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Six Week Aqua Running Training Sessions - starts 5th November 2008
This training is for people who have taken part in the introduction course

Where:   
National Aquatic Centre Swimming Pool, Blanchardstown, Co Dublin
When:    5th November 2008
Time:     20:00 - 21:00
 

Sign up for Next Six Weeks Aqua Running Training starts on 21st January 2009

Where:   
National Aquatic Centre Swimming Pool, Blanchardstown, Co Dublin
When:    21st January 2009
Time:     20:00 - 21:00
 

Dates are as follows: 

21st January 2009
28th January
4th February
11th February
18th February
25th February

Places are limited,  if you are interested in Aqua Running Training
please contact me:  Catherina
 (087) 2100013 


Running in the Deep End

Whenever we get injured and are unable to run, the first thing we think is - that's it, I can't run, what can I do to keep my fitness, so I rush to the gym hop on the bike or the cross trainer and go mad training, next thing I have another injury!  Why not try aqua running?  You will get out  of the pool fitter and stronger than when you got in and you wont have to worry about the extra force from impact.

Aqua running is really a fantastic way to keep training while injured or to cross train. Dr. Garry Killgore, Professor of biomechanics, head track and field coach at Linfield College, Oregon, USA and founder of  AQx Sports has come up with a concept and a product to take aqua running or deep water running - that step further.  Dr. Killgore explains at his workshops that water is a unique environment for training and for rehabilitation. Water can act to assist, to resist or to support.  When we run on dry land the major form of resistance is air/gravity but since water is 775 times denser than air, when you 'run' in the water your biomechanical weaknesses are exposed. Research has shown that running form and the mechanics of running on land and in water are very different. Running in water will improve your running technique on land.

Aqua Running already boasts many big names amongst its clients including the England Rugby Football Union, Chelsea, Blackburn Rover, Aston Villa and Everton football clubs, Elite Marathon Runners, it's a well known fact that Paula Radcliff does Aqua Running to maintain fitness when injured and for recovery.And it doesn't end there. Deep water running does have many advantages and is the "secret weapon" of many world class athletes including Lornah Kiplagat (2007 Woman's World Cross Country Champion) used deep water running while injured during September 2006, between 10th - 16th September 2006 and on 17th September Lornah broke the 10mile road record.  If you are prone to injury, aqua running will give you the opportunity to add extra miles without adding risk of injury.

Thousands of runners rave about aqua running but few can be as evangelical as Terry Nelson, former Liverpool Player. Running in the water helped Terry to a gold medal at the World Transplant Games and then saw him through 11 years of Kidney Dialysis. Terry now owner of Aquatic Training Specialists, Aqua Running Ltd and AQx Sports International is no stranger to sports injuries, in the early 80's, his football career was ended with Liverpool AC by repetitive injuries. However, Terry's real challenges only began a few years later, he was told his kidneys had failed and he would live 6months without an urgent transplant, a transplant from his brother saved Terry's life and Terry went on to run the London Marathon and to making a decision that he wanted to be the best transplant runner in the world. After months of training Terry swept the board at the British Transplant Games in 1992 after which he was selected for the World Transplant Games but with weeks to go broke his foot.  Terry ordered his first aqua jogger belt and transferred all his usual sessions to the pool. When Terry returned to running 6 weeks later he was lighter on his feet, more flexible and his running form was greatly improved, Terry went on to win the 5,000m gold medal at the World Games. Unfortunately Terry's kidney failed again and he waited 11 years for another transplant, during this time Terry kept his fitness by pool running. With his enthusiasm for pool running Terry is now providing the most cutting edge training and products for aqua running in the UK.  Catherina McKiernan, Muriel Haire & Grainne Butler are now bringing the concept of Aqua Running to Ireland and will be holding workshops in 2008 in the National Aquatic Centre

AQx have designed two key products to boost the training effect and to mirror the demands of dry land running in water.  The 'deep water running shoe' is really a running shoe that you wear to 'run' in water, even though the foot never touches the bottom of the pool, it will provide more neuromuscular feedback via the shoe and so increase the runner's sensation of running on land. The shoe also does increase the amount of work the runner does and so have great potential to help you hold onto fitness during rehab or to increase fitness while you cross-train. The shoes have been designed to improve running economy and reduce the risk of injury.


AQx have gone one step further and developed  their "Zero Gravity Suit" (featured in picture) modelled on the speed suits used by triathletes and runners, it's designed to provide better overall comfort, proper buoyancy distribution, additional resistance, warmth and a much more natural range of motion.  The principle of the suit is that it distributes buoyancncappropriately around ththbody to enable the correct biomechanical posture while in the water and so allows#a much better running action in the water.

One might ask if the pool is such a great training environment then why does it not feature far more prominently in our athlete's rehabilitation, recovery and conditioning sessions. Although the extent to which pool training is used will vary from country to country, the unavoidable reality is that most sports support professionals fail to use water workouts as a rehab or training tool for one simple reason: they don't know its value, that is why we have invited AQx Sports International to Dublin to give professional Workshops and open up a whole new way for us athletes to train.

With everyone-from children through elite athletes to the burgeoning group of active over-50s-now realising the benefits of aquatic exercise, in the not too distant future water may well become as vital a component in our sporting activities as it is to our very existence.