I think it's very on-topic. The point is it must take more toughness to swim because it is even more monotonous than running. Thus swimmers must be tougher.
You have to be extremely mentally tough to be a swimmer - If I can make it 30 min doing laps its a victory. It is boring and unpleasant.
Cold pools suck, but the temperature of a regulated, indoor pool isn’t physically dangerous and no one says, “I can’t believe you swam today in those conditons.”
Summer dew points in the upper 70s, ice, freezing rain. People think you are a freak to run in those, and maybe rightly so.
I agree swimming is longer in hours and more mind-numbing. But check-in with me at the end of your long summer workout and let me know how the outdoor heat and humidity are affecting your splits.
I think it's very on-topic. The point is it must take more toughness to swim because it is even more monotonous than running. Thus swimmers must be tougher.
You have to be extremely mentally tough to be a swimmer - If I can make it 30 min doing laps its a victory. It is boring and unpleasant.
This might be splitting hairs, but I think there’s a difference between toughness and discipline. Being able to handle the monotony of swimming laps requires a high level of discipline, but I wouldn’t categorize that as toughness. I see the monotony of lap swimming as similar to the monotony of running on a treadmill or doing an easy run entirely on a track. Very boring but not tough.
In training, swimming was way tougher. There were very few easy days. You could do big lactic threshold sets probably 5 days a week without much injury risk during peak training periods. Afternoon practices regularly exceeded 2hrs with another 1.25 hr morning weight session/easy swim. It can be mind numbingly boring doing loops around a black line on the pool bottom. Runners have to be more careful to avoid injury, but that is also part of why on the balance, swimming training has to be tougher.
Yes and that has to do with recovery. You recover faster in swimming and that must be the pounding of running vs the buoyancy of swimming
Overall swimming is tougher. 3-5 hours of practice a day, 5-6x/week is not that unusual at the high school level. I swam for two years in high school, My freshman year at the JV level and made the varsity team my sophomore year. A typical day M-F during the season would look like:
6:30-7am: weights
7:00-8:30am: swimming
9:00-3:15pm: school
3:30-4pm: track workouts or other cardio
4pm-6:30pm: swimming
That's 4 hours in the pool a day, plus an hour of dryland. During the offseason you were expected to either join the water polo team in the spring (similar schedule to above) or join a swimming club (8-10hrs/week of swimming but much more relaxed). We also practiced all summer long 6am-9am in the pool.
The upside was that I was super strong, could run a fast mile with minimal running, had a nice six pack. Swimming meets were a blast and the camaraderie was unreal.
I ultimately quit because it our program was an "all in" commitment and I couldn't balance studying, jazz band, hanging out with friends, and math team, and absolutely hated practicing all summer starting at 6am. Didn't mind it that much during the school year.
I joined cross country and T&F my senior year, both were so much more manageable. We just practiced 3:30-5:30pm after school which included running, strength, and yoga. Our XC team wasn't that great and the coach was super relaxed about people taking a day off to study, do other activities, or just take a mental break.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
The training is tougher for running, especially when taking weather into consideration. But it definitely beats up the body more.
HOWEVER, elite swimming is grueling. Doing two a day multi hour sessions of swimming laps? And you can't talk to your training partners even during your easy sessions or listen to music/podcasts? Sounds like torture.
Considering the differences above yet they're both endurance sports requiring relentless training, I think it's actually a toss up.
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