Forums >Running 101>swimmer trying to run
Hello everyone,
I am a college swimmer who is attempting to run now that all the pools have closed due to COVID. Does anyone have any tips for how I can increase how long I run for? As a swimmer I can easily swim for two hours, yet I can barely run for 30 minutes. I feel like I have a good cardio base, but when I run my heart rate seems to skyrocket so fast. I have been alternating running and walking for 30 mins 5 times a week but I want to build up and don't know how. I am wondering if walking is beneficial when I am too tired to run or if I should push myself to keep running. Any tips would be much appreciated!
30 minutes is not bad for someone new to running. Just build slowly. Also literally slow down--most people new to running tend to run faster than their current fitness allows. Walking can help you build endurance and you should be able to gradually replace walking with more running. A 2-hour run is also quite long. Unless you're training for a marathon or half marathon you probably don't need to run for that long.
Yes your heart rate will be higher running vs swimming even at the same relative effort because your heart is working against gravity and because excess heat through sweat also raises your heart rate.
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Also mix up your time. Your body will get used to 30 minutes all the time. Mix it up. 30 minutes, 25 minutes, 35 minutes, 40 minutes, 25 minutes.
Mike is right about slowing down. Think conversational pace. If you can speak in short sentences while running, you are probably okay. If you can't talk, it's too fast. Walking and running is good. Have patience and you'll improve.
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Obligatory warning - swimmers swapping to running are high risk for running injuries. You have a very strong engine, but do not have the strong bones and ligaments to support the pounding of running on land. What feels totally doable to you is still almost certainly too much right now.
I would google the couch to 5K plan, and follow it, even if it seems too easy.
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Speaking as someone who coaches a friend who is primarily a swimmer, I echo above about slowing down. My friend can go fairly fast as she has the leg strength but she’s not used to the higher heart rate and dies out quickly. If you happen to have a heart rate watch, for reference my average for a 1-hour swim is around 110bpm whereas my running heart rate starts around 115 and goes up from there depending on intensity.
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Obligatory warning - swimmers swapping to running are high risk for running injuries. You have a very strong engine, but do not have the strong bones and ligaments to support the pounding of running on land. What feels totally doable to you is still almost certainly too much right now. I would google the couch to 5K plan, and follow it, even if it seems too easy.
Perhaps if you have any access to stairs, or step machine, or cycling machines, or elliptical, that might give you a way to help work through this imbalance (that your aerobic system is way ahead of what most beginning runners have, but your body may need time to get used to the pounding of running in a more gradual way).
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Please know it takes many weeks and not just a week or two to adapt to running. Choose to take walk breaks before being forced to. Also, running is running but for you have mindset of jogging a couple min then walking a minute vs running hard a couple minutes, heart rate jumping and then being forced to walk because of anaerobic overload. This approach is too catabolic on body systems and will lead to injury. If you want to be out there for an hour.....you will want to walk as much as you run and nothing wrong with that.
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