My favourite water running sessions.
In the land of runners, water running often seems to bring up looks of dread and memories of torturous hours spent questiong when we reversed evolution to try to become ducks. For the most part, it is avoided at all costs, as it is the terrain of the injured runner, so to water run out of choice is a rare thing. This is despite it being a very good training tool as its the closest thing to running without loading the body. After 12 weeks of water running almost every second day, I can see why; it kinda sucks compared to the real thing. But I have also come to have an odd love for the activity and all the challenges it presents. There are many positives from its ability to provide an intense workout without the pain or recovery time of hard running sessions, as well as the mental challenge of having to push through long sets in a short pool surrounded by humid air and chlorine. It just messes with your mind a little at times with the whole pushing hard but moving seemingly nowhere thing it has going. Still, as with many things, the harder it is to do the more benefits there are to be found.
My cross training schedule the last 18 weeks first involved only swimming with a pool buoy (no kicking) for 6 weeks, then indoor cycling and water running were added. Slowly I progressed through outdoor cycling, to walking, to run/walking, while the water running remained as my main training stimulus. There has of course been LOTS of gym work and strengthening too, but that is another entire realm of rehab. Overall, safe to say I have spent my fair share of time doing laps of a pool in the last 4 and a bit months.
When I started out I went on the hunt for some good workouts that were similar to what I would be doing running, and I couldn't find many. So I have gotten creative over the time and made up a few of my own workouts plus gotten some from friends. Some of these were to test my mind while others were to push my body to its limits. I did everything to time as distance was demoralising to measure, and I monitored how well I hit a session by checking my chest strap heart rate data after. I was aiming for similar numbers to that of a comparable running session, but heart rate is always lower in water activities as the water offers compression that assists blood flow, so I added 15bpm to my max/average when comparing it to running (studies I looked up showed it was usually 12-17 beats lower for a given effort).
Here are some of my favourite workouts, all of which I did with a couple of minutes easy either side to make for a 60-90 minute session. I have been doing 60-90 minutes 4 times a week, but these can easily be made longer or shorter by changing number of reps to fit any time/fitness level. The rule I went by for adapting running into the water was to do similar rep times as I would for a distance (Eg 400m = 75-80 seconds, 1km = 3:20-3:30 etc), and whatever the track workout was, I would halve the rest/recovery between reps and sets, as you recover quicker in the water and need more time at effort to keep your heart rate high.
Max Heart Rate (Track Session) Workouts
Repeats
10-20 x (2mins hard/30 sec sprint/30 sec recovery.
A really good one to just zone out on and get it done because its so repeptitive. I found in the water the whorter the reps the easier it was mentally to get through.
Broken 1500s
10 x (3:20 hard/10 sec rest/ 60 sec sprint/ 30 sec recovery)
An easy one to adapt to different time workouts by adding/decreasing rep number. This one was trying to simulate one of our usual track sessions which was 1km/100m float/400m.
Threshold Heart Rate (Tempo Run) Workouts
Mind Test
Steady effort* for 30-50 minutes followed by either 5 or 10 x (2min Sprint/30 sec easy)
*For the steady effort, I would test how much of it I could get through without looking at any clocks, focusing on form instead of time. It became a kind of game as the long steady effort was a damn grind some days.
Decreasing Odds
5 x 5min, 6 x 3min, 7 x 1min with 60 second recoveries between everything.
I did once switch this around to 'increasing odds' and started with 7x1min but then felt like the 5 minute efforts suffered as it was hard to gauge. With decreasing rep time, I would increase effort.
Mixed Workouts (Fartlek/Interval)
Into the Fire
3-8 times through: (5min steady/2 min hard/ 1 min sprint/ 30seconds hands in the air/90 seconds recovery)
Possibly my favourite workout of all - slowly increasing the pace (effort) until during the last 30 seconds with hands in the air, my lungs would be on fire. Then recover, and repeat until you reach death by water running. I usually did this 8 times through for a 90 minute session (5min warm up/cool down) but can easily be adjusted depending on time constraints/goals with the nice 10 minute sets.
Clock Watcher
For any amount of time: Go hard as you can until you look at the clock, recover for half the amount of time, then go again.
I did this one when I was sick of structure and wanted to play with my mind a bit. So for this, if I managed to put in a hard effort that lasted 2 mins 40 sec before I looked up at one of the clocks around the pool, I would then recover for 1min 20sec and go again. Sometimes I would only make it 30-40 seconds, and the longest I made it was 6 min 35 sec, but no matter what, it keeps you on your toes and works mind and body.
If you find yourself injured, or just looking for a great new training stimulus without adding load to your system, water running really is great overall and has kept me super fit. My advice would be to find a 50m pool that is deep the whole way to make it more enjoyable - 90 minutes up and back a ten metre section of pool does not make for a fun time (although it is an interesting mental challenge). Also, invest in a good running belt, I use Aqua Jogger Fit, and try to have some fun with it. Worst case scenario you stay fit and the hate you have for having to water run will eventually be replaced by a deeper love and appreciation for running pain free. Having just embarked on that return to running, I am finding myself fitter than I expected and actually able to enjoy it, so I'm convinced all the hours in the pool were well worth it.
Still We Rise