Tales from the IC (#13): Running vs Rowing, muscley toes, and recovery plans

[CBDB]

Just a ‘short’ update from my stint in the injury couch.

My metatarsals are improving. Thinking back to the first report from the IC when I was pondering about Morton’s Neuroma and Metatarsal (Plate) Stress fracture ( healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... ), I am now wondering if I was one of the unlucky ones that encountered both at about the same time. But also lucky that I probably caught it early, and bar stopping my running, it has not impacted me much. I actually added daily (almost) rowing to my workout regime, and I will see how well it kept my fitness levels up, as I begin to make my baby steps into the running world again.

And my baby steps have started. I’m tip-towing around the house whenever I get the chance, any towel or soft carpet on the floor gets my toe-scrunching treatment, and any suggested exercises from these lovely forums get a spin to see if they work for me. I have not yet managed to do the caterpillar crawl, where you move your standing body by crawling with your toes, but you never know where this toe-exercising journey will lead. Muscley (not forgetting cute) toes, here I come.

And I have my big goals all set for the year, hoping that I’m not too ambitious.By the end of year I want to have:

★RUNNING: Come back to running 10ks, ideally including consolidation;

★ROWING: Rowed a 10k;

★STRENGTH/FLEXIBILITY: achieve floor squats (ankle flexibility);

So the year is looking busy and buzzing. And as always it amazes me how a more long-term pattern and habits are emerging.

★ My future Januarys look like they will always include the YWA January 30-day yoga journey. (www yogawithadriene.com/frequen... )

★ Summers looks like they will always include a new MVMT 30-day Pilates Journey, which tends to drop in January, clashing with YWA. I’m always catching these up in the summer months. (www mvmtdavidson.com )

★ New from this year is the RowAlong 30x30min rowing journey, which dropped in November. And although I did it in January, I think I will repeat these every November. It’s a great series of workouts for beginners and advanced rowers alike. The YWA of the rowing world. (www rowalong.com )

And apart from the annual events above and almost daily yoga and rowing, my plans for 2022 are:

★ Feb/Mar - Start of RowAlong 2k plan aimed at increasing speed and strength; focussed toe/foot/ankle focussed exercises

★ March - Mar/Apr/May - Return to Running (C25k or NRC or ZRC25k) with zero-drop shoes;

★ June/July/Aug - HU Magic 10k Running Plan; start of the Rowing 10k plan

As you can tell I love a plan, and I’ll hope my next one will take me from the injury couch with rowing and yoga (ICRY) to a running, rowing and yogaing programme (RRYP). Yes, let it rip, let my muscles ripple, let the IC fade into the RIP past!

But for now, I’ve focussed on yoga and rowing, having just completed the RowAlong’s 30x30min challenge ( rowalong.com/30-days-of-30/ ) and got my fabulous certificate (see pic). And yes, as discussed before, the rowing community really does seem void of glamorous medals, for some reason I can’t understand! Must be I’m still a runner at heart? And who runs and doesn’t love a good medal!

So I did ponder again about the differences between rowing and running. I’ve written about these before but here is a more detailed exploration that helped me get it straight in my head.

So apologies and warning for the following long section and please skip if you’re not interested, but I wanted to understand and see if others had similar experienced differences between rowing and running. So if any of our runners row at times, I’d love to hear their experience.

I should note that I’m ultra-slow in rowing as well. In running I achieved a stage where I ran a 10k weekly. I use Tamaka’s slow running style, but run continually. In rowing I recently finished 30x30 , so I have yet to train for long-distance rowing.

But I found it intriguing comparing again my running with my rowing. Stats come from Runkeeper and the Concept2 logbook.

★★★RUNNING VS ROWING:★★★

★ TIMES/WEEK: When I ran, even after 2 years regular running, I felt I should only do 3 runs per week. When rowing I row almost daily. It seems I can take daily rows as it’s gentler on the body. And as I mentioned before, rowing works well as cross-training for running but it doesn’t work the other way around.

★ SWEAT LEVELS: Every run got me ultra-sweaty. But in terms of rowing, I have to admit, only the high-tier rows really get me all sweaty. All rows do challenge my breath and heart rate, often being maxed out, something I don’t experience when running (but I don’t have a heart monitor), but rowing just doesn’t get me as sweaty. I’m really not sure what this difference means.

★ WEEKLY TOTAL HOURS: Comparing total weekly hours, I find in the average I row 3h11min/week to running ca 4h/week. But I do tend to row 5-7 days per week of shorter rows, whereas my run was 60min or more three times/week.

★ WEEKLY TOTAL KM: I row an average weekly sum of around 24K comparing to my average running (until IC) of 18k per week.

★ SESSION LENGTH KM & HR: my usual rowing session is a 30min row +10min warmup/cool-down. My usual run was either a 1 hour (for 2 short runs per week) or a 2 hour run on the weekend. Deliciously slow, rowing 5k takes me about 30min. And even more deliciously slow, running 5k takes me 60min. (I know! I’m the Queen of Slow! )

★ CALORIE BURN: now,- I don’t have one single tool/technique/technology to measure calorie burn. According to the Concept2 logbook, I burn in the average 220cal per workout, so with 6 sessions of ca 30-40min per week I should burn ca 1320 calories. My 3 runs of 60-120 min per week gave me ca 1400cal, according to Runkeeper. Or to compare a 30 min session it’s rowing 255 calories (logbook) and running 203 calories (Runkeeper). So rowing is suggested to burn more, however, I never just ran 30 minutes. During the time I regularly ran my minimum was 60 min. Whereas until now, most of my rows are not much longer than 40min. And of course I do more rows per week than I’ve ever done runs per week.

★ ENDORPHINS AND METABOLISM: Now I don’t have exact measures, but I am very conscious of metabolic changes. The most beneficial change in my experience was that when I started running I started to feel as if I was on a constant runner’s high. At a time where the world seems to be falling apart in all sorts of ways - something that had depressed me deeply before starting on my running journey - I suddenly experienced this immense and days-on-end lasting inner bliss and contentment. And when I stopped running due to injuries, that feeling of inner contentment shrank to zero. Now rowing was more complicated. The intensive sessions on the RowAlong high tier will consistently give me that feeling, but it doesn’t last as long. Mid tier might and low tier doesn’t. Another indicator of a lifted metabolism is that my running meant my feet would constantly feel warm. Stopping to run, I usually need a hot water bottle in bed to ensure warm feet. In rowing, the high tier does this as well, mid tier sometimes, low tier does not. I do wonder about this difference, and weather the key deciding factors for this is heart rate, effort, or wether your outside or inside during the workout.

So it’s quite fascinating.

And if there are any rowers amongst our runners, please do consider joining us in the Strength and Flex Forum, where we’re beginning to have quite a collection of equipment based workouts, including my rowing explorations. See healthunlocked.com/strength...

Happy running, rowing and working out everyone!

★★★★★★★★★

Note. As this will probably be my last post about Tales from the IC, and to keep some of the posts handy, here the list and keywords of all IC related posts:

Tales from the IC: Getting to know my Metatarsals (# 1) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (Metatarsalgia, fracture vs Morton’s Neuroma, shoes, barefoot and zero-drop shoes, exercises to strengthening toes)

Tales from the IC: zero-drop shoe quandaries (# 2) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (more about barefoot running, yoga for toes)

Tales from the IC: Reader, I ran today. (#3) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (trying out a short hill run, IPhone issues)

Tales from the IC : Stop Go Stop Go … (#4) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (back on the IC, waiting for last medals)

Tales from the IC : Baby (running) steps … (#5) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (trying out another mini run, ordering zero drop shoes)

Tales from the IC : Row Row Row your Run (#6) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (starting to row a runner on Zwift)

Tales from the IC : Festive Rowing-Run (#7) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (XMas, finished Zwift Running 101)

Tales from the IC : More Virtual Running Fun (#8) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (update on my rowing in all virtual races, also start of RowAlong 30x30)

Tales from the IC : Rowed runner intervals and hot lava! (#9) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (third week of daily rowing and missing running)

Tales from the IC (#10): Running vs Rowing. My experience of two different worlds healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (differences between rowing and running, differences between different running vs rowing online communities, differences in stats)

Tales from the IC (#11): I dreamt I was running healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (update on all virtual rowing challenges)

Tales from the IC (#12): Strong knees and cute toes healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (finished Jan rowing challenges, starting to think how to get back to running)

[Instructor57 Graduate10]

So good to hear you are improving!And I think your research and dedication into this and your subsequent recovery program have been remarkable.

I wish you well on your future goals for the year 👍

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

Thank you. For a long time I regretted having only non-health-benefitting hobbies (music, reading, arty stuff), but then running came along, and I now gladly add running and working-out to one of my hobbies! 😃👍🏽

[H4CS Graduate10]

Glad to see you are on your way back to running, the nrc plan is definitely a step up from the c25k program which I think with your injury would be better to start with, I bailed on YWA half way through the month, just too difficult, but hope to complete this month , the rowing has kept you in the routine of fitness and thinking about fitness and not allowed you to stay on the IC completely, good luck with your smooth recovery journey

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to H4CS]

Thank you! Yes, I’m tending towards C25k NHS App again, and they’ve updated it!!

[Cowladyrunning Graduate10]

I'm pleased you are on the mend CBDB . I love your plans! I have to say, it's your dedication to YWA and other strength training that makes me persist with it. I have a 10k race I've entered at the end of this month and I'm hoping my strength training will make me better this time? At least not to get niggles post race after pushing myself....

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Cowladyrunning]

Oh wow! A 10k race! Is it in person or remote? And thank you, yes, it feels I have added a lovely hobby to my set.

[Cowladyrunning Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

In person. Only 2nd one I've done with people 😬 On own again because I don't know anyone who enters near me!

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Cowladyrunning]

😳😳😳oh wow! Awesome! Exciting!

[linda9389 Graduate10]

Just amazing!!! Absolutely awesome on all counts. Here's to the best comeback. Those runs are right there waiting 🥰

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to linda9389]

Yeah!!! 💪💪💪🙏

[Mormor1 Graduate10]

Really impressive research and conclusions CBDB. I'm interested in your rowing versus running thoughts, and also I'm thinking of rowing as a way of cross training which I hitherto don't do. I tried the x trainer at the gym but as I'm only 5'2" I think the machine was a bit big for me. Are there particular settings on the rising machine that are useful for a long slow row? Hope your toes improve with the toe curling excercises 😂

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Mormor1]

Thank you 🙏😏

In terms of rowing, I can only recommend the 30x30 min series, and you don’t have to do it every day, just row your way through the 30 sessions. He talks a lot about technique so it’s great as a rowalong AND learning technique.

Link to my review and links here: healthunlocked.com/strength...

I have my drag factor quite low, so don’t know what machine you have access to. But I would start with low resistance/drag factor. It’s supposed to be good for both technique AND your back as it gets used to rowing.

Would love to have a virtual rowing buddy on here, so let me know if you get to a rower!

Great stuff!

[Mormor1 Graduate10]

I'll have to try it out next week when I'm back in the east at the gym. In foreign climes at mo , West country

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Mormor1]

👏👏🚣🏼‍♂️