Forums >General Running>Anyone do cross fit endurance in marathon training...
I'm signed up for marathon number 10. All my marathons I have logged a poop ton of miles, and ran it. Each marathon I have upped the mileage, and each marathon I have gotten a significant PR (with the exception of Disney both times, those I run for fun). Anyway, I started doing cross fit at the base gym, because it's free, and I think cross training will improve my time. I am getting stronger, but I have two issues that are plaguing me:
1. Issue number one: In 1999 I had bilateral knee surgery on both knees to repair a mensicus tear (from not training for a marathon). I have pain in my knee when I do squats or lunges. The pain doesn't happen when I run. The coach is giving me a rough time, because she thinks it's caused by running. I have done cross training stuff before, and I always get knee pain from squats or lunges. Never when I run. I have run thousands of miles without knee pain. Is there any way to explain it to the coach so she gets off my case about altering the number of squats and not altering the length of my run?
2. They want me to do cross fit endurance. I looked into it, and I'm really not comfortable running that few of miles. The longest run is 10 miles on their marathon plan. I do not believe in running just 10 miles to train for 26 miles. The minimum distance I will do is 16-18 miles.
Jodi
PR:
Half: 1:48 (March 3rd, 2013)
Full: 4:05:40 (March 17th, 2013)
2013/2014 Goals:
Sub-4:00 hour Marathon
Sub- 125 poundsSub- 1:45 hour half.
Dammit people like that are what make Crossfit look bad. I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. I've been doing Crossfit on our base for a little over a year and a half now. I am one of THOSE people who got their Level 1 Cert so that I could help out coaching here but I'm by no means a pro. Listen to your own body. If your coach is asking you to do something that hurts you, then they are a crappy coach and I wouldn't feel bad about ignoring it. I feel that some squats are probably a good thing for keeping legs strong and active, but if doing 150 of them hurts, then scale it. That's supposed to be one of the fundamental principles of Crossfit.
Honestly, I think the Crossfit endurance thing is a bunch of rubbish. It's probably great for Crossfitters who want to do a little more running or who decide to do a 5K, 10K or half marathon while still focusing on Crossfit. I've never heard of anyone winning anything major by following this program though. If you just want to finish a marathon and you're on #10, then sure it's probably fine. But I wouldn't count a PR with it. My friend Melissa actually ran the Tokyo marathon back in February on essentially nothing but Crossfit because she had been traveling a lot the 2 months prior and really hadn't had much time to run. She actually only ran it about 2 minutes slower than the previous year. It was her 5th or 6th marathon however so she was mentally prepared and knew it was going to just suck
Believe it or not, I love Crossfit. I think it is a great addition to any fitness routine and it's made me stronger than I've ever been in my life. However I had a GREAT coach who was also a physical therapist and was very strict about form and safety. I'm sorry your coach isn't very understanding and I hope you won't base all of your opinions on one bad person! Listen to your body and NEVER feel bad about having to scale something! Good luck! Which base are you training at by the way?
Eglin AFB. Don't get me wrong, she's a stickler on form. Very happy with coaches in general, but we have a really good coaches. Just slightly frustrated, because I know my body. Just because i have not done cross fit, doesn't mean I don't know my body. Did 30-Day Shred, P90X, and one other I can't think of-- all caused knee pain. Improved my running, but still caused pain.
Thanks for the info, just sticking to regular cross fit classes three days a week, not drinking the kool aid yet .
http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2012/01/crossfit-endurance-tabata-sprints-and.html
Here is a link explaining why cross fit endurance to train for running races is not a good idea.
Orion Goals: 5k 18:30 10K 38:00 Marathon 3:10
Thank-you. I read the blog post, and I agree 100% with what is said. I think that doing cross fit 3 days a week benefits my running enough, if the benefits stop, I'll stop, but I'm not going to do CFE.
Resident Historian
Spit the crossfit koolaid out. Immediately.
Run.
Neil
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Some people will tell you that slow is good – but I'm here to tell you that fast is better. I've always believed this, in spite of the trouble it's caused me. - Hunter S. Thompson