As you all know, I had Achilles’ tendon surgery about a month ago and was on crutches for about two weeks. I’ve been doing non stop rehab and taking really good care of my body to help me get back on the track ASAP. This week was a huge milestone for me as I was able to start workouts on the underwater treadmill! Now, the first workout was more or less to get me acclimated to running underwater, and back to running in general, so it wasn’t too hard 😉.
The underwater treadmill is a great cross training resource to help lots of people get back into training. Being in the water takes off a lot of the demanding force and weight you have on land. The higher the water is, the more pressure it takes off (hence why the water I’m in is as high as it can go lol). The treadmill can go as fast as 8.5 miles per hour, which is pretty fast considering you have to run through the water. It also has jets at the front of the pool to add some force pushing against you.
Here’s what I did for my first underwater treadmill workout:
WARMUP
5 minute warmup jog at around 5-5.5 mph
High knees 2 x 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off at 3 mph
Butt kicks 2 x 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off at 3 mph
Carioca 2 x 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off at 2 mph
A skips 1 x 45 seconds on, 45 seconds off at 2.5 mph
B skips 1 x 45 seconds on, 45 seconds off at 2.5 mph
Straight leg quick feet 2 x 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off at 3 mph
2 x 15 double leg hops (0 mph) 30 seconds rest
2 x 20 single leg hops (0 mph) 30 seconds rest
3 minutes of walking
WORKOUT
300m , 200m, 100m x 2 (2 minutes rest between sets)
300m is 40 seconds on, 40 seconds off. 200m is 28 seconds, on 28 seconds off. 100m is 12 seconds on, 12 seconds off. * the speed ranges from 6.8-7.5 mph depending on how long the run is.
COOL-DOWN
5 minute jog at around 3 mph
Stretch
It’s safe to say that this workout wasn’t too bad, but I’m sure they’ll get harder as I get stronger! It feels so good to be running again, and doing these workouts gets me even more motivated to have the best senior season I can. Make sure to subscribe to my blog to keep up to date on my recovery and to experience my life as a student athlete!
