What 92% of Runners (Including myself) Get Wrong About Cross-Training
The secret that pro runners have been using to stay injury free
Watch and listen to the full episode here on your next run or workout.
Runners - How do you feel after this statement? Cross-training for the majority of your training won’t help you run the fastest marathon.
Before you punch a hole in your screen - Let me break that down.
I didn’t say you can’t cross-train your way to run A MARATHON and finish it at a moderately fast pace compared to your best time.
I also didn’t say you can’t cross-train your way to run YOUR FIRST MARATHON and finish it.
I’ve said that first statement before and got the response from a lot of runners: “No, you’re wrong - I ran my fastest marathon when I also mixed in cross-training.”
Don’t worry; I’ll tell those runners why they are wrong with science and my own experience in this episode.
I’ll answer questions like:
Mainly, How to use cross-training as a tool - not just a nice to have —- I’ve gone down the rabbit hole, and I think it’s amazing.
What I define as cross-training for runners
Examples of how I use cross-training as a tool and how you can, too
When’s the best time to do it during your running calendar year
What cross-training activities are most and least specific to running
The principle of specificity in running
And more!
What is Cross Training
I remember back in the 90s, I was obsessed with wearing Reebok “Cross Trainers.” It was like the ultimate shoe. I could run, hike, go to the gym, and… ride my bike? I dunno. That’s what cross-training always meant to me, but what exactly is the Definition of cross training?
My Definition, which may differ from others…
Cross-training for running is different than general cross-training. And… if you do F45, it’s different than if you cross-train as a triathlete. We need to have an objective of what cross-training is distinct from. What we are optimizing for gives us our North Star to follow. Everything else is just noise.
I define cross-training for running as any activity that isn’t running that does the following:
Helps aid with recovery from your runs so you can get back to running as optimal as you need to — is your goal to run your fastest, farthest or just maintain fitness for end of life?
Any vigorous physical activity that helps avoid overusing the usual running muscles, tendons, and ligaments but still maintain or build your aerobic base by getting your heart rate up to a minimum of 60% of your max HR or high zone 1/low zone 2 effort
Any physical activity that allows you to have a mental break from the primary activity of running
I said “physical activity” because, well, mental activities like meditating could then be cross-training, and yeah, everything is up for grabs, and it’s confusing.
Why Should Runners Cross Train?
Cross-training offers runners several benefits:
Minimizes injury risk by diversifying movement patterns
Enhances overall fitness, including cardiovascular and muscular endurance
Develops complementary strength, potentially improving running efficiency
Provides a refreshing change of pace, both mentally and physically
Enables maintenance of fitness during injury recovery periods
While our cardiovascular system can improve very quickly with a lot of stress, our musculoskeletal system, aka bones, tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, etc., takes 2-3 times longer to adapt. You also don’t find out you have musculoskeletal injury until sometimes weeks, if not months, after you did the damage. This is why cyclists and swimmers can do exponentially more volume than runners and not get injured. To put it bluntly - running is hard on the body, and you need to remember that.
Cross-training isn't just some buzzword term coaches throw around to sound smart. It's the glue that turns you into a badass running machine. It builds you up, makes you stronger, and plugs those annoying weak spots that love to turn into injuries.
And here’s the thing: most running injuries happen because we runners are stubborn and overdo it. But a bunch of sports scientists figured out that we can actually prevent most of these injuries. Or at least stop them from coming back.
With that said, every cross-training activity has pros and cons that come with it in relation to becoming the best runner you can be. Pilates, for instance, is excellent for core strength and flexibility but may not be as effective as a structured gym strength workout for developing muscular endurance specific to running.
I’ll discuss all the different types of cross-training and how similar or not they are to run shortly, but let’s talk about the running cross-training is excellent.
What kind of runner can benefit from cross-training?
Newbies just starting their running journey
Runners bouncing back from injuries
They go far over fast runners that constantly put in the mega miles
For beginner runners, cross-training is actually your new best friend, or you should highly consider it to be. It'll boost your endurance without beating up your body. Think about it - your joints aren't used to all that pounding from running yet, so getting in the cardiovascular fitness (lungs, heart, blood, mitochondria, etc.) will pay dividends as your body takes the time to adapt to running.
