Running. Does it help your swimming or is it an interesting diversion? A lot of people here seem to cross train with running. (Some are obviously triathletes). USS teams now have their swimmers running. But does running really help swimming?
For me, I'm not so sure. I think it helps a bit on the cardio side and may build leg strength. I do it to tighten everything up, because I like being outside and it gives my shoulders a break. But I'm not sure I wouldn't be better off with more pool time if my body could take it.
Many years ago in Sports Illustrated I read about the new superstar swimmer that was starting to turn the swimming world upside down. His name was Michael Gross and was nicknamed "the Albatross". He set World Records that year in the 200 Fee, 400 Free, and the 200 Fly and was the Olympic Gold medalist in 1984 in the 200 Free, 100 Fly, and was upset by Jon Sieben in the 200 Fly and got the silver. They decribed his days activity and workouts. One of things that surprised me was how much running he did on the roads and trails as part of his workout. He was 6' 7" inches and weighted between 170 and 175. He had a wing span of 7 feet and 5 inches. He had the most unusal body I had ever seen for swimming until Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps came along.
I believe the article said he ran between 10K and 15k about 3 times a week at a fairly fast pace of 6 minutes per mile or faster. I remember the explanation for this was that it was good cross training for himself just like the dryland work he did as part of his routine. He said it really didn't help his swimming technically but in ways helped his overall endurance and cut down on the massive volumes of work that he was doing in the pool. That he was able to punish his body in a different way aerobically and adapt to a different level of physical stress overload worked for him and thus increase his endurance fitness to maximize anaerobic and speed development later in the training cycle for swimming. As he got closer to his peak meets he would back off on the running and then not do it at all. That the running, just like the dryland and weights was only part of the training in the early period cycle and that they are not substitutes for swimming but complement the swimming training.
Another study that I remember reading in Swim Technique was a substiute of running for swimming during a 2 week time period. I believe the study was done by David Costill and the results of the study revealed that VO2 max may have increased but swimming performance did not compared to the swimmers that did not run but just swam. My believe here is that this makes complete sense. Because swimming not only requires training the different systems but technical water training that you would not experience in running. Another words the constant repetition of body movements contibutes to skills while you are swimming developing specificity to that particular stroke, drill, or sets that you do while developing the body to be swim specific and not just building endurance aerobically.
Many years ago in Sports Illustrated I read about the new superstar swimmer that was starting to turn the swimming world upside down. His name was Michael Gross and was nicknamed "the Albatross". He set World Records that year in the 200 Fee, 400 Free, and the 200 Fly and was the Olympic Gold medalist in 1984 in the 200 Free, 100 Fly, and was upset by Jon Sieben in the 200 Fly and got the silver. They decribed his days activity and workouts. One of things that surprised me was how much running he did on the roads and trails as part of his workout. He was 6' 7" inches and weighted between 170 and 175. He had a wing span of 7 feet and 5 inches. He had the most unusal body I had ever seen for swimming until Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps came along.
I believe the article said he ran between 10K and 15k about 3 times a week at a fairly fast pace of 6 minutes per mile or faster. I remember the explanation for this was that it was good cross training for himself just like the dryland work he did as part of his routine. He said it really didn't help his swimming technically but in ways helped his overall endurance and cut down on the massive volumes of work that he was doing in the pool. That he was able to punish his body in a different way aerobically and adapt to a different level of physical stress overload worked for him and thus increase his endurance fitness to maximize anaerobic and speed development later in the training cycle for swimming. As he got closer to his peak meets he would back off on the running and then not do it at all. That the running, just like the dryland and weights was only part of the training in the early period cycle and that they are not substitutes for swimming but complement the swimming training.
Another study that I remember reading in Swim Technique was a substiute of running for swimming during a 2 week time period. I believe the study was done by David Costill and the results of the study revealed that VO2 max may have increased but swimming performance did not compared to the swimmers that did not run but just swam. My believe here is that this makes complete sense. Because swimming not only requires training the different systems but technical water training that you would not experience in running. Another words the constant repetition of body movements contibutes to skills while you are swimming developing specificity to that particular stroke, drill, or sets that you do while developing the body to be swim specific and not just building endurance aerobically.
