Crossing the Divide

by Marc Bloom

If you're a long-time runner well into mid-life and have yet to join the cross-training parade, let me be blunt: you're nuts!

We who have diversified do not even call it cross-training any longer. My non-running activity is part of my overall fitness/wellness program. The term cross-training, at least initially, implied a subordinate, alternative activity, an endeavor not as "good" as running-to be done when, in desperation, you could not run.

The vocabulary has changed, and so have we. Call us diversity devotees. We bike and swim and lift weights and use various gym apparatus, and even walk. Of course, we still run. And that's the point: if not for, pardon the expression, cross-training, I would not be healthy enough to run, or certainly not able to enjoy running as much as I still do. If I dared to run every day, I would be hurt and tired and sick and mentally drained.

I used to run every day and run marathons. After a decade of that-a decade of "fighting" my body too often and spending part of every year recovering from injuries, while also lacking many essential aspects of wellness-I realized I had to make a change and started bicycling. That was in the early '80s, when the first wave of us cross-trainers found out about pedal stroke and seat tube angles.

Even with a cheap, clunky three-speed, I discovered the thrill of bicycling on the open road, a child-like joy I'd started to lose in running from all the stress and strain and marathon-induced trauma. I also found the competitive, bicycling sub-culture intriguing, graduating to racing bikes and entering events. I've got the crash scars to prove it. In time, my workouts evolved into run one day, bike the next. Good balance.

Then, a few years later, I got into the pool, and never looked back. I took lessons, learned to swim (I'm still pretty slow), did a few triathlons. Eventually, I found a competitive niche in run-bike duathlons, but that ran its course as I saw the amount of biking necessary to stay competitive. A lot of guys "lived on their bikes." I decided to make biking purely recreational rather than really train.

Besides, my swimming was growing, not in technique but in enjoyment. I even liked aqua-jogging, so before long I did a one-hour pool workout, half of it lap swimming and half aqua-running. My new training program became: one day run, the next day swim, the next day bike. Still, I felt lacking in the upper body and started a modest weight training routine, which I would fit in as a second workout twice a week.

That program has kept me afloat for years. Now in my late 50s, I enjoy running more than ever. I rarely run more than three days a week, but almost always feel fresh, and on 20 miles a week can still flirt with a 20-minute 5k. There are no marathons in my future but, if anything, I'd rather run shorter and faster, than longer and slower.

I've passed a lot of the old-timers who tried to keep running every day without let-up. They never took up other sports and now look pretty worn out. I'm not saying I've found any secrets to feeling young or running well as you age, just that diversified training contributes to total well-being, and that you'd be surprised how well you can run with less mileage. After all, consistency is probably the most important training element, and diversity usually results in less injury, and more consistency.