Injured runners are in the same boat as beginner runners but they have more of a mental problem. They KNOW their bodies can go far, fast, or both, so they don’t have the discipline to start off slow. If they usually did 45-minute to 1-hour runs 4-5 times a week, they would start off at 30-45-minute runs 3-4 times a week. From having done zero running to even doing 20 minutes every other day is a lot of stress on your body. Cross-training can solve that obsessive time problem.
High mileage runners: If you chat with any runner who's been crushing it injury-free for a while, they'll probably brag about their cross-training routine (or their genetics to allow them to run 100-mile weeks without cross/strength training). It's like a secret weapon.
Is strength training a form of cross-training?
While we are here - Is strength training a form of cross-training? Technically, strength training is the ultimate form of cross-training, according to experts and research. I disagree because you should always be strength training. Strength training shouldn’t be an “extra, just in case, sometimes when you feel like it .”It should be done as habitually as how you put your shoes on and upload your runs to Strava. If you want to run far and/or fast for as long into your life as possible, there is no way around this.
Strength training falls under resistance training and is a close cousin to HIIT/functional training, plyometrics, etc. By all means, please supplement your runs with those other types of resistance workouts, but don’t act like strength training is “when I get enough time .”It’s part of your workouts. Which leads to the next burning question you may have — how do you know you’re doing it right?
How To Do It Right
The best cross-training I’ve found from my research and experience is when you have a structured training plan. Not to sound like a broken record, but if your main goal is to maintain fitness, enjoy running, and feel good as you age, any mixture of cross-training and running will get you to that goal. Since you are here with me, I’ll assume you’re a committed runner, so try to let running makeup at least 50% of your physical activities.
Alternatively, if running your best time or as far as possible is the primary objective, you need to take into consideration your experience, how many days a week you can devote to being physically active, how long you can train per day, and a few other variables. Here are a few examples to help it make more sense.
Example For Me
I split my run calendar year into two parts: In-season and off-season. To an outsider who doesn’t really train, both would look the same. But you are not an outsider; you are a 1% better runner who cares about all of the details. So let’s zoom in:
In Season - Cross-training is a supplemental second-priority
I run 6-7 days a week most weeks. 6 months out of the year, I’m either trying to run my fastest or maintain my fastest 200m/400m, 5k, or half marathon. That means that during the season, I cross-train much less. I don’t count strength/resistance training as cross-training because I’m lifting for power and almost failing with good form. I also try to get this done as quickly as possible to not accumulate too much fatigue during the season. This is supplemental work that I do in addition to my runs, not a substitution.
The exception - If I’m really trying to milk a recovery week after a hard few weeks before a big race but want to get out and do something, I will do a short 10-15 minute High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) set with kettlebells and lighter weight followed by gentle stretching.
During this season, I drop the bike and swim because it’s cooler autumn/winter here in Sydney, Australia, during the run season. And that works out perfectly for me! If I lived in the northern hemisphere, I would struggle to resist the urge to ride and swim on those awesome hot summer days in liue of bettering my running fitness.
Off-Season - Cross Training is balanced against running
In the off-season, I have fun with cross-training and turn into the ADHD triathlete I was once years ago. I’ll still maintain structure to keep sanity and routine and run 2-3 days per week, with one of those being a “fast” run that’s either long, tempo/threshold, interval/Vo2 Max, or sprint workout.
I’ll ride my bicycle 1-2 days a week and swim 1-2 days a week (weather dependent). On days when my life and the atmosphere don’t line up I’ll do a HIIT workout or some hiking/rucking. During the off-season, I try not to be too compulsive about this and let things flow for a change. Rigidity for 12 months, 365 days a year, can be draining.
But most of you either don’t live in Australia or run 6-7 days per week. So, how would the in-season/off-season split look for you? Enter my gift to you.
Use this FREE Cross-training guide to improve your running, right now!
Since cross-training is even more complex and specific to each person, I created something that is way more interactive and actually useful for runners.
It’s a free, quick, and easy cheat sheet checklist and 30-day 1% better training and habits plan so you can use cross-training more specifically to help your running in and out of season.
