Water Running Handbook – Part 9

Sample Workouts

Brennan provides three workouts as an example of the type of deep water running sessions he creates for uninjured athletes. They can be adapted for shallow water running. Be sure to include a warm up and a cool down period.

Continuous Low Intensity

– 20-40 minutes of deep water walking or running at a steady pace
– RPE level at 1-2 (figure 4)
– You should be able to hold a conversation and breathing should be moderate
– Try this workout 3-4 times per week
– If you are just starting, stick with this one for the first 4-6 weeks and build a good endurance base

Medium Intensity Interval Training

– Try bursts of activity for 3-5 minutes at somewhat hard (not all out) pace
– Take a 30-60 second recovery period to catch your breath
– Repeat the burst of activity 10-15 times depending on your fitness level
– Total workout time 25-45 minutes

High Intensity Interval Training

– Short hard burst of activity ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes duration
– Recovery periods of 15-30 seconds
– Repeat 15-20 times
– Total workout time 25-35 minutes
– Only try this one if you are in good shape
– One of these high intensity workouts each week is enough!

Use these examples to create your own training sessions based on your own sport and conditioning needs.