Over the past few weeks I've had some stiffness, bordering on pain, in my left inner thigh muscle. This is probably a strained groin or adducter muscle and I keep hoping it will go away but it doesn't. The 22 mile run last weekend was tough, but the cool weather seemed to keep this strain from screaming at me too loudly over all the other strained muscles. But when I ran on Monday evening, it hurt a lot more. And since we only have a 12 miler scheduled for this weekend, I thought I'd "take it easy". I did not run Tuesday or Wednesday and last night I did an aqua run.
The concept behind aqua running is pretty simple. You simulate running in the deep end of the pool, wearing a float belt or something to keep you from drowning, which allows you to "run" without impact to your joints. So I packed my bathing suit and towel and threw my life jacket in the car and headed to the gym after work.
The pool at the gym is a 4 lane and the deepest section is 4' 7". The life jacket worked - it kept me floating. But a float belt would be better. The life jacket tended to creep up and eventually I started chafing under the arms. The other important thing to notes is that you do tend to move. The running motion does cause you to travel, however slowly. So after "running" for about 10 minutes in the deepest corner of the pool and pushing myself away from the edge every so often, I decided to run the length of the pool instead.
I think with a float belt and a deeper pool, I could get a lot out of aqua running. You don't get the same level of cardio that you do when running but it felt like a good rehab opportunity and, maybe it's mental, but my leg doesn't seem as bad today.
To read more about aqua running, try this article
Aqua Girl - posted at Sat, 03 Nov, 13:35 Central
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