Before I got into triathlons, I often swam and ran just for general fitness. I often noticed that swimming improved my running, sometimes significantly. I'm not sure how this works. So, I'll just talk myself through it with you to try explaining why I think swimming helps your run.
Is it because my body gets used to working hard with limited oxygen? If I do alot of hypoxic turns (holding your breath coming out of the turn), that's when I notice my best gains. But I gotta tell ya...those hurt! So, I don't do them alot anymore...that's just how life is.
I know I trim down when I swim alot, and maybe that has something to do with it. I certainly lose weight when I increase my swim volume. Losing weight will always drop your run time. The problem with me here becomes possible loss of power on the bike, but I'm not really worried about that because it doesn't seem like I get slower over 40k when I increase my swim volume.
Of course, the real trick I'm talking about here is finding a good balance between the swim volume and the run volume while maintaining a focus on the bike. In races, I am generally a 15 percentile swimmer, 50 percentile on the bike, and 30 percentile on the run. (Reminder: "percentile" means where I'm at in the pack. For example, 15 percentile on the swim means I'm coming in behind 15 percent of the swimmer and in front of 85 percent of the rest). Overall, this puts me at about 20 percentile in the final results.
So, if swimming improves my running in a general sense AND if I can come out of the water in the front of the pack without setting myself up to bonk later, how much should I swim in relation to running?
My current goal is 8,000 yards per week swimming (3,000 + 2,000 + 2,000 + 1,000) and 30 miles running (1 x 9 miles, 3 x 6 miles, 1 x 3 miles). That 80 swim points versus 120 run points using the points system to generalize equivalent efforts from the different sports. I might have to drop one of those six mile runs, at which point I will have four workouts per sport, and I'll be able to keep my sanity a bit easier. I could drop a swim, but then I think I'm setting myself up to come out of the water more tired than I really want.
Anyway, I recommend that if you are hitting a plateau in your run, try increasing your swim volume and intensity while working in some hypoxic turns during your swims to break that plateau in your run. I think you'll find the results quite interesting.
4 comments:
i think swimming helps running in two important ways. firstly, it is a kind of active recovery from running where you continue to stress the cardiovascular system but without any impact. secondly - and i think, most importantly - it helps you build balance and core strength which are fundamental in running. if you have bad running posture or weak core strength, you tend to run with the typical "k-bend" and you lose the rigid fluidity (excuse the oxymoron) that literally puts a spring in your stride.
Hi Rob. Triathlon Competitor agrees with you about swimming for recovery. They have an article at http://running.competitor.com/2011/03/training/swimming-for-post-run-recovery_22631 Balance and core strength are certainly something it works, too. I wrote a few weeks back about how I could tell my core was weak when I started swimming again. Great comments! Thanks!
I hope you are right - I have been semi-sidelined for running so have been adding swim volume. Hope that means that overall I don't lose too much on my run when race day comes....
Hi Beth. Today was a perfect time for me to test this theory about swimming for recovery. I'm sore from the big run yesterday.... But I bailed on it because I'm really tired because our little baby kept me up much of the night after I got home late anyway...he likes to make noises in his sleep(!). I also figured I needed to spend my lunch time with my parents who I don't get to see alot.
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