Quote Originally Posted by Mike T View Post
I doubt swimming or non power walking would help as substitutes for the "easy" 80%. Swimming uses the wrong muscles, and ordinary walking is too easy. The sort of power walking that fell runners do would help, as would cycling. Training for endurance takes time, but fortunately can be done at any age, as long as there is nothing else that is limiting, such as heart disease. Training the muscles' biochemistry for speed takes much less time, but risks injury, and the effect fades quickly; the skill aspect of speed, like a language, is best learnt when young.
I would have thought cycling, especially out of the saddle where i spend a lot of time, is close enough to running. My kneecap tracking alters when i cycle due to the preferential use of the lateral quads in a cycling position, leading to problems, but when i'm dancing on the pedals i'm better off.