Cross-training for Runners
What is Cross-Training? And why should I care?
The Breath Runner Method strongly advocates cross-training as part of every run training program. What exactly is “Cross” training? How does it work? “I just want to run; shouldn’t I just stick to doing that?” some athletes may say.
Cross-training simply doing something other than running on days where no running is scheduled. It’s encouraged that the activity is something that does NOT put a lot of strain on the skeletal system. Running does more than enough of that, thank you, and that’s why days “off” in-between runs are called for. But we still want to work our cardio-vascular and muscular systems, so doing an alternative activity like swimming, biking, yoga, strength training, or similar can be beneficial. Keep in mind that we still need to take a day off (sometimes two) from ALL activity, just to allow the body to recover. Let’s dig into the nuances.
Swimming is considered by some to be the ultimate cross-training activity for runners, as there is zero skeletal impact (unless you swim into the wall, but we’ll assume that that won’t be an issue). Swimming is a “full body” activity, since both the upper body (arms and chest), lower body (legs and hips), and core (which I define as everything between the knees, elbows, and neck) are engaged. The problem for most who identify as a single-sport run athlete is that the aquatic environment is an alien world where the laws of physics goes sideways, and the their body seems to go in only one direction: down. It doesn’t have to be this way, and AquaTerra Coaching has the program and knowledge to help those who have no swim experience.
One of the unique aspects of AquaTerra Coaching’s swim training is an emphasis on breathwork as well. This isn’t surprising, once you learn that the Breath Runner Method was borne out of AquaTerra Coaching swim experience. Yet the journey of discovery that the Breath Runner Method created has given new depth and meaning to AquaTerra Coaching’s program. Swimming creates unique challenges for the athlete which is not familiar with the entrained breathing patterns that swimming demands. Because of the head-down, face in the water nature of swimming freestyle, we have no choice but to sync our breathing with our arm cadence. For someone who is used to breathing “on demand” (“I’ll breathe when I want, how I want, as much as I want!”), this limitation to their breathing pattern can cause a host of issues with their swimming.
Swimming is widely considered the most technically demanding sport because of the dynamics involved with trying to self-propel through water. By far the biggest factor is drag; water is nearly 800 times more dense than air, so every little thing that we do that causes unnecessary drag in the water is magnified to ridiculous proportions. Olympic level swimmers can spend years fine-tuning their swim stroke to gain one or two seconds on their best time. Not minutes; seconds. Often micro-seconds. Take notice of your three longest fingers for a moment: the distance between the tips of the fingers is often the distance which defines 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in an championship swim event. The level of finesse in technique required to perform at this level is mind-boggling.
So what hope is there for a runner who can barely make it from one end of the pool to the other without drowning? There’s more than hope — there’s a entire new world of adventure awaiting, once the fundamental aspects of swimming are understood and implemented. And for most, the key component is their breathing. That “Out of oxygen” panic feeling that we experience when we’re at our limit in the water? It’s not a lack of oxygen. It’s an intolerance to CO2 buildup in our bloodstream. It’s the same exact phenomenon we deal with in running, and it’s learning to tolerate the intolerable (within reason) that is what spawned the creation of the Breath Runner Method.
But in the water, there is an added dynamic which causes us a spot of bother. It is, in a word: water. Our bodies are on average 60% water, yet our respiratory system, which can expel up to 1500 ml of water per day when exercising at high altitude, is entirely intolerant of water in its liquid form. This causes most novice swimmers to do the worst possible thing: Hold their breath while trying to swim. Try running 200 meter threshold repeats, but only taking one inhale and exhale on every 8th or 10th step; hold the breath in-between those ultra-fast gasps for air. How long do you think you’ll last? Yet this is what people who don’t know how to swim properly end up doing. It’s not their fault. We all have this pre-historic part of our brain which I like to call our Lizard Brain; it’s the part of our evolutionary structure that developed when we crawled out of the pond and traded gills for lungs. No longer having the ability to breathe while underwater means that when we submerge, our Lizard Brain immediately wants us to hold our breath until we resurface. This is a phenomenon known as the mammalian dive reflex. Overcoming this reflex for the aquatically unfamiliar is HARD; this is a hard-wired physiological survival response. Yet it can be overcome with proper training. And the key to overcoming this obstacle? You guessed it: Breathwork. Much more on this topic will be found on the AquaTerra Coaching website soon!
Want to work on your swimming without having to worry about breathing in water? The Vasa Erg is an excellent cross-training tool! And AquaTerra Coaching can offer discounts on new Vasa Ergs, Vasa Trainers, and more for your swimming needs!
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