I'm new to swimming, not new to running. When you start out running you have to be careful about not increasing the workload too quickly because of impact/connective tissue/etc, because you may get injured. I'm wondering if this is the case with swimming?
Last night I did a workout of a 50yd free warmup, 4 sets of , a 50, 6x75, 5x100. That was only the second workout I've ever done (the first was a week ago, basically half the total distance.) I was practicing keeping high elbows, a motion I'm not used to.
Disregarding whether I'm actually capable of swimming 10,000 yards aerobically and "muscularly" at the moment, is there any reason why I should force myself to build up in bits and pieces at a time, rather than do as much as I can?
No, swimming isn't like running - there's no 10% increase in distance per week rule. You're free to swim any distance you can swim as long you're listening to your body while you swim and know when it's tme to stop or at least switch up what you're doing. For example, if your calves start cramping, put on a pull buoy and do some pulls to give your legs a rest; if your shoulder starts hurting, grab a kickboard and do some kicks to give your arms a break. If you start cramping AND your shoulder starts hurting then that's a good indication you're done for the day.
However, straight distance swim workouts aren't the most beneficial workouts when it comes to building endurance, at least not if that's all you do. In this respect, swimming IS like running - swimmers do tempo workouts, sprint workouts, and distance workouts just like runners do because we build up our endurance and become faster the same way as runners. And our idea of hill training is swimming with a drag chute (just so you know).
No, swimming isn't like running - there's no 10% increase in distance per week rule. You're free to swim any distance you can swim as long you're listening to your body while you swim and know when it's tme to stop or at least switch up what you're doing. For example, if your calves start cramping, put on a pull buoy and do some pulls to give your legs a rest; if your shoulder starts hurting, grab a kickboard and do some kicks to give your arms a break. If you start cramping AND your shoulder starts hurting then that's a good indication you're done for the day.
However, straight distance swim workouts aren't the most beneficial workouts when it comes to building endurance, at least not if that's all you do. In this respect, swimming IS like running - swimmers do tempo workouts, sprint workouts, and distance workouts just like runners do because we build up our endurance and become faster the same way as runners. And our idea of hill training is swimming with a drag chute (just so you know).
