Ladies,
Before you start thinking today was a lost day to training, slow down. Cross training is a very viable aspect to endurance athletics, and swimming especially transfers very well to running VO2 fitness. In fact, it's hard to find an activity as good as swimming to develop VO2.
Swimming incorporates a great deal of hypoxic training, that is exercising at regular or high levels with a reduced breathing pattern. Essentially this simulates altitude training, which in turn forces the body to adapt and become more efficient in its use of oxygen. The results are obvious; the better your body can use a volume of air, the more free energy is available for the body to use. Since your performance is limited in part by the volume of oxygen your body can provide per breath, using each breath better results in better performance.
Resting muscles, tendons, and joints is another benefit of cross training. Running involves a great deal of repetitive stress, which can accumulate into an injury over time. Giving the body periodic breaks may provide enough rest to circumvent such injuries.
An interesting side effect of cross training is discovering a different hierarchy of athletes - that is, while some runners are dominant on our team, in swimming it might be completely different people. The same thing would be true in cycling. For those who typically run behind others, it may help make them aware they are good athletes. For the ones used to being on the front of running, it teaches them to never be complacent.
Tomorrow we go to Spring Mill. Coach Jo will be there, so we can do it. Parkview, 7 AM.
Before you start thinking today was a lost day to training, slow down. Cross training is a very viable aspect to endurance athletics, and swimming especially transfers very well to running VO2 fitness. In fact, it's hard to find an activity as good as swimming to develop VO2.
Swimming incorporates a great deal of hypoxic training, that is exercising at regular or high levels with a reduced breathing pattern. Essentially this simulates altitude training, which in turn forces the body to adapt and become more efficient in its use of oxygen. The results are obvious; the better your body can use a volume of air, the more free energy is available for the body to use. Since your performance is limited in part by the volume of oxygen your body can provide per breath, using each breath better results in better performance.
Resting muscles, tendons, and joints is another benefit of cross training. Running involves a great deal of repetitive stress, which can accumulate into an injury over time. Giving the body periodic breaks may provide enough rest to circumvent such injuries.
An interesting side effect of cross training is discovering a different hierarchy of athletes - that is, while some runners are dominant on our team, in swimming it might be completely different people. The same thing would be true in cycling. For those who typically run behind others, it may help make them aware they are good athletes. For the ones used to being on the front of running, it teaches them to never be complacent.
Tomorrow we go to Spring Mill. Coach Jo will be there, so we can do it. Parkview, 7 AM.
No comments:
Post a Comment