A new kind of brick: Aquajogging

As you guys know, I have been nursing a small bout of plantar fascitis in my left heel, its getting better but it still hurts to run over a specific mileage so coachie and I have added some aquajogging into my schedule to replace the running for right now and its hard, really hard. Aquajogging provides a great balance of training stimulus and reduced impact on your joints, and for many athletes ( like myself) it can be a time saver too.

To make the most of your time and effort, you can combine a swimming session with aquajogging to create a new kind of brick workout.

To make the deep water running effective you should be mindful not to just read water ( that's cheating). Instead, mimic your run gait and flex your ankles, knees and hips as you would while running on land. Your deep-water run gait should look like your running stride on land, complete with arm swing.

I tried to go without the belt the first time and I found that my form sucked and that I was spending more time with my arms out in front of me helping me run/tread water. When i put on the belt it helped me maintain good flotation and then I was able to really properly execute my form in the water. A properly executed deep-water run is a true aerobic workout, so you should be breathing hard ( even sweating). Deep water jogging is not an easy way out of a workout; instead, the session should be a tempo-intensity workout in a warmer, less-jarring environment.

Based on an article from Triathlete magazine, if you know your tempo-run heart rate zone, use it where indicated. Your tempo intensity should be 96% of your average heart rate for a 5k race. Since your not supporting your weight when you run in the pool, it's harder to get your heart rate up that high. As a result, your tempo intensity for deep-water running will be about five to seven beats lower than it is on land.

An example of a swim/aqua-jogging workout from Triathlete magazine, authored by: Abby Ruby, CTs Expert Coach:

Warm-up 300meter swim, 200 meter pull, 100 meter kick
Swim set: 800 meters at race pace
Aqua Jog: 20 minute water run with 2 minute warm-up; 3 x 5:00 @ tempo intensity on 1 minute easy jogging recovery
Swim set #2: 500 meter race pace
Aqua Jog: 15 minute water run with 5 x 2 minutes hard ( max intensity and turnover) on 1 minute easy-jogging recovery
Swim set: #3: 3 x 250 race pace on 15 seconds rest
Aqua jog: 10 minutes tempo intensity
Cool Down: 50 meters

Total: 2700 meters swimming
45 minutes jogging with 35 minutes at tempo intensity and above.

Wearing a heart rate monitor during the aqua jogging would be very helpful so as not to slack off.

The workouts have been going well for me, I miss running a ton and hope that I can still do the pumpkinman sprint next week. I
I also have the Stone Cat marathon in November so things have got to turn around soon. If all else fails I am starting a new sport this fall called cyclocross and will be dipping my hands into the mix. I recently purchased a new cross bike which I can also use as a road bike so I'm pretty psyched. We'll see.