Cross Training

     It's beyond me how easily athletes are able to come back from time out of their beloved sport due to injury with such energy and just as good as they were before they got injured. I must admit this is not the case for myself, I haven't even been able to come back from my own injury yet! However, after talking with my physical therapist and doing my own research, I have found some ways to stay in shape and/or build endurance for runners while taking it easy.
     To some the term "cross-training" may be familiar. It may not make running easier or improve your endurance so you'll come back faster and stronger, but it keeps your fitness up. Say you have shin splints, like myself, and are looking to lessen the pain and heal yourself. You may consider cross training as a method to stay in shape and be ready to spring back into action.
     For athletes like myself, cross-training means running twice a week (out of my usual six days a week) and biking or using the elliptical the rest of the days. Rather than going by miles, I find myself both running and biking by time. If on a day that I planned to run an hour (around six miles) I would bike for an hour instead if I felt it would be better for my injury.
    Although it may not feel like it at the time, biking can really help keep your fitness up if you are looking to be able to run five miles just as easily as you were the week before. Personally, I've found it's best to push yourself harder on the bike than you would running just to keep your heart rate up. It's easy to find a nice relaxing pace and just bike your way along for thirty minutes without even breaking a sweat. Maintaining a fast pace while biking may make you sweat twenty times more than you wish, but your next run will be much more comfortable.