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Has anybody tried to do any cross training alternating their schedules between running and biking? Because I am injured right now, I have been doing some spinning on the bike in place of running. It seems to keep up the aerobic training that I need.

I have had an injured hamstring in the summer, and after resuming training after a short layoff, I injured it again, and went to physical therapist (who is also a triathele). The doctor insisted that cross training is a must otherwise, you could get seriously hurt and be finished for good. (That scared me) I did PT (massage, electolysis etc)for about about a month in September. and my hamstring has for the most part healed.

As far as cross training, I will use the stationary bike (Reebok with a electronic panel), I have read that for every 3.5 miles on a stationary bike is worth about 1 mile running (I use 3.33 miles in my log) , When on the bike. I will use two types of workouts

Ofter I try to go hard, (over 20 mph) and I (or the preset program) will vary with the resistance and will go 30 to 45 minutes. I will use the bike at most few times a week (with running 4 days a week and I never use the bike on consective days). If I want to do a recovery workout after a hard one or a race, I will go easy on the bike. for up to an hour.

With the cross training, I have not seen a drop in fitness., in fact I seem a little stronger and fresher.

I have considered an ellipical, but so far I have not purchased one, I used it for PT, and could see some use of that for cross training

let me know if this helps, or I can share more if you wish

Facing similar issues, I swam for 1 hour, twice a week, followed by upper body lifts. I did yoga twice a week. Sea kayaking twice a week.

Then, biking, elliptical. With all this, in the background, I had a slow progression from jogging short distances, to running longer distances and then a gradual buildup in speed. I felt like I didn't lose much aerobic capacity, but I definitely had to slowly build back my speed.

What is better, an upright or recumbent excercise bike?
Can you use the inexpensive $99 one, or should you get at least the $299 one?

I have the recumbent bike. For me it works the best. What I would strongly recommend is go to a exercise equipment store and just "pedal away". There is a different feel between the less expensive bikes and the more expensive ones. Doesn't mean you have to spend the big bucks to get one (unless you have the big bucks and don't want to screw around with shopping for a good deal). What I'm finding is that everybody pretty much has a Craig's list in their area. Find the one or two bikes you like the feel of and then monitor Craig's list till you see one you like on it. Call the guy or gal, drive over, check it out and if it'll work for you then buy it. Pop it in the car and take it home. Best of all, you probably saved a bunch of dough doing it this way. Craig's list, I feel is better than Ebay because it's local and you won't have to mess around with shipping. Just a thought. Good luck.............and...........Later......Mike

I use an upright bike, from Reebok and paid about 300 US dollars for it for it, this one has 15 levels of resistance as well as 8 programs (and manual) and I usually get up to about 7 or 8 and perhaps short spirts for higher resistance. I have had cheaper ones given to me (an old Tunturi and Aero II ) and they really did not give me much of a workout...

I used a recumbent bike a little while doing PT, and I did not like it, as I found it hard to pedal.

As far as an ellipitcal machine goes, I would consider it, but I would want a good one with a control panel and something that can be durable for a hard workout.

As far as building back speed, perhaps a varied workout of quick bursts of high resistance could work. Sometimes I will use 8 to 10 bursts during a 30 minute workout each lasting upto a minute, but I am sure that there are more detailed and specific programs out there, especially if you need to substitute regular speed workouts on excersize equipment

Though a distance runner, here is an example of cross training of the highest degree (Paula Radcliff and the Beijing Olympics)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/sport ... liffe.html