running in place

Question
HI

I have so far built up to a 17 mile week and it was suggested to me that if i couldn't run while in hospital during a psychotic episode - times when i am likely to over exercise and injure myself - ie back ligament strain through yoga that took 2 - 3 years to heal - That i could run in place instead.

I am wondering what the best way to keep my running muscles and fitness up,... the ideal is to run with the gym instructor at the hospital if she is willing and I am well enough...
the equipment they have is a cross trainer, stationary bike, and bench with free weights.  There is also floor space - i wonder if you can direct me to a book or a website that would deal with strenghtening running muscles using floor exercises or the like.
The other question is how much benefit would running in place have? i have been advised to do this by a woman on a running forum, but i think I have just read somewhere that it is a lot easier than real running and therefore would not be sufficient.

I am trying to prepare for eventuality where i am admitted again with my Paranoid Schizophrenia, which hasn't happened for 3.5 yrs and I am now training for a half marathon in March my long runs are now 10 miles.

Many Thanks

Katherine

Answer
Hi Katherine
First happy holidays to you and a very successful 2010 and beyond.The best thing you can do if you can't run is to utilize the stationary bike and elliptical cross trainer which you can do any kind of workout with that you can outdoors running.The only thing you do is just go by time instead of  miles.You can do them all.Long run,tempo's,intervals.You just figure out what kind of finishing time you expect to finish and then get your pace per mile and use that for your time efforts.For example.If you will run it in 1:51 which is 9min pace and wanted to use the bike for a long run for endurance you would bike for 2hrs.If you wanted to do mile repeat intervals for speed you bike for 9 min.If you wanted to do a tempo run of 5 miles you would bike for 45 min.
This is all you need.You don't need a book or web site or anything else.You can run in place if you want,but it really is not going to provide much return.I have been using those alternatives for training with all levels of athletes including a 206 marathoner for many years with fabulous success.If you have any other questions just get in touch.Paula radcliffe from Uk who is the world record holder of the women's marathon 2:15 and a friend and trains here in aluquerque NM uses the elliptical cross trainer all the time in preparation for races.www.paularadcliffe.com

All the best to you

John