Swimming affecting my racing??? HELP (Read 128 times)

There are few absolutes in life.

All is seldom black and white.

Who the hell knows.

It's exercise, it's good for you. Do it.

Do you ever read Running Times online? They have a series called, I think, Throwback Thursday where they do a Q&A with pro runners about their high school days. The last question is always "Do you have any advice for today's high school runners?" and the answer is almost always "enjoy yourself and try out a lot of different things." Interesting that nearly all of the pros interviewed did multiple sports and other activities in high school!

Just in case that helps You have years and years to develop your running potential, but you won't always be able to just up and try out a new sport that interests you. Follow your interest, and if you don't like it, you don't have to do it again next year!

Swimming is very technical, and when it's done wrong, you can cause other injuries (neck, shoulders, calf, achilles, etc.).

(You haven't mentioned your swimming background over the previous 10 years, so I'll assume that you haven't been swimming in meets in the past with USA Swimming)

As others have said, you're young, and it's very good to participate in multiple sports.

Your competitive energy from XC and track should be controlled when in the pool until you become very efficient gliding through the water

Your swimming coach will guide you through that transition and prevent you from doing too much and exerting too much inefficient energy.

Cheers,

What you're experiencing is nothing new to triathletes; they are constantly trying to balance their disciplines to be prepared for a race. It seems that any significant improvement in one discipline adversly effects another discipline and it's common knowledge that you can lose a race in the swim, but you can't win a race in the swim.

I know you're not talking about competeing in a triathalon, but I think you can get some good info by reading some things that triathletes have learned lessons from. But the bottom line is that if you want to win  a road race then you may want to lessen your time in the pool before the race, not saying you need to stop swimming, just pick better timing.

Here's an interesting article on the subject  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/health/nutrition/08BEST.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Swimming won't be better than running for the same amount of time, but it might give your knees some rest.  "Resting" in the pool is going to be better than resting on the couch.  Pool-running would be ideal, but it is nowhere near as fun as racing freestyle.

Just remember, you're 14: don't miss out on the fun.  [actually, that's probably sound advice even if you're much much older than 14].

Okay. I'm 14, a freshman in high school. It's currently December 10th, and my track season starts January 26Th. I'm a very competitive runner. Very good as well. My knees bugged me for the last month of xc. My last race was the 30th of nov. okay that being said, i want to joiN the swim team. I think it would be very good fir my running. I would also run twice a week. By the time track starts will i be at a dis advantage at all. The reason i ask is because i asked my dad( very knowledgable and basically my coah) and he said it wont help me become a better runner. Swimming will only interfere with my track season for a week. I realy want to do it, and i want to know the truth!

If you really want to swim, swim.  If you want to try to maintain some running-specific fitness, try to work in some runs a few times/week.  Swimming by itself does nothing for your running. But, it is a nice break, and perhaps you need it. You're only a freshmen,and your biggest gains in performance have yet to occur. But, staying healthy is important.

Try swimming.  While it might not directly improve your running, it will help you gain/maintain cardio vascular fitness while giving your body a break from the pounding of running.