Pool Running 101

The plantar fasciitis is getting better, and I think I could run, but I’d rather not annoy it yet. I’m on the road in Alcoa, Tennessee today, where there are wonderful blacktopped biking/running trails along wooded Pistol Creek, lighted at night, going right past my hotel, useable all year around. So very tempting, but today I tried pool running instead. I “ran” for two hours and a minute, breathing as if I were running a marathon. I think it was a total success, roughly equivalent to 12 miles, and I feel wonderful afterward. Exhausted and exhilarated.

I spent just a few minutes researching “pool running” on the internet first, and didn’t get a lot of guidance in that time. As far as I can tell you are supposed to move your legs in an upright posture as if you were running. A flotation device can make it easier, so I wore a thin lifejacket. I don’t know what you should do with your hands. The hotel pool is only five feet deep at its deepest, not quite enough, so I had to be sure not to stub my toes. I found that the running action of my feet tended to pull me slowly forward no matter the angle of my body in the water. Therefore, since the deepest part of the pool was relatively small, I had to constantly turn and reverse myself to avoid banging into a wall or the sloping pool bottom. Eventually, I had the best luck backed up to the pool’s ladder, grasping that with my hands behind me and holding on.

That was powerfully boring, but then again it was easy to drift off and think about something else because, no matter how hard I worked, I wasn’t going anywhere. It’s not so much like running as like pedaling a bike, actually. Or maybe I did it wrong. If you have a suggestion, please indulge me with a comment. I didn’t bring drinking water with me, and next time I will; I got a little dehydrated despite being in several thousand gallons of water. Gels might be good too, on a longer run.

But I didn’t get hot! Or sunburned, except perhaps on my face; I’ll wear sunscreen there next time; happily the sun went behind a building halfway through. And although my head was always out of the water, my normally soggy forehead didn’t sweat at all, probably because the pool water kept my body cool despite the exercise. Breathing was three to four “footfalls” per full breath, just as when I run at marathon pace. Pool running is not exactly running, but it’s a LOT better than sitting in the hotel room watching the Indy 500, which I did anyway later.
Supper in the hotel room afterward, watching the Indy 500:

• Salad: Organic "fresh herb salad" (romaine, spinach, herbs, buried underneath), avocado, organic strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, vinegar.
• Main course: Twelve-grain whole-grain bread, asiago cheese, smoked cheddar cheese, organic grapes, cashews, mustard.
• Dessert: Another oatmeal porter, and an orange.