Heat wave slowing my swimming?

... but not my running today. Go figure. Today, I did a swim workout on my own, not a lot of yards, abt. 2k, and I felt sluggish. Times (slow by most standards on a good day) were even slower today. We've had a heat wave the last few days in the Philly area, and I figure the heat may have contributed to the slowed down times. But then, following the swim workout, I did a running interval workout and that went really well w/ my times just where I wanted them! Strange b/c I was outdoors so it was a good deal warmer than in the pool (where the water tends toward warmish, maybe a little too warm given the weather). I seemed to find the energy that wasn't there in my swim. Same heat wave, same body.... True, running is more familiar territory than swimming for me. But interesting how I would have perked up during the running workout. What's your experience with swimming during heat waves? I must say that even a too warm pool is a welcome place when Philly style heat waves descend, but maybe not conducive to performance.
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  • Valhallan, hadn't thought of that! Thanks for the feedback. Dorothy, we finally have cool, low-humidity weather, but this morning.... well.... Very humid, drizzly (thankfully cooler than it has been, but still muggy), and once again combined running with swimming. This time the run came first and was definitely not the time I wanted, but not a bad effort for the conditions. (And I was second in my age group in the run, so I'm a happy camper!) The swim...oh, btw, it seemed like a perfectly good multi-tasking sort of idea to cooldown from my race by swimming the warm-up for my masters' practice... but during the first lap or two, it was like "what? I have to do MORE than this? Wouldn't it be much nicer to allow my body to sink to the bottom and sleep?" After that initial resistance (and on reflecting upon the unattractiveness in many respects of sleeping on the bottom of a filled pool), I decided I felt okay for the workout. That lasted until after the 2x part. I've warmed up with 100s faster than the ones I did "hard." After that, the coach (who knew I'd run the race) took pity and had me doing some "stretching you out" 200s. Toward the end of these, my feet began to cramp so I was more or less kicking with one foot... followed not too long after by kicking with no feet and relying on arm pull, which needs work on my best days. Still, despite my feet curling up so much I couldn't push off the wall the last two laps, I finished the workout. Now I want to do the same thing again sometime soon. Yes, I am, in fact, crazy. ;)
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  • Valhallan, hadn't thought of that! Thanks for the feedback. Dorothy, we finally have cool, low-humidity weather, but this morning.... well.... Very humid, drizzly (thankfully cooler than it has been, but still muggy), and once again combined running with swimming. This time the run came first and was definitely not the time I wanted, but not a bad effort for the conditions. (And I was second in my age group in the run, so I'm a happy camper!) The swim...oh, btw, it seemed like a perfectly good multi-tasking sort of idea to cooldown from my race by swimming the warm-up for my masters' practice... but during the first lap or two, it was like "what? I have to do MORE than this? Wouldn't it be much nicer to allow my body to sink to the bottom and sleep?" After that initial resistance (and on reflecting upon the unattractiveness in many respects of sleeping on the bottom of a filled pool), I decided I felt okay for the workout. That lasted until after the 2x part. I've warmed up with 100s faster than the ones I did "hard." After that, the coach (who knew I'd run the race) took pity and had me doing some "stretching you out" 200s. Toward the end of these, my feet began to cramp so I was more or less kicking with one foot... followed not too long after by kicking with no feet and relying on arm pull, which needs work on my best days. Still, despite my feet curling up so much I couldn't push off the wall the last two laps, I finished the workout. Now I want to do the same thing again sometime soon. Yes, I am, in fact, crazy. ;)
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