How to integrate cross-training in your plan
We all have reasons we might want to cross-train, and probably should! Whether it’s a former (or current) injury, working on a weakness, bad weather, or training for multiple sports concurrently, there are safe and effective ways to integrate cross-training with your plan. Here are a few considerations:
Your goal with cross-training should be to either (1) compliment your running in some way or (2) replace a running workout effectively
If you’re looking to compliment running by building strength, for example, you’ll need extra time in your schedule and special consideration for when you plan your strength workouts to give proper recovery time. As a general rule, the minimum amount of time between workouts you need to reap the full benefits of each is 8-12 hours*. I always suggest adding strength 2-3 days/week to your training plan - it doesn’t have to be crazy long, but it’s very important for injury-prevention and preparing your body for the taxing terrain of trails.
To replace a running workout altogether, we use the concept of equivalent workload - which means you want to get the same amount of work done as what you’d see on your run, which is most easily measure by monitoring the calories you’ve burned. Paying attention to both “time on feet” and calories burned will give you a good indication if you’ve put in an equivalent effort to a comparable run.
Note that equivalent workload has nothing to do with the actual dynamics of running, meaning, even if you get the same cardiovascular workout cross-training, you are still missing the specificity of running. This isn’t a big deal so long as you’re still getting in a few solid runs a week on terrain that you expect to see during your race or event.
Keep in mind that when we train for an ultra, every week we pay attention to either (a) total time-on-feet or (b) total miles. Different coaches prefer different methods; I tend to pay attention to both. The reason we do this is because we want to see approximately the same amount of miles/hours we’ll be running on race day during our peak training block. Example: Say you’re signed up for a 50k and want to finish in 7 hours: that means starting at T-6 weeks from your race day*, we’ll want you spending 7 hours/week running, or 31 miles total over the course of the week (or a mix of running and equivalent-workload cross-training).
Let’s take a real-life example from my 50M training, where I was swapping-out 2-3 runs/week in favor of cross training on an elliptical and stairmaster:
In my peak training block (which is a three week block spanning T-6 to T-3 weeks to race day) I was putting in 12 hours/week of running + cross training total. I was running between 30-35 miles of that, and making up for those last 20 miles on the elliptical and stairmaster. How did I figure that? Let’s say I was looking to replace an 8-mile run one day with the elliptical. I’d hop on the machine and try to keep my heart rate where I’d normally see it on a run, and go for as long as necessary to hit the total calories I’d burn on an 8 mile run on the trails (for me that’s about 660 calories). Now I’m a bit much, but I’d go so far as to edit my workout before uploading to Strava, so my weekly miles were also showing up in the app. :) I tracked all of this in a spreadsheet every week.
And this worked! I was incredibly proud of my finish time and how I felt in the 50M using this cross-training method. It should be noted that I was careful to add-in strength training and treadmill hiking to make sure I was also ready for the big climbs and downhills in my race.
One question you may have is: which runs should I swap for cross-training? The easy answer is to swap out your recovery runs for the bike or elliptical so your long runs and workouts are nailing the dynamics you need to reap the full benefit. That being said, I personally have been doing interval and tempo workouts on the elliptical for the past year (my achilles really doesn’t like speed or hill-repeats). There have been articles that state not only is this effective, but you can actually push your HR up higher on an elliptical and get a better workout! I absolutely love the elliptical for speed because I feel I can control my heart rate more effectively. Whether or not this is something you’d like to consider is completely up to you: if I had a 100% healthy achilles I’d still be hitting some hill repeats outside, but if you’re limited in a any way, it’s bad weather, etc, know that hard workouts can be done effectively in other ways.
I hope this gives you some hope that not only is cross-training a great idea, but can be a fun way to add variety to your training and help your performance on race day!
Some related reads:
Cross training can make some athletes faster
Yes, the eliptical can create champions. Here’s how
*Ref: Trail Running Essentials for Ultrarunners, Jason Koop