I’m 42. With this in mind – I have begun running again, but try to limit myself to every other day in the interest of not hurting myself. If you have been a long-time reader, or gone back and read any of the archives – you know that I have a habit of hurting myself by doing to much to soon. I thought I would be different this time. This does raise an issue however, as only running every other day is putting myself in the position that I am only exercising half as often as I would like to. I do however have a solution!
This isn’t me. Its a stock image from Pexels.com. If it was me there would be less grace, and more gasping.
I’m fortunate in my new domicile, that we have a pool in the backyard. It is a small pool (I will address this in another post), but it seems a perfect opportunity for cross training. Competitor Magazine (http://running.competitor.com/2014/07/training/cross-training-101-swimming-for-runners_82017) has posted an article on just this topic. They state:
You may prefer to keep your feet on dry land, but for the sake of thwarting injuries and maintaining fitness, you won’t get a better return on your investment than from swimming. Serving as an ideal form of active recovery for runners, swim sessions allow you to increase endurance and oxygen capacity, while giving your weary legs a break from all that pavement pounding.
They further mention in the article that it can be an anti-inflammatory if the water is under 80 degrees.. Living in Florida, I don’t have that going on – my pool is a steady 86. They also have input on how to limit leg-usage to ensure your legs are getting the break they need (if they do.)
My pool is little.. only 30 feet.
I hadn’t seen it mentioned in this, or other articles – but it is helping me with my breath control while running as well. You learn better breath control when the alternative is coughing after breathing water in!
So, this time around I am getting back in to running smartly. Hopefully by avoiding injury I can actually get up to a reasonable distance more quickly, as I don’t have to keep restarting!
As a reminder, I am an ambassador for the St. Michaels Running Festival on May 19th. Its in the beautiful eastern shore in Maryland – and you can register 3 weeks early, with a discount! Just click this link, and use the code AMBNEID
I run, because I am a runner. Having realized that I have always "been a runner" - even when I went years with out running, I am learning how it has integrated itself in all aspects of my life. When I started running in highschool, my perspective on life changed. Funny that I didn't realize how much it had affected it until just recently.
Once and Future Runner 
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