How to swim like a runner

By Paul Hayes

Running is innate to human life, a built-in function of evolution that is ingrained into human genetic code in various ways. It comes naturally to us and is something that we are built for; humans are the best long distance runners on the planet. You don’t have to get taught how to run when you first try it. Running is just part of life.

Swimming does not come with the same built-in ability in humans. We’re not evolved to swim. We’re not built for the water, especially when compared to other animals. We have to be taught by others how to swim when we first try it. Swimming with no experience invites death.

But yet, professional athletes compete in both athletic ventures the same way: against the clock, and against others. The key to this, is learning. You may not have to learn how to run, but you do have to learn how to run the right way in order to run fast. Once you have learned to stay alive in the water, you can learn how to swim the right way in order to swim fast. The two sports share very similar ideas and basis, but swimming comes with a much steeper learning curve. And that learning curve gets just plain weird when you try to cross the two and want to learn the right way to swim in order to run fast. And hopefully I can clear some things up.

 

I’ve highlighted previously that swimming can be used by runners as an improved form of recovery. Scheduling a swim in-between hard running sessions can really help keep a distance runners ability to perform well during such tough training. However, you can hop in the pool and really murder your legs if you want to. A few keys to a recovery swim are as follows:

1. The swim itself should be a like a recovery run: easy, slow, and anywhere from 20-45 minutes. You should feel better after this type of swim.

2. If you’re using swim trunks or board shorts, ditch them and just use compression shorts (or a speedo if you’re a real man). The extra drag everywhere from the loose shorts is really going to hurt your stroke and make you over-work. It would be like running in basketball shorts 3 sizes too big with your phone and wallet in your pockets. 

3. You should be trying to take it easy on your legs.This means not kicking too hard, and letting your upper body do most of the work during the swim. Watch 1500m world record holder Sun Yang’s stroke during his Olympic gold/WR performance through a multi-angle group of shots that someone else was cool enough to put together [1]. That video is what 1450m of swimming slightly under world record pace looks like: an easy, stabilizing kick to keep the hips up and not much else, while the upper body does the majority of the work. This keeps lactic acid and inflammation from building up in his legs, which would cause them to drop and drag in the water. It also allows Sun to be able to pick up his kick rate massively at the end for a strong finish. If you want to model a recovery-based stroke off a professional, Sun’s is the best.

So if you’re going for a recovery swim, the two tips above should help a good deal. As always, please put any questions you have in the comments section and I would love to answer them.

 

Swimming for a workout can be a very tough thing, especially for a beginner. Working nearly every muscle in the body while taxing the aerobic system in an abnormal way, all while wondering whether or not it’s fast or even totally right will be exhausting both physically and mentally. And while just getting in and swimming hard can be beneficial to any runner, there are some specific things that distance runners who want to cross train in the water should and shouldn’t do. So here are the DO’s and DON’T’s of swimming for a runner’s workout:

• DO listen to your body and figure out what does and doesn’t work for you. I can’t stress that point enough, you should be doing this for your body, so pay attention to how it responds. Try backstroke or breaststroke, see what you think works best

• DO engage a strong kick with a technique focused upon leg drive. Michael Phelps’ freestyle is an excellent example of a very leg-driven stroke. Check out a multi-angle view of his freestyle [2] and his 200m freestyle Olympic gold in ’08[3], the most dominant race of his perfect 8-for-8 in my opinion. You can see how much work his legs do the entire race and how well it pays off.

• DO make sure that your kick is driven from the hips. The motion starts there and travels through the leg muscles, not starting in the leg muscles. It’s a weird concept to put into words but its how swimmers kick. If you watch that mutli-angle video again [2] you can see that the motion starts from the hips and travels through the legs. 

• DO control your breathing so that you stress your aerobic system in a way you’re not used to. What I really mean is don’t breathe every stroke if you can help it, and try to push a bit through the pain you might feel in your lungs. Your body can use oxygen a lot more efficiently than you think, and though you may have to force it at first, you will adjust.

• DO be creative with your workouts and changing things up, again to see what works. If you have a favorite running workout that you want to adapt to the pool, the simple math is to divide the distance by 4 to get similar repeats (e.g. repeat 1600’s on land would be repeat 400’s in the water).

• DO look at other resources for how to swim. I don’t know everyone’s ability levels and I can’t teach you very well from a blog. YouTube is a great starting point, and there are other great resources out there, all you really need to do is look around for them. If enough people ask, I’ll put a playlist together on my YouTube channel and share it here.

• DON’T quit because you suck at first. It’s not in any way easy and the learning curve is steep, but a little commitment can go a long way.

• DON’T stress out over your times in the water. Remember that the main purpose is the times out on the course and the track.

• DON’T forget to have fun with it. That’s why I started running in the first place. 

 

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uncOBURz-6o

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ofor9NlZSE