Cold weather and injuries can interfere with your training schedule and force you to seek alternatives to running. While there's no way to completely substitute the scenery and fresh air you can experience outside, there are several highly effective indoor workouts for runners.
Whether you want to ditch the cold or find a low-impact running alternative while you nurse an injury, head to the gym and try some of these indoor workouts.
More: 8 Ways to Stay Warm During Cold-Weather Months
Weight Training
Matt Fitzgerald is a competitive runner, senior writer at Competitor magazine and an author who focuses on endurance sports. Weightlifting and strength training are at the top of his list of alternative indoor workouts for runners because it enhances performance and helps prevent injuries. Strength training can include anything from calisthenics and stationary machines to free weights and bands.
More: 3 Reasons Strength Training Will Benefit Your Run
Pool Running
Not only is pool running a low-impact activity, but it's also essentially weightless. This is one way for injured runners to practice the running motion without putting stress on their body.
Fitzgerald warns that injured athletes who have taken up pool running need to ease back into running when they return to pounding the trails or pavement.
"Tissues, bones and muscles of your lower extremities are going to lose a lot of adaptations to running that you've worked so hard for [on land]," Fitgerald says. "When you leave the pool, your injury may have healed, but you'll have a higher risk of another injury."