What are peoples thoughts on water running and basically when a tempo is due, do the session in the water. deep water without any ground contact. Reason, i get rather sore lower legs, being feet, calfs, shins if i do 6 days of running. Too sore to do any real quality fast stuff, it just hurts that much the body actually pulls back from going flat out. because as i understand it, Tempo is for recovery? Yar? and if doing too much running actually causes more and more soreness, then one cant train all that often. So, water running takes away all the stress of running but you are still doing a session to get the legs moving and the heart pumping. I know of guys at the australian institute of sport who due to injury did up to 3 or more months of water running and no actuall running. then within two weeks of getting there land legs back from doing normal running, they were back to doing sub 14min 5klm. Which is darn fast. So really, if its just a recovery session, water runs should be actually better for people who get sore lower legs quite often. It keeps the 6 days a week training going and keeps the jarring down to just doing the quality fast stuff. As i find i can run every 2nd day and the legs get sore but are quit bearable so i can train, but im getting no tempo in, and as the month gets on, you start to really tighten up, then you need like a week off at the end of the month. today will be my 2nd day of water running, and i will try to do it now every 2nd day as a tempo. Will post results after a week to guage how effective it is. Any thoughts?
Sounds quite reasonable, however, I think that part of the trick is to get the body to adapt to the demands placed upon it through gradual progression, so I would try to work in dry-land barefoot tempo (at extremely low volumes) to overcome any structural deficiencies that may be causing your leg pain with regular tempo. Over time (perhaps years?) you should be able to do tempo with no pain.
My shins have become more used to sprinting and soreness over the last couple of years but I still aqua jog and/or use machines at times. Heres a link to a similar thread topic: http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=4132&page=2&pp=15
Spot on XLR8. Gradual adaptation is the key. Maybe the feet/calf/shins were never adequetly conditioned to handle the sprinting in the first place?
Aaarrrr, maybe a bit of a background, sorry. I am a former 800m state runner, with klm’s amounting up to 100klm week, race weight of around 59kg’s to 64kg’s. 64kg being done normally with added weight training. I could do just about any kind of training with no lower leg problems at all, except for feet, or heels. But now, at a bodyweight of around 79kg, the lower legs seem to be getting a hiding. Doing only every 2nd session on the track seems to be all right on the lower legs, but every day, like I used to, no-way. Even just going for a jog or doing tempo in joggers = way too much pain to do sprints. I can hear people saying now, well loose some weight and you will feel better. I have increased my strength out of sight and this body weight seems like a good strength to weight ratio. I am heaps more powerful and explosive. But the lower legs will only accept so much punishment. The water running when done hard, really stretches out the hammies and glutes and thighs and gets the heart going almost the same as regular grass tempo. But you have to do it darn hard. And the legs seem to really welcome it. What it’s going to be like in Winter though?
As i do the water running in the beach, maybe upgrade to soft sand?
One of the conditioning tricks we did this year was what I called soft sand tempo, run 30sec, walk 30 sec for up to ten reps. It is a great lower leg conditioner and a great overall conditioner. Despite what people will tell you, it also helps contact times later on because you develop great lower leg stability which stops you losing energy laterally when you sprint.
Pool tempo is good when you are injured but I think you need to gradually phase it out because though it may give you strength it does so without any gradual “impact” conditioning. So when you do get to a harder surface you can end up being susceptible to injury.
Yesterday was a very fast and hard session at the track. Plenty of speed and at the gym, plenty of weight on the hammies. So today, i wake up, stiff as hell, low on energy and generally feeling crap. So at 11:00am i go for a water run at the beach, (high tide). I now feel full of energy, a hell of a lot looser ( still a tade tight in small spots) and feeling great. Gee i love holidays. 