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Just wondering if anyone had any good training tips, just to break up the monotany of swimming up and down and to help improve genral fitness to??

I play a fair bit of football so knees take bit of a hammering somtimes find swimming good to loosen up again day after.

What do you guys think is better, to run for time or to run for distance?

i.e Instead of for 4-5 miles do 30-45 minutes.

Variety is key mate, mix it up, can't give you to many tips on swimming as its my week point but running wise try them both see which you find most challenging.

Also try doing a search there tons on running all over the site.

All the best

Stokey

Hi mate, when I run I vary between time and distance. For exampe, I'll run 5 miles and then make myself carry on for another 15 minutes. I find it helps.
Steve

Run short distance 1.5 miles to 3miles and medium distances 5miles or more.
Time and effort are critical to both if you want to achieve good performance. The harder you train, the better you will become, it's just natural for the human body to adapt to new demands.

Regarding swimming. As Stokey said, mix it up with different strokes. You could also start swimming length's or width's underwater to help increase your lung capacity. It will also help somewhat with strengthening your muscles. By that I mean, they can get more used to working with depleted oxygen levels. It's the same with runner's, fighters, boxers, endurance athelete's who train at high altitudes. Their muscles and lung's get used to working with less oxygen so when they come back down to a sort of sea level on the ground, their muscles can work just as well. Effort and time applies to swimming as well. Spend an hour in the pool with good effort. Your fitness will improve.

They won't happen right away, but give it a month and you should notice the difference. Progress may be slow or quick for you. We all adapt in different ways, some can take longer than others to improve. That's nothing to worry about though. You can't fight your own genetics.

Running to time and distance both have their advantages. As you get fitter you'll be able to run further, meaning always running for 45 minutes will challenge you because the distance will increase. On the other hand, some people like to beat their own personal bests, which you can't do by running the same time every run. All in all, it's a personal choice. As long as you are challenging yourself you'll do reyt.

Cheers guys, some things to think about

Im a ASA level 2 Teacher and many people come to me and say " I'm bored of swimming up and down " there are many ways arounds this from doing stroke technique to sprint sets. What I would recommend especially for all round general fitness is round the clock sprints this simply means:

1 length maxiumum effort
1 length slow recovery
2 lengths maximum effort
2 lengths recovery
1 length maximum effort
1 length slow recover

This is a very good exercise and would recommend it to anyway wishing to increase their general fitness.

Pretty much interval training in the water then.
Ave' it lads.

For running time is easier. It makes sure the amount of effort you make maintains. If you were just starting out then 5 miles might take an hour, but if you were superfit it might only take 30 mins. On the otherhand '60 mins slow,' is more independent of fitness and ability.

And also less messing about measuring routes on a map or by bike etc.

A timetrial every few weeks over a measured distance helps you to keep a track on progress however.