This summer I am thinking of doing swim team at the same time as my summer training to help my running, but I'm worried it may have adverse effects on my performance. Swim practice would be every morning and then I would be doing doubles of running training later in the day. Would I get burned out or be too tired to run after? And how much would swimming help my running?
If I read this right, you're thinking about doing triples: 1 swim and 2 run.
That's too much. Swim team workouts are almost always interval workouts, and if they're worth doing at all, you'll swim them hard. Runners tend to use swimming as a low-impact cross training alternative to running. You're proposing adding it as a 3rd workout. If you can do doubles running, swimming won't benefit your running.
Having said that, there's more to life than running. Swim team can be a lot of fun and a nice change of pace from track/xc. Consider swim team for that reason, rather than as an extra workout.
Go for it. If you find it to be too demanding then stop doing doubles. Your summer runs should be easy effort anyway.
If the alternative is sleeping in and eating a big breakfast, by all means swim, but it isn't going to help your running.
Yes do it. I did this during the summer and winter in high school.
Swimming in the morning won't tire your legs for running later in the day. In fact you may find the low impact movement and compression from the water acts as a recovery aid.
However, if you've never swam competively before, swim practice is going to be very difficult the first few weeks. Mainly because breathing while efficiently moving your arms takes quite a bit of practice. Also, your triceps, deltoids, and latissimuss back muscles are going to be very sore.
I say try it. If your running does start to suffer, then stop. Saying swimming won't help your running is silly. It will. Not nearly as much as running but swimming will make you overall stronger not only physically but aerobically. Don't replace running with it, but in addition to running I think it's a good thing.
Ok, so do you think if I am very serious about running should I not do the swimming then?
I sucked too much at running in high school for this to really matter for me, so my response probably doesn't matter. But anyway, I swam every single summer from when I was 10 to 18. Started summer training for XC before my freshman year. I didn't find it to be very difficult. I would do my running with the team at 6am and then swim practice at around 7. I rarely felt as if my running right beforehand affected my swimming. Likewise, I rarely felt as if my swimming adversely affected my running, except maybe the days after swim meets (I would usually swim 7-9 events, though the majority of them were 50s), and maybe except for the fact that it probably bulked me up more than I needed.
If you are very serious about running (and good at it too - I was serious but not good), and if you have a spot on your xc team to fight for or you really want to be the fastest, or something like that - I wouldn't do it. On the other hand, if you aren't that hard core, it would probably be great for you to be doing something else rather than burning out on running. If you DO do swimming, it would be too much, most likely, to run twice a day.
That's my opinion - but then again, I was more or less a 19:00 5k guy throughout high school, so it wouldn't have mattered either way for me. I actually should have done swimming year-round, not running...too bad.
I coach at a strong high school program (multiple NXN appearances in last decade). I have had several runners who swim either over the summer or winter and try to run at the same time. Here is what I have found:
1) Swimming and no running is better for RUNNING fitness than being totally sedentary (duh)
2) One swim workout and one run per day is okay at maintaining running fitness
3) One swim workