vascularity or certain metabolic adaptations) that are specific to running aren’t prioritized, and if they aren’t prioritized long enough, detraining occurs.

If you are adding cross-training into an already heavy training load, this can add too much stress and keep the body from adapting to running training. A day spent lifting heavy bench presses (something I’m not terribly familiar with) may create too much inflammation and mental fatigue to fully adapt to the running training occurring! Stress and recovery is the name of the game with whatever training you tackle and we always want to make sure there is plenty of recovery occurring! 

One of the more shocking negatives associated with cross-training is the loss of bone density (depending on the type of cross-training). Athletes that spend a lot of time away from running and focus on biking or swimming often don’t account for this fact. As a result, their aerobic systems and general fitness stay sharp as their musculature and bone density adapts to the new, non-weight bearing activities. It’s common to see an athlete develop an overuse injury, cross-train like a ‘lunatic’, and come back fitter than before the injury. They try to immediately return to the training loads pre-injury and develop a bone related issue shortly. A great way to combat this is to include some of the cross-training as we slowly increase the running volume to make sure everything has time to adapt! 

Gear Advice:

This section just gets harder and harder each week! We’re lucky that running is a relatively ‘simple’ sport and doesn't require a ton of stuff to get out the door! That’s a great ‘lead-in’ to this week’s item; the Simple Hydration water bottle. I have gone through a few of these now and like the design and functionality. If you’re going for a run where you don’t need a lot of water and don’t like holding a bottle, this is a really nice product as it sits pretty comfortably in waist bands from my experience. These bottles also make great dog chew-toys and this is why I have gone through a few now…!