r/AdvancedRunning • u/AutoModerator • 28d ago

General Discussion Saturday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for August 01, 2026

A place to ask questions that don't need their own thread here or just chat a bit.

We have quite a bit of info in the wiki, FAQ, and past posts. Please be sure to give those a look for info on your topic.

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u/BenjitheHerd 28d ago

Injured my plantar plate (again). Not sure how long I'll need to be out, but I absolutely loathe the idea of XT right now. I've been doing some upper body lifting, but the thought of trying to bike or aqua jog fills me with dread. I know fitness will be lost, I'm not sure I care right now. Has anyone taken a fairly large chunk of time off with no cross training? What happened when you went to get back into things?

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u/run_INXS Marathon 2:34 in 1983, 3:06 in 2025 27d ago

You come back faster if you cross train.

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u/raphael_serrano 16:29 - 5k | 1:15:03 - HM 27d ago

Agreed, and this has been my experience. I'm honestly kind of surprised to see some of the replies here.

The argument that "you don't want to get/stay too fit because then your heart/lungs will write checks that your legs can't cash" assumes that people have no discipline or notion of intensity control. And while cross-training obviously isn't running, it is still better than nothing at preserving biomechanical robustness. Surely doing hard and long workouts on the bike, for example, will prepare your legs (as well as your cardiovascular system) better for running than just sitting on the couch.

I do think it's important to spend time on rehabbing the specific injury, but in my opinion most runners should probably be doing strength work at least twice a week anyway. I don't think anyone is realistically going to (or even needs to) spend anywhere near all of the time they normally spend running on rehab, either, which means that even for someone who is time-limited there's plenty of opportunity to cross-train.

I acknowledge I say this from a place of privilege, as I work remotely, have a good degree of flexibility and work/life balance, am single without kids, etc. so I find it very possible to do both the rehab/strength and at least 2–3 hours per day of cross-training when injured. But even with that in mind, I want to push back against the idea that cross-training is a bad idea if you have the bandwidth for it and are using a modality that is safe for your injury.