Injured? Can’t run? All will be OK! Aqua jogging is a fantastic way to keep fitness up without the wear and tear of running on hard surfaces while having a great neurological benefit.
Water running was originally designed for injured runners for cross training, replicating the running workouts and has significant benefits.
Aqua jogging should be done in the deep part of the pool where there is resistance in the water to mimic running mechanics. It can be done with or without a floating device, but either way lean slightly forward, hips and shoulders aligned and run with the same motion as you would on land.
Remember you don’t need to be going forward fast, just keep your biomechanics in mind. I mean I was getting past by 80-year olds chatting away!
YOU WILL NOT LOOSE FITNESS!
I have seen/heard/ and even been in this boat, I was injured 3 weeks out from the Triathlon world Champs in Gold Coast, I found out that aqua jogging helped so I set myself up sessions every day, and continued to do them. My result was better than I hoped for and my run time was even faster!
There was a man in the early 2000s who did 90% of his marathon training in the pool, the other sessions were on the track. His PBs kept on coming.
So how should you attack these aqua jogging sessions?? Here are a couple I used during my training.
1) Focus for this session is to get the Aerobic benefits while doing some intervals in Z3 to keep the mind and body turned on.
5min warm up (Z1)
4x3min Mod Hard (Z3) with 90sec easy in between
5min steady (Z2)
4x30sec Max 30sec easy
5min Cool down
2) Focus is for some High intensity Anaerobic work:
10min warm up (Z1)
15min as 30sec max/ 30sec easy
5min steady (Z2)
5min easy (Z1)
Have fun with this, take some one with you to pass the time.