Swimming is much harder than cycling

[Night Train]

Do you take some air with you in a rucksack?

I found out about packing watching free divers in TV.
Packing is filling the lungs with air and then gulping down more mouthfulls of air without exhaling to fully fill the lungs.

I only got really into swiming underwater when I finally accepted that I didn't float very well. I can't tread water with anymore then the very top of my head showing above the surface. If I stop moving I sink to the bottom of the pool and can sit there watching the other swimmers go past.
When I was at school it panicked the life guards at the local pool a few times and they told me to stop doing it.

 

[montage]

Swimming is definately more technical, but as for racing, it has nothing on cycling in terms of tactical difficulty....so if we are talking about racing then I'd have to go with cycling

 

[Dan B]

Try racing on inline skates - all the tactics of bike racing (and even closer drafting) plus a healthy dollop of technique too.

 

[XmisterIS]

Once, when I was a child, I had cake and then went swimming - I vomited in the shallow end and they had to clear the pool.

 

[Over The Hill]

I was useless at swimming with a daft extended dog paddle stroke so I had lessons (I guess most pools run them) which was really good to teach me different strokes which does add a bit of variety to the swim.

I agree though it is rater boring! I did get a waterproof mp3 player but it did not work very well. Perhaps they are better now.

How you swim makes a huge difference - watch a good swimmer and they get down the other end in half the number of strokes.

 

[XmisterIS]

Yes, I find pool swimming very boring - luckily I live by the sea and so I go sea swimming regularly - I only do two "lengths" ... but that's 1/4 of a mile in one direction and 1/4 mile back again! (or I walk back if I can't be bothered to swim).

 

[taxing]

I'm a really bad swimmer. I taught myself earlier this year, and because I had no one telling me about techniques and stuff I look like a dying dog. I can do 4 lengths.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Swimming is certainly more boring than cycling. Two or three lengths and I'm out of my mind witrh boredom. It's dull, dull, dull.

 

[Toshiba Boy]

Technique is definitely very important for swimming. My son, in his childhood/teenage years was a County standard swimmer, personally think it's the best sport for kids, in terms of both all round fitness and a life saving skill.

I'm very much a "competent" swimmer, nothing more, and in short course triathlons, held my own in the swim, did well on the bike, but pretty lousy on the run.

Just got back into swimming, and using a friend who is a swimming intructor, to assist with my freestyle and backstroke, and tiny changes to my "technique" (if you could call it that) have made big changes to my speed (endurance never been much of problems form general/cycling fitness).

Did read a book some years ago, that tried to rank different sports in terms of how physically hard they were on the body (not from a "being walloped" point of view aka boxing/rugby etc.) and I remember being surprised at how relatively low swimming ranked in terms of how much it utilises your CV system (if you've got good technique!). Squash was the third hardest sport in this regard, with cross-country skiing and road race cycling the joint hardest

Having said this, I return to my point above, and in terms of excellent all round exercise, would have to put swimming right up there.

 

[longers]

I did notice when I was going weekly earlier this year that my hamstrings suffered. They both cramped up one time so bad that I was very, very close to calling the lifeguard to drag me out of the deep end. Trying to climb the steps with straight legs was a challenge.

Anyone else notice theirs are prone to this? I thought I was on top of my stretching. Guess not.

 

[krushavik]

Up and down up and down up and down up and down swimming is as boring as writing up and down up and down.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I did notice when I was going weekly earlier this year that my hamstrings suffered. They both cramped up one time so bad that I was very, very close to calling the lifeguard to drag me out of the deep end. Trying to climb the steps with straight legs was a challenge.

Anyone else notice theirs are prone to this? I thought I was on top of my stretching. Guess not.

Not with hamstrings, longers, although mine need stretching out more than I do. My right foot cramps sometimes if I swim for more than an hour, don't know if that's possible but it feels like cramp.

 

[Night Train]

It's funny.
I see cycling from home round and back to home boring. I use cycling as a means of getting from one place to another, slower then a car and faster then walking, and no more.
Swimming, on the other hand, given a good pool, not too many chemicals or people and I can be there all day.
Maybe I should have been born a dolphin.

 

[Kirstie]

I used to compete at swimming as a teenager in the freestyle, but now I'm completely useless at it ie I look good from the outside but I'm completely knackered after a couple of lengths! However I can do breast stroke for hours, and if it wasn't for the time it takes to get changed/hair dried etc etc combined with my commute I would swim much more often. I'm getting a new swimming costume for christmas so that might motivate me.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Did read a book some years ago, that tried to rank different sports in terms of how physically hard they were on the body (not from a "being walloped" point of view aka boxing/rugby etc.) and I remember being surprised at how relatively low swimming ranked in terms of how much it utilises your CV system (if you've got good technique!). Squash was the third hardest sport in this regard, with cross-country skiing and road race cycling the joint hardest

It doesn't surprise me that swimming ranked low from a cardio-vascular POV. I sometimes felt puffed when doing the training drills, but it was more muscular tiredness or not being able to get enough air because we were told to breath every third stroke. I heard before cross-country skiing is the toughest CV sport. Cycling is only tough when racing, but then it is really tough. I used to do a lot of running races. Running cross-country or trying to get a PB in a 10K or half marathon was hard, but the few cross-country mountain bike races I attempted were even harder.

I did notice when I was going weekly earlier this year that my hamstrings suffered. They both cramped up one time so bad that I was very, very close to calling the lifeguard to drag me out of the deep end. Trying to climb the steps with straight legs was a challenge.

Not hamstrings, but I occasionally used to get cramp in my calves. It's so debilitating too. It's all I could do to get back to the side. Even treading water was out of the question. I suspect that's why the swim comes first in triathlons. I used to find I was more prone to cramp if I went running first. I think it's a lack of electrolytes, caused by sweating that causes it.

and if it wasn't for the time it takes to get changed/hair dried etc etc combined with my commute I would swim much more often.

That's another issue with swimming. It's somewhat of a faff getting down there, getting changed and showered. You smell of chlorine all day and it's not good for your hair.