| Eat it up |
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I admit that their sport isn't easy, but I don't think elite swimmers work any harder than elite runners. |
| Say wha? |
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Who said they did? |
| asics me this |
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Who's saying it isn't? |
| Get Real |
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Because it is? I am a track and field fanatic, so do not misunderstand me here. Coach and all. But I was also a swimmer. Swimming is far more competitive than track and field because along with the conditioning factor, swimming is foreign to humans, so there is a lot of technique that matters, even in the most 'basic' strokes. To put in perspective. To make it to NCAA's in D1 you pretty much have to have been training full time in swimming since before the age of 7 (sometimes you get a few starters). But in track you get athletes all the time that did not start running competitively until high school or even the end of high school that were just great athletes or really conditioned from other sports that involve a lot of running. Running is natural to humans, we were built to be on our feet on land, not in a pool. A very well conditioned athlete in sports like soccer can usually with a short amount of practice run somewhere in the 4:30-4:45 range in a mile. I like to compare that to the 500 yard swim in high school swimming. Where most of the best conditioned athletes who would just step in and try it would probably not break 5:00. Most would not break 7:00 with less than a few weeks of training just because they would have no idea what they are doing. It is just a sport people start younger, so the elite are almost more elite. But it is because it takes so much time and work to get to that level, but due to the nature of the sport (less impact) you are able to spend 6 hours a day in the pool swimming. So you can put in that extra work and see benefits unlike running where running for 6 hours in a day would just kill your legs. |
| Swammer |
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No way in hell any non-swimmer, no matter what their conditioning is, could just hop in and break 5:00. Breaking 5:00 requires far too much technical sufficiency, and specific strength that you don't get outside of the water. I was a 4:28 500 swimmer in college. Two years later, despite being in excellent shape, I doubt I could break 5:15. |
| Country Club Sports Are Easy |
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I don't mean to put down swimming, but how many teenagers made the olympic team in Track & Field? How many in swimming? |
| Mr. Obvious |
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This is totally irrelevant. Different sports, different requirements. A tiny bit better apples to apples comparison would be to compare the number of years of training of the Olympians. (hint: swimmers generally start much younger). |
| The Quenton Cassidamius |
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Tell Kenenisa Bekele that swimming is more competitive. Many more people participate in Athletics and the talent pool is much larger than in swimming. A swimmer like Phelps is very good but he does not have the whole world trying to bridge the gap only a small portion of the population that tries swimming and decides that they want to take it seriously. Not many people are ever exposed to it or have the means to swim somewhere. Athletics is similar but far more people run at some point in their life and know if they are fast. Almost everyone in the world has the opportunity to compete which makes it much more difficult to reach the level of someone like Bolt. As far as how hard it is to actually train. I would say that they are both very hard during the act and feel equally as hard but there is much more muscle damage after the training in running because of the impact. It is tough to say which training is harder because it all depends on what you consider hard. |
| Citizen Runner |
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There is absolutely no doubt that elite swimmers spend a lot more time swimming than elite runners spend running. If the time dedicated to training is the basis of "working harder", then swimmers clearly work harder. |
| Miss Isle Launcher |
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This thread is pointless. So I'll contribute. My HS had an amazing swimming program. Some of my running teammates who also swam told me they found distance running racing and speedwork to be more "painful" than swimming racing and training, but that swimming had crazy training volume (don't have to deal with all that pounding) that just wore you the heck down. Many of my friends went on to be good college swimmers, where the volume was even more intense. You've got to say though, the talent pool (no pun intended) is much larger for track and field. Even in developed nations like the US, lots of people don't have access to bodies of water suited for swimming. Now think of how many people in third world countries can drive their beamer to the local club and swim some laps? |
| asdfasf |
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The talent pool is much smaller in swimming. The only reason it takes so much training is because swimming is not very punishing on the body, so people CAN practice intensely for a long time without injury. To be elite at running you have to outcompete probably 50x more people, much more challenging. |
| and... |
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I don't think "competitive" is the right word here. Swimming is LESS competitive because fewer people in the world do it, and yes, maybe even because it is so difficult to master it later in life. If you have to have been swimming from age 7 in order to make the Olympics...that's not very many people at all. The most competitive sports in the world are soccer and running since the pool of participants is so large. |
| Aquafina |
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I'd say that not only is the talent pool small in the US, swimming isnt a sport that is truly "international". It's unique to 1st World countries. It's a country club sport. |
| and... |
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I do agree with this. Same with cycling. This is one reason I will never become a triathlete. To be as good as I would want to be (a local stud), I would have to put in crazy hours in the pool and bike. No thanks. I can be a local stud runner on 60-90 minutes a day. |
| runn |
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Right plus there's a smaller pool, so to speak, to choose from. Imagine how many world class swimmers never try it because their school doesn't have a pool and swim team? Look at the countries who compete? Compare it to track and field. As far as hoe hard it is- the post by the coach is wrong. I coach runners, some of them are very competitive swimmers (we don't have indoor track). They say swimming in hard but it is "easier" to push through pain. It hurts, yes, but not like running where you're kind of fighting gravity. It's a TOUGH sport but don't compare to running as far as what's tougher- they are equals, as is wrestling. |
| touche |
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Correct answer. |
| Pose |
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Your runners are fighting gravity? If they ran correctly they would see that gravity is pulling them forward. Gravity, not pushing off the ground, is what gets you going. The legs just break the fall.
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| Swimming Sucks |
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Swimming is without a doubt harder (I hate it). There is very little risk of injury, so coaches aren't afraid to pound their athletes to death for 5 hours a day. Also, for some reason swimmers seem to do multiple hours of hard intervals EVERYDAY for no particular reason. Add in the fact that there is a very significant technical side to the sport, you cannot breathe often or talk to teammates, you are in itchy disgusting water that makes you puke, and you are stuck staring at a dark evil pool bottom all day it is clear that running is both easier and much preferable. |
| CountryClubDude |
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Correct, the number of competitive swimmers is vastly smaller, due to the intrinsic costs and the importance of swimming technique (spoken as a person who learned to swim later in life). One finds similar dynamics in many sports: rowing, dressage, lacrosse are all "small market" sports, with fewer participants. That said, the training in all of those sports is very difficult if one wishes to be the best. |
| and... |
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Gravity points in one direction and it is straight down. Are runners fighting gravity? Yes, because they push up and forward. So the pushing up part is against gravity. Can gravity pull them forward? No, it can only pull them straight back down again. Gravity does not get anything going. |