Last year I wrote a post on my old mate the T-Train and his cross training adventures as he trained for a half-iron man (would a half-iron man be a ‘rubber’ man, or maybe ‘wood-man’..?)  He even had the cheek to turn up for a post Sunday long run pancake feeding frenzy wearing a triathlon top.  You can read all about it here : https://www.runbkrun.com/2016/12/04/cross-training-as-useful-as-cross-dressing-to-runners/  The subject of cross training has again become central to my daily activities as I continue to battle Plantar Fasciitis and I eventually gave up on just running and released the Elliptigo for a second time.

Long term readers of my blog (assuming I have any bar my Mum) will know I purchased the Elliptigo ( http://www.elliptigo.com.au/ ) last year to help me get over my calf tear.  ( https://www.runbkrun.com/2017/06/24/elliptigo-is-proving-a-life-saver/ ) As with all things , non-running, though the Elliptigo was forgotten once my calf tear was repaired and it was sent back to the garage to sit next to my very expensive Giant carbon fibre racing bike. (Much to my Wife’s disgust.) I merrily returned to running twice a day and all memories of the fun I experienced on the GO was quickly erased and any thoughts of continuing cross training disappeared faster than an avocado smoothie at a models convention.

So what changed and why this post. ?  Another long term injury eventually dictated I had no choice but to dust off the GO and start commuting to work as well as keep running lunch times. This served two purposes. First I was getting in three decent cardio exercise sessions a day compared to only one, secondly I needed to work more on my core as the last 3-4 months of inactivity (relatively) had not been good to the waist line and for the first time in many years my ribs disappeared and I started to see these ‘handle’ like growths above my waist. ! My Daughter and Wife even remarked that I was getting ‘a belly’  when I was changing into a t-shirt. Truth be told this was the last straw. I had suspected as much but when your 10 year old notices, much to her amusement, something had to be done. This made me scuttle off to the garage and dust down the GO as I decided I still didn’t really enjoy cycling enough to make another comeback. I feel with cycling you don’t get the same benefits for your running related muscle groups as you do on the GO and this was hammered home this morning when, due to a slow puncture becoming a fast puncture, I was forced to leave the GO at home and mount the Giant.  Cycling in I just didn’t get the same workout I experience on the GO albeit I was taking it easy for the first half of the commute as I got use to sitting down compared to my normal ‘loud and proud’ standing position. I know there’s the old saying about ‘as easy as riding a bike’  but it’s been over a year since I got on the Giant and it can be a tad unforgiving, add in a decent cross wind and my deep rimmed wheels are purpose built to dismount a ride at speed. (As I nearly found out this morning !)

Are there alternatives to the Elliptigo. ? There use to be an Australian product which was even more designed for runners in mind but this product was let down by Chinese suppliers (you can’t trust some people!) and unfortunately they went under.  They had designed a product to mimic running seamlessly and I had a test ride after I purchased the Elliptigo (always the way !) and was converted. Unfortunately No1. Wife wasn’t convinced and forbid me to buy another bike, for some reason she considered three enough and four was just a ‘bike too far’, I’ll never understand Women ?  The Bionic and Predator was built by an Irun.com but is no longer available which is a crying shame. Luckily for me one of my colleagues at work has one of the last models and I’m just waiting until he gets bored and decides he’ll never use it, I’m biding my time; just got to convince No1 Wife.

So as usual I have digressed. The reason behind this post is to highlight the benefit of cross training and recommend every runner makes an attempt to add some cross training time into their busy running schedule. It may be the difference between an injury free period or an interrupted period, and trust me I am talking from experience here. I know Meb Keflexighi is a big believer in using the Elliptigo for a good daily second workout the pounding another run would entail, he explains why in this YouTube video.  ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlTBE93OIlk )  I’m also a big fan of this method of grabbing your exercise high without the risk of injury. (albeit some car drivers may think otherwise, bless ’em. ?)  This weekend I have some GO maintenance planned and will be changing out the back inner tube and ordered two new tires on the interweb this morning. I can’t be doing with all this cycling for fear of ending up sitting in a café,  drenched in sweat , cocooned in lycra ordering a soya, light frappacino……..

Of course you don’t need to buy an Elliptigo to get a good cross training hit. Circuit classes at the gym are a good alternative concentrating on your core muscle group and high repetition, low weights. Alternatively there is another train of thought which recommends heavy weight, low repetition. Personally I tend to steer clear of these as I’m not really a gym fan and just prefer to get my exercise high outside, standing up at all times if possible.  Another avenue I feel is over looked by nearly all runners is the Pilates, Yoga type exercise.  ( https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/good ) Being an ‘older’ runner I can’t even touch my toes with hamstrings so tight you could probably perform Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on them. I will eventually pluck up the courage and attend a Yoga class, probably. I know Mike K. swears by them and he is a lot older than me ! (Sorry Mike) My Wife has a Pilates Reformer which has stood idle for nearly two years, (due to my Wife’s bad back which is why we brought it in the first place ? A classic chicken and Egg scenario? Which came first, the Pilates Reformer or the bad back?)  maybe one day I’ll actually read the manual and strap myself in, so to speak. In the meantime it’s back to the GO for me because it really is just so much fun.

Footnote: Since  writing this post and before posting I had a weekend on the GO after rotating the tyres and putting in a new back inner tube, the joys of riding ? Anyhow I rode to Kings Park for a 12k trail run and then rode home afterwards. I’d done the same a few weeks ago and let me tell you it doesn’t get any easier. The GO-run-GO brick session is a killer and I backed it up this morning with a 20k Kings Park trail run with Damo and Mark L. ; I convinced them too leave the beach run for a week. Needless to say I am ‘cross trained’ out and can only assume this has done me some good. The last three weeks I’ve averaged 12 hours a week exercise with virtually a 50-50 split between running and the GO. It’ll be interesting to see how I go when I eventually get rid of this pesky PF and hit the ‘road’ , literally.

Note : The reference to cross dressing in the title was purely to get your attention and for all the readers who have struggled through this post in the vain hope of some juicy cross dressing information I can only apologise. So sorry T-Train.

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