How do you run on the elliptical and build run fitness?
Background. So I have had an achilles problem since the beginning of the year. I just cannot bring myself to do pool running but I can tolerate the elliptical and I can do it without any pain. I have done the elliptical some through the year and I have tried to restart several times but it seems to be to early. Louisville is my first IM and with it coming up I made a decision a few weeks ago to give up on "running" and just do elliptical until I was absolutely sure I could run injury free. If that meant I only did the elliptical until Louisville then that would just have to be okay. Coach P's words of the best thing to do is to get to race day healthy kept ringing in my head. Louisville is a flat run so I figure I needed to bring a healthy me with some sort of run fitness in place to the race.
So now the elliptical. How do you run on it and build run fitness? Here is what I have done.
I run with my 920XT set on an indoor run using the HR strap that has all of the run metrics. I first noticed that the mileage on the elliptical machine was showing pretty close to 2X what the mileage on my watch was. The slower my pace, the closer to 2X it was. The faster my pace, the elliptical would be 2X plus. Not sure why but I got hung up on that and was thinking I should keep it close to 2X. That just did not feel right. My cadence was about 70 or less and it was difficult to get my HR into the zones that I needed. I kept thinking about it. I looked through the forums and wiki and did not see anything. I remembered a forum that Al T. commented in about using the elliptical but I just could not find it. It's all probably right there and if it was a snake it would have bit me.
So finally I came up with this.
I quit worrying about the distance and decided to just focus on my HR zone.
I got used to running on the elliptical at a higher cadence. I am at about 80-85, never lower, sometimes higher.
I figure at least this way I am still training my legs to move at a decent run cadence.
I move the intensity level on the machine up and down to control what zone I am in.
This allows me to get the time in at the zones listed in the training plan.
Distance is way out of whack but I just do not care.
It is about the time in the zone so I let distance fall wherever it does.
That's all I can think of for now. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
So now the elliptical. How do you run on it and build run fitness? Here is what I have done.
I run with my 920XT set on an indoor run using the HR strap that has all of the run metrics. I first noticed that the mileage on the elliptical machine was showing pretty close to 2X what the mileage on my watch was. The slower my pace, the closer to 2X it was. The faster my pace, the elliptical would be 2X plus. Not sure why but I got hung up on that and was thinking I should keep it close to 2X. That just did not feel right. My cadence was about 70 or less and it was difficult to get my HR into the zones that I needed. I kept thinking about it. I looked through the forums and wiki and did not see anything. I remembered a forum that Al T. commented in about using the elliptical but I just could not find it. It's all probably right there and if it was a snake it would have bit me.
So finally I came up with this.
I quit worrying about the distance and decided to just focus on my HR zone.
I got used to running on the elliptical at a higher cadence. I am at about 80-85, never lower, sometimes higher.
I figure at least this way I am still training my legs to move at a decent run cadence.
I move the intensity level on the machine up and down to control what zone I am in.
This allows me to get the time in at the zones listed in the training plan.
Distance is way out of whack but I just do not care.
It is about the time in the zone so I let distance fall wherever it does.
That's all I can think of for now. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
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Sorry to hear about the achilles problem. I'm not an expert on using the elliptical to train the run so I don't have a definitive answer. Similar to you, i wouldn't be able to tolerate water running. I have been in run jail before and used the elliptical to supplement my training, although i haven't used it with the type of volume that one would training for an IM. It definitely wasn't a perfect solution but better than nothing. You just don't get the impact on your body which helps us get conditioned.
I used the elliptical exactly how you described. Pay no attention to miles. It's all about time in your HR zones. The other thing i would say is mind the effort you use with your arms on the handles. Definitely ok to use them but I think you probably want most of your work done by your legs.
Good luck. Be careful when you do race and try not to do any permanent damage.
I appreciate your input. You are right, it just does not impact the body like running. I definitely do not use my arms on the handle other than just a place to sort of rest them. I don't like to use the fixed handles as I think that takes away from the simulation of the work that your arms do while running but I also don't let my arms help the motion of the machine.
Things have definitely been getting better and you're right I do not want to do permanent damage when I race. I have concluded that tight calves were the culprit. Given that I have been stretching them and using a night splint. It is a slow process but seems to be working.
Again thanks for the input.