Todays training

No running again today, still have sore calfs after last Fridays run!! Hopefully I will get out tomorrow.

Went for a swim instead. Swam 1,000 meters in about 28 minutes.

I use swimming as a means of cross training as I have been susceptible to shin splints if I run too often. For that reason I only run at the most three times a week body permitting. I will swim once or twice a week as well as at least one bike ride (stationary bike in need).

My one or two swim sessions a week give me a great all round and particularly upper body workout, it ensures I don't become burnt out from too much running and helps to maintain my overall fitness plus adding variety to my exercise programme.

I only really got into swimming regularly around the middle of last year as a means of maintaining my fitness (or more accurately improving fitness) while I took a break from running due to my shins. I wanted to enter the Auckland Half Marathon, which is in October each year, and I needed a way to maintain and improve my fitness while I was not able to run.

I have never been one for swimming and would have to be one of the slowest in the pool. When I started I could hardly put two lengths together. However I found that with just two swims a week I was very quickly able to increase the number of lengths I was doing and within a few weeks I was swimming 20 lengths in a session. I'm still not that fast, however when you're swimming for fitness it's not your speed that matters so much, it's all about time in the pool.

I kept up two swim sessions a week for about two months while I was resting my shins and when it came time to get back into some serious training on the road again, I found that I had lost no speed or stamina for running at all. The fitness I had built up from swimming enabled my to pick up my running as if I had never stopped. I would even say that I was probably stronger and fitter than I had been in years largely due to the swimming I had been doing.

To this day I still swim once a week for at least 20 lengths which takes me about 30 minutes. Being susceptible to ongoing problems with my shins if I run too much, I'm currently limiting my runs to three a week.


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Swimming for fitness

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