Running helped me to increase my VO2Max (around 10%) in 5 years of training.
I usually train three to four times per week in the winter months. My favorite distance varies between 16km to 30km
I log from 1000 km to 1100 km per year with several races. My training allowed me to be placed in the first 1% of every 10k and semi-marathon I entered in 2008 and 2009.
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I love Xc Skiing. I belive that this sport is a good cross training and helps a lot in recumbent cycling and running.
Skating allows me to work on my endurance in the winter time and develop the upper body muscles.
When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem
Emil Zatopek