Go to the link here to pick it up and as a bonus, you’ll be subscribed to our weekly newsletter, which is totally different than other run newsletters. We don’t do the quick fix motivational hacks - instead, we attack your run life one step at a time with consistency, habits, and all the other tips and tricks to get you to perform better for as long as possible.
So go and download that and we’ll get back into the episode.
Cross-Training Example Activities
Something that I’ve always wondered was how effective was a specific cross-training activity at maintaining or even improving run fitness. So, after years of being a triathlete and testing this, as well as a lot of research, I’ve landed on what I think is the best guide to cross-training activity and run a specific benefit percentage list.
The biggest takeaway from this list is that I should be incorporating more aqua jogging. And the seond takeaway is around swimming — while great for overall global cardio, not very specific for running. If you’re injured and have access to a pool or gym, you’re better off aqua jogging and doing elliptical than swimming.
Here is the complete short list of things you can do to cross-train specifically for running. In the column next to each activity, I’ve put a rough estimate of how close it is to the sport of running, aka running-specific neuromuscular activation.
Again, this is just a guide based on a bunch of different papers and the general run consensus. It’s nearly impossible to get exact numbers since everyone is different, the types of training you do are different, etc.
I’ve purposely left out Yoga and Pilates because they don’t get your heart rate up to the level we need to maintain an aerobic base or improve it. While I have done both Yoga and Pilates (poorly and only a few times), I can say with confidence that the principle of specificity is applicable. If you only do pilates and yoga and decide to run a half marathon without running training, you will struggle. Whereas if you did the elliptical, aqua jogged and cycled only and then ran, you would fare much better. This is because the activities you did most were specific to running.
Don’t get me wrong, it will still suck the longer and farther the race is because you haven’t run the actual distance, but something is better is always better than nothing.
When cross-training for running doesn’t work, aka The Principle of Specificity
I’ll be blunt with you - Runners who do whatever workout comes up in their head on the day and skip intervals to get on the elliptical or ride their bicycle are lying to themselves. Why? Because most runners that are here want to run their best time or as far as possible.
Enter the principle of specificity.
You will not run your best or fastest time at your highest level by using the elliptical or, ergo, row machine for 80% of your workouts. You can talk about the marathon, think about the marathon, and plan for the marathon, but to run your fastest marathon, you need to run close to the pace you want to do the marathon for as long as possible in training.
Triathlete Turned Runner Theory
Here’s some sports science for you that I thought was very interesting. Mainly because lots of cyclists and triathletes believe doing all the other sports will make them better runners. Here is some evidence to disprove that.
Running fitness transfers well to cycling by improving cardiovascular fitness and providing beneficial neuromuscular adaptations despite the difference in muscle contractions. Running involves more eccentric muscle contractions (the down movement of your stride in the running), which don't occur as much in cycling.
However, cycling fitness doesn't transfer as effectively to running performance due to running's higher neuromuscular demands and impact-related adaptations that aren't developed through cycling's concentric pushing off the pedal-focused movements.
The Finish Line
Before I went in to research this episode, I thought of cross-training as a fun, nice-to-have thing that helped you maintain fitness while you sorted out your life and injury or reloaded from a bit of a race-focused period of training.
Unfortunately, runners (usually new ones) think they can have workout ADHD and somehow still run their best time because it worked on their first marathon. Still, I rarely see times dropping drastically without the running load increasing in tandem.
I could see a world where someone has perfectly optimized their cross-training routine. After years of tweaking everything, they can manage to avoid injury, push just hard enough on the run, and maintain or even improve their aerobic base via run-specific cross-training methods. I’m sure that runner is older and very experienced, and hopefully, that runner becomes me!
I’d love to hear from you if you agree with me, disagree, or think I was dead wrong on something. Have cross trained your way to consistently better running race times? Hit me in the comments below, on Instagram DMs, or email talk@podpaste.com.
Transform your running with cross-training (Free download)
Learn more about base training and it’s importance at this video here.
And again - if you want to really drive this home I made a more engaging and personal free quick-reference guide, checklist, and a 30-day 1% better plan to use cross training better in your running in and out of season.