Earlier this summer, I injured both my hamstring and adductor.  Strained them to the point where I walked with a limp for a solid week.  The injury happened two months before my marathon, when I was supposed to be running higher mileage.  How am I training for a marathon while injured?  Through lots of cross training!

My marathon training program was a familiar, established routine.  Easy Monday. Track Tuesday. Rest Wednesday. Tempo Thursday. November Project Friday. Long run Saturday.  Trail Sundays.  Six days of running with 1-2 strength workouts a week.  I loved it.  My hamstring and adductor injury quickly changed all that.  The same day of my injury, I was able to get in to see a sports medicine doctor.  Immediately he told me no running for at least three weeks.  If I couldn’t put weight on the leg and walk without a limp, there was no WAY that I could run on it.

At first, I was devastated.  I have the Berlin marathon in two months, what do you MEAN I can’t run for three weeks?  These are my peak mileage weeks!  When I can run again, I’ll be so close to the race; how can I maintain my fitness while injured so I can resume training?  After some lengthy conversations with my doctor, physical therapist, teammates, and coach, we came up with a cross training program to help me maintain fitness for the marathon while I waited to heal.  My injury training program consisted of strength classes, physical therapy, hiking on the treadmill, and pool running.

PLEASE NOTE.  I am not a doctor.  This is not medical advice.  If you are injured, go see a doctor and come up with a plan together.  Depending on the severity of the injury, you may need to rethink the race.  

Training for a Marathon While Injured

Strength Classes and Physical Therapy

My hamstring and adductor injury likely stemmed from imbalanced and weak muscles.  Runners have notoriously weak glutes and hips.  I saw a physical therapist twice a week to work on those imbalances.  Resistance bands became my new best friends.  I brought them with me when I coached at Track Tuesdays and when I traveled to Minneapolis for a wedding.  After coming home from work, I would sit and do my clamshells and lateral walks up and down my apartment.  Glutes on fire.  If you have an injury, visit a physical therapist to help determine which exercises are best for you.

In addition to the mobility and stability exercises, I increased the frequency of my strength classes.  Previous to injury, I lifted twice a week.  Now, I took classes or did my own workouts 4-5 times a week.  I focused a lot on upper body and core, and modified anything lower body that I needed to.  Heavy weight and low rep classes at On Your Mark increased my power and tabata style classes at EDGE Athlete Lounge helped improve my coordination, and neuromuscular firing.  Both styles of strength training will enable me to return to running stronger than I was before.  In addition to the physical fitness gains, mentally I felt I was doing SOMETHING proactive to heal instead of waiting around.

Treadmill Hiking

Speed workouts are a regular part of my marathon training program.  Doing speed workouts, whether they are intervals on a track or faster paced tempo runs improve the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles and develop fast twitch muscles.  Higher anaerobic capacity elevates overall endurance, meaning even your longer runs (ie: marathons) get faster over time.  However, speed workouts are not something that I can with an injured hamstring.  In fact, I still probably will not do any speed workouts before the Berlin Marathon.

But how can I mimic speed workouts to get these fitness gains without being able to run?  Hiking incline hills on a treadmill!  Hills are speedwork in disguise and one of the best ways to develop leg strength.  During ultra training, I do running and hiking workouts on the treadmill all the time.  Now, training for a marathon while injured, hiking on a treadmill is less impact than running. Inclines also use more quads and calves and put less stress on hamstrings, making the uphills good for my hamstring injury.  An example treadmill incline workout is: 2x through [.25 mi 6%, .25 mi 7%,  .25 mi 8%] with .25 mi recovery at 0% between inclines. with 1 mile each warmup and cooldown.

Pool Running

Hands down my absolute FAVORITE way to continue training for a marathon while injured is pool running.  Pool running is just what it sounds like – running in a deep water pool.  You are submerged from the neck down and you mimic the running motions with your arms and legs.  There are numerous benefits of pool running.  There’s no impact with water running.  I can mimic the running motion without putting stress on my injured hamstring.  The resistance from the water is like an added strength training benefit because I expend more energy than when running through air.  Any man does it get my heart rate up!

The company Fluid Running has a kit and workouts that I have been using.  The kit has a water running belt and wireless waterproof headphones.  Through the Fluid Running app, I can listen to guided workouts.  The workouts are amazing! I will be doing a more thorough review of their kit and my experience next week, so be on the lookout for that!

Strength and stability exercises, treadmill hiking and pool running are how I’ve been training for a marathon while injured.  This Berlin Marathon training cycle has been the most unusual cycle I’ve ever had.  30 days left until race day!  I now have the green light to start running again, but I cannot jump into the 60+ mile per week plan I was following before.  My return to running will be slow, and I will continue to pool run, hike and work on strength.  Going slowly will prevent me from re-injuring myself.  Cross training has been my mental and physical savior while I couldn’t run.

Training for a marathon while injured is something you need to discuss with a doctor because it’s not something that everyone can do.  Make a plan with a physician and coach.  Everyone’s injury is different, and the severity of the injury will dictate what type of cross training you will be able to do and how long you need to refrain from running.  Remember, the focus of the plan should be to get you healthy so you can continue running for many years to come.

Best of luck,

Becca