Why would you need an alternative?
Us runners are at our best when we run consistently. When we can stick to a plan and execute the vast majority of it, running becomes a natural part of our day, week, month, life.
But things happen.
Injuries, illnesses, family stuff and so on. Sometimes it’s simply run-training burnout and we just need a break.
Things that mean running, as you know it, has to take a back seat for a while.
This has been the case for me. At the start of 2025 I was deep into my West Highland Way ultra training journey. By the end of February I had to pause the majority of training for health reasons (you can read more about this in part 8 of my training journey blog).
After 7 months of attending to my health and employing various cross-training tools, I got back to ultra training at the start of October, feeling fresh, fit, and ready to go.
No matter your preferred running distance, if you are in a run training hiatus or just need some new ideas to shake up or complement your current training, here are 6 things that helped me and I hope might help you.
1. More strength and conditioning 🏋️♀️
Yes, I know, you’ve probably heard it a million times, but strength and conditioning really does make a difference to your running ability!
Taking in a few sessions a week prior to taking a break from full on ultra training, I was no stranger to lifting weights or launching my body down a gym lane in the name of power progress. When my run volume was drastically reduced it would have been easy to reduce the strength and conditioning work too. After all, it complements my running so what was the point of having it surpass my running capabilities?
A means to other ends
Well firstly, it kept me sane. Apparently if I’m not regularly working out, I get a bit grumpy and melodramatic.
Secondly, it gave me another way to maintain routine in my day. Rather than jack it all in and wait it out until I could run again, focusing on strength and conditioning let me pivot all the time I’d normally spend planning my running week and each run (route, terrain, distance, purpose, etc.) to gym work. What was the purpose of my session? What exercises would I include? How many repetitions and sets? What body parts would I work? I am used to doing this but it was fun and engaging to spend more time really digging deep on what I wanted from this type of training. Unsurprisingly, I’ve returned to my ultra running training with stronger and more powerful muscles, tendons and ligaments than I had back in February!
Lastly, it made coming back to run training easier. The maintenance of routine in terms of overall time I’d spend training in a week meant that other aspects of life didn’t take up residence in it’s place. This meant I wasn’t taxed by having to re-find (is that a word?) the time to fit more training volume back into my normal daily priorities.
Power up!
Strength and conditioning is definitely not a like-for-like switch out for ultra running but ramping this aspect of fitness up and maintaining my overall training volume has undoubtedly eased the return to running long distances and, of course, tackling hills and rough terrain.
As a running coach I’d always advise (and depending on a clients needs, always include) some element of strength and conditioning into a run training programme. You too could have a stronger muscular system to power your way through your running goals! If you don’t have this in your current training, please consider it! If you want help getting the balance (and content) right, please get in touch!
2. Speed work (intervals, lactate threshold, etc.) 🏃♀️➡️
My true running happy place is in the solitude of the hills and trails, covering double-digit distances, gaining solid elevation, and breathing in the unspoiled fresh air. Whilst I could still do this as a hillwalker (though now I think of it, I only did this once or twice since February 🤔), running in this manner has not been a real option to me over the last 6 months.
Switching track
So in lieu of horizontal and vertical volume, I switched track…to track. I focused my efforts on shorter, higher intensity efforts to keep my VO2Max at a high level and work on my top end speed.
If you know ultra running, you’ll know that top end speed is far from the main event. Us long-distance minded folk are less concerned with pace and more interested in pacing. This doesn’t mean that trying to retain as much speed in the legs as possible isn’t a worthy endeavour, even in ultra running, it’s just not the focus in the average ultra training plan. But I was no longer undertaking the average ultra training plan.
So alongside just keeping the legs ticking over each week and ensuring I kept my speed varied, a greater abundance of specific interval speed work made its way into my regular training. I found myself at the track running flat intervals ranging from 400m to 1km repeats. In the immediate term these were designed to sharpen my running speed for fitness racing (I discuss my fitness races later in this list), but they were also really helpful in giving me an alternative way to exhaust the legs at a time when 20+ mile (32+ km) hill runs were out of the question.
Friends and fitness
A big bonus of adding more of this type of training in was that other people were actually willing to join me at the track 😃. We didn’t always train together but I would sometimes meet friends and train at the same time (you pass each other a lot on a track so it’s still kind of training together). I don’t get many offers or raised hands to join me on my hours-long hill runs, so human company was a nice training perk 😀.
Speed up your running progress
No matter the distance you are focused on, speed work and intervals are key components to taking your run training and fitness to the next level. If you are interested in finding out how we can help keep speed work and intervals safe and appropriate to your running goals, your current fitness levels, and what resources you have available, check out our coaching plans and give us a shout!
3. Low impact cardio cross-training 🚴♀️
Despite not really being a gym class type of person, I picked up a weekly spin class as a great way to really sweat and work my cardiovascular system without the impact and intensity that comes with running.
I was also doing a bit more cardio work in the gym too, using the rower, skiERG, and assault bike more than what I normally would. Personally, I don’t find gym-based cardio much fun (surely it’s the antithesis of my aforementioned outdoor, hilly, dear green tree-lined happy place?). But knowing it would slow the inevitable loss of running cardiovascular fitness I sucked it up and got it done.
I found it more manageable by routinely reminding myself (sometimes through a big sigh as I approached the equipment 🫣) that this was a temporary measure and would help with my return to my normal cardiovascular training.
Plot twist!
I have kept this cardio training up to a degree because it is needed for the fitness racing bug (see number 5 on the list) I picked up on my running hiatus!
And the spin classes? Is the word ‘choooooon’ a Scottish thing? I’m unsure, but translated, this single term tells you that the brilliant 🎶 playlist 🎶 blaring from the speakers during the Sunday morning class has made me a regular descender into the dungeon-based cycle studio of my local leisure centre.
Sometimes an enforced pivot in any given aspect of life leads you to discover little golden nuggets you’d never otherwise find. What might yours be? Swimming? Mountain biking? Yoga? Racing folk in virtual cycling worlds from the comfort of your own home?
4. Cheerleading others 🥳
I’m not one for ditching the running scene and all those in it just because my own running isn’t meeting my expectations. Sure, I get a bit frustrated when my body isn’t able to do what I want it to do…what we planned to do… but that mindset doesn’t serve me very well beyond motivating me to get on with rehab.
Staying involved
So after I spent a couple of days mumping and moaning about my ‘tragic’ detention from long-distance running (remember, I’ve already confessed I can be melodramatic), I switched my focus to my fellow runners. I went to several meet-ups with my running club, tagged along to pals races, events, and parkruns to either take part (in shorter distances), hold coats 🧥, take photos 📸, or just cheer them on 🥳. I only volunteered once (to be a parkrun pacer, which was fun, even if I finished sans ‘pacees’), but I do wish I did this more for other events. If I’m ever out of the game again, I’ll be raising my hand for other duties!
Away from in-person stuff, I was intentional in dishing the kudos and comments on others’ runs on Strava. I believe Strava can be used as a running carrot or stick, depending on your outlook. I only use it as a carrot, so it’s been uplifting to track (read: live vicariously through) the progress of other peoples runs these last 6 months 😁. Thanks to everyone who let’s me follow them!
If you’re on an enforced or voluntary break from your normal running schedule, try to keep your eyes open and look around for others to cheer on, or other ways you can take part or volunteer. It makes your journey of recovery and rest a lot nicer and is much more fruitful than being stuck inside your own head or letting any resentment or jealousy of others running feats build up.
5. Signing up to (and doing) fitness races 🏁
If you’re not familiar with fitness racing, essentially these are races where short-distance running (usually 400m to 1km) are interspersed with fitness stations where you complete a set number of repetitions or distance doing different weighted exercises (e.g., weighted lunges) or using cardio equipment (e.g., rower). You may have heard of Hyrox? That is one such fitness race but far from the only one (though you wouldn’t know it if you listen to some gym conversations or see some fitness Instagram pages 😆).
The perfect pivot 😍
Signing up to, and completing, fitness races has probably been the best thing I’ve done during my time off from high-volume run training.
The health issues that meant I had to pause my ultra training were quite specific to that style of training. This meant I was in the lucky position of being able to pivot my training focus. From hours spent running all over the hills, I switched to the high-intensity, short burst workouts found in most fitness race training programmes.
I’ve already discussed my increase in strength and conditioning and run speed work and doing just these two things in isolation would have been a good goal to keep me fit whilst I worked on returning to ultra training. What they wouldn’t necessarily do is keep me sharp and test my mental resilience over a prolonged period of time, particularly under race conditions.
Staying sharp
This is where actually signing up for some fitness races comes in. These gave me interim goals to focus and push my ‘new’ style of training. I tried to ‘take advantage’ of not being able to run high volume. In short ‘if I can’t have fun over there just now, I might as well have fun over here’ 🙂.
Similar to my speed work at the track (item 2 on this list) a bonus of signing up to, and doing, these fitness races is that I have done them all as ‘doubles’ (with a partner). This means that I have had a blast with friends as we’ve trained and competed (I use ‘competed’ in the loosest sense possible). It has been a very sociable endeavour (very unlike me 😅).
Your new fitness, unlocked
If you want to try something new while you can’t run as much (or if you just want a change), then fitness racing is definitely something you should check out. It’s sociable, there are loads of gyms offering classes now, it provides full-body fitness gains in several fitness components, and it keep the challenge of event competing or participating that you will likely be used to as a runner.
We offer coaching that concentrates on interval-based fitness racing! If you want help training to maximise your running capabilities and minimise the fatigue build up on the fitness stations, let us know!
6. Getting a new mattress! 🛌
Ok, this might seem like a strange one!
It’s no overstatement to say that my previous mattress was killing me. Well, maybe it’s a little bit of an overstatement…but it really was doing my back in 😩.
I’ve always been a very poor sleeper, which isn’t great for someone who trains heavily, even if they’ve got a great mattress. I didn’t even have that though, and throughout my ultra training and for a good few months into my hiatus, I’d wake up most mornings feeling achy, curse the mattress, and tell myself ‘I’m going to the bed shop today’ without actually going (I wholeheartedly dislike shopping, unless it’s for fitness stuff 😉).
Eventually I cracked and headed off to bounce on beds in public.
Having pre-excluded the many mattresses that contain sheep wool in their layering system, it didn’t take me long to plump for a plush synthetic memory foam mattress that the salesperson assured me could accommodate my rotisserie-style sleeping habits.
The specific mattress can be found at this link if you’re interested in that level of detail (no commission but I’m open to it, bed shop people 😆).
Mad about my mattress 💖
The result? Total game-changer! It is the most comfortable mattress I’ve ever slept on and has overhauled the way my body feels when I get out of bed now.
I’m no longer physically pre-broken before training. I still don’t sleep well but that’s down to many other issues (example: the dogs also like the new mattress 🙄).
Your sleep matters! Make sure your body charging cradle is a comfy one! We spend a third of our life in bed – a really good set up is a solid investment that will pay you back in spades 🙂.
The take away
Not being able to do your usual run training, or just needing a bit of a break from it is completely normal!
There’s no use beating yourself with a stick and trying to keep going when it’s clear you either need a break or need a change.
Don’t be afraid to pivot, shake things up a little, and see what else is out there.
You never know what you might find.
I’m glad to be back to ultra training but I’ll definitely be bringing some of the things I’ve learned and enjoyed with me on this next phase of training 🙂.
Has anything in this list struck a chord with you? Maybe you already have go-to alternatives when you can’t run as much or need a break. I’d love to hear them, let me know in the comments below 👇🏼!
Shari 💚
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