Cross training to fitness - Claire Tarplee on her ElliptiGO comeback!
Claire Tarplee (handicap 0.2) suffered horrendous injuries to her lower leg with a double tear to her achillies and soleus in the summer of 2016. She explains how she used the ElliptiGO to keep her training as normal as possible:
Once I was given the all clear from my Doctor and Physio to cross train, the ElliptiGO fast became my ‘best friend’. It allowed me to get short ‘runs’, long ‘runs’ and various other sessions in – and my weekly training quickly had structure and purpose.
It also allowed me to replicate sessions that I would normally do on the track and on grass. So 10 x 400 metres (with 60 seconds recovery) became 10 x 70 seconds (with 30 seconds recovery) and I would do this twice – just to intensify the session)! And 5 x 1 mile would become 5 x 5 minutes – and so on. I was also able to do my ‘normal’ tempo ‘runs’ on the ElliptiGO (and I would use my Heart rate monitor to make sure I was hitting the right zone). It was extremely beneficial to have a cross training machine so similar to the standard running stride for all my recovery runs.
Once I could start running again, the ElliptiGO was still a major component of my training. I would ‘top up’ my runs with ElliptiGO work (depending on how many minutes I was allowed to run). So, for example, 10 minutes of running could have 20 minutes of ElliptiGO training added on (to make up a 30 minute training session). The ElliptiGO gave me the confidence that I was staying fit whilst I was injured and, because of the running-like motion, I knew that the transition back to running would be very straight forward.
Today I am injury-free, but because of my previous lower leg injuries I still use the ElliptiGO to ‘double day’ train (that’s the practice of using two training sessions on the same day). And all my recovery ‘runs’ are done on the ElliptiGO. This allows my body more time to recover from workouts and I get all the benefits of running – but without the additional stress on my joints, bones and muscles.
My first race back from injury (exactly 5 months post-injury) went much better than expected. It was a 3k cross country race and I ran 25 seconds faster than I have ever run over that distance!
Without a doubt, the ElliptiGO was one of the main reasons behind this. I have never seamlessly come back from an injury – so quickly and efficiently. Ironically, despite my injury layoff, I actually started the 2017 athletics season fitter than ever.
If you would like a test ride on an ElliptiGO click here!