Swimming and CrossFit

The endurance world is where I live. I love it. It’s what I’ve grown up with and one that I feel provides both a mental and kinesthetic therapy that few other modes of exercise can deliver.  However, too much of a good thing is not a good thing and while I love to train, I want to be able to continue doing this as long as it’s humanly possible.

The alluring part of CrossFit has been it’s claim to get a better result with less training time.   It also means more time to recover.  Recovery on one CrossFit style program happens every 4th day.   My ears perk up when I hear stuff like faster, stronger, improved in the same sentence as “less training time”.   This week I stumbled across this CrossFit journal article: “Pukie at the Pool”. The title might be misleading, as I am not a coach who believes that you need to experience puking in order to know you did well in the workout.  Rather it was the idea that a land-based strength program like CrossFit could be adapted to pool workouts that intrigued me. I took the bait.

Today I went back to the pool and did a 1000 yard time trial. It had been months since I’ve swam in a pool with the intent to get a workout in. It was a special day.  (I also had new swim shorts)

The workout went like this:

• 500 yard warm-up
• 1000 yard time-trial
• 500 yards of drill and cool-down
  • Tabata swim intervals
    • 8 rounds: 20 sec all out freestyle sprint, 10 sec walking rest
  • 5 rounds of :
    • 25 yard swim + 20 push-ups

Right off the bat I noticed something was different with my swimming.  It wasn’t because of the type of workout I was doing today, rather, it most likely had something to do with the CrossFit training.

My arms were sore from the previous workouts this week (i.e. the filthy 50, and ones I made up for Tuesday and Wednesday), so I wasn’t expecting the results I got from the swim.

My first 100 yards clocked in at 1:30 – not a big deal for most swimmers, but that was a GOOD time for me.  Especially since I can’t remember the last time I was in a pool, and also because I am not a swimmer.   As I swam along, keeping track of time, I was remembering where I used to be the last time I did a 1000 yard time trial – way behind.

The 1000 yards ended at 16:44.  That’s a minute and change off of my average time of 18:30.  That is a serious PR.

Next were the drills.

Tabata swim sprints

These were new for me.  Eight rounds of 20 second freestyle sprint efforts with 10 seconds of walking.   Mental countdown was required since there was no coach (but me) to call out the start/stop times.  These don’t compare to tabata bottom-to-bottom squats, but there seemed to be anaerobic benefit.  I would do them again, maybe with a drag element.

8 rounds of 20 seconds all-out sprint, 10 seconds of walking rest

Push-ups and 25 yards

This was pathetic.  I could only do one 25 yard length and 10 push-ups before my legs decided that they were done with the push-ups.  It was bizarre, but not totally unexpected.  It was a slowly building leg cramp that started near the knees and wormed its way up the thigh.  By count of 10 I decided a floaty environment would be better.

The workout ended with hand slap drills and breath holds working on clean form.  A friend of mine said their swim coach used to make the team hold their breath for pool lengths in order to encourage efficient form – I have no idea if it works, but it sounds good.

In short, my swim game hasn’t gone away.  It’s actually improved since I’ve been out of the pool.  Just think what a combination of CrossFit style conditioning and swim workouts could do for a committed swimmer…

Happy Training!