Cross-training is simply a variety of training modalities and will vary depending on your sport. Often, runners will use forms of non-impact activity such as cycling, cross trainer, rower or swimming to maintain fitness, bridge the gap in a period of injury or to reduce weekly impact in a high intensity training phase. Cross training offers a broad spectrum of benefits to your training and should be considered a useful tool as part of your weekly training all year round. During the winter season, cross-training can act as a vital element of training when the weather is too wet, cold or unsafe to venture into.
I should make clear that I absolutely support training in these conditions for two reasons:
- Training in tougher conditions makes it easier to race in tougher conditions;
- The mental challenge of training outdoors on those cold, wet, windy days, helps with your resilience for both tough training sessions and as at 1 above, for racing in poorer weather conditions.
To get a reprieve from cold and/or wet conditions and to halt the ground force impact of running, cross training can support your training and racing goals, whilst keeping you indoors. As aforementioned, cross-training for runners is often a non-impact activity, with the aim of supporting your training plan, paying particular attention to replicating what you could achieve if outside. However, it has the added benefit of buffering your joints for a session and keeping your body warmer and less-likely to risk a cold-weather-related injury. Cold weather itself does not cause injury, but failure to warm up properly in colder temperatures certainly can be a risk factor.
For cross-training to be successful, it needs to support the desired effects of your usual training, i.e. what training zone are you aiming to work in, what is the aim of the training session, what benefit will this form of cross-training specifically have? To break that down, your cross-training session should follow the same principle as when you take yourself out for a run and can simply be replicated in another form of activity. The benefits to a specific choice of cross-training may be training or racing goal related, but it can also be driven by mental health.
Cross-training is vitally important for the rehabilitation and recovery from an injury. Various activities are often easier to control and manage the load, i.e. a rowing machine activity with a set cadence for a set time, or leg strength loading using the same weight on a machine to ensure an identical range of movement for every repetition.
In closing, I appreciate that some forms of cross-training need to be process and performance driven, in order to achieve specific goals. However, I would also encourage you to find a form of cross-training that brings you enjoyment and allows you to simply look forward to training rather than an outcome every time. Performing one discipline of sport for a long period of time, for example, preparing for a Marathon, can be mentally exhausting, as well as the obvious physical exhaustion. The monotonous, yet essential training can take its toll and it may be that choosing an enjoyable form of cross-training breaks up that monotony and gives motivates you for your running-specific training for the week ahead.
If nothing else, cross-training allows you to explore different forms of activity and maybe you’ll find something that you didn’t expect to enjoy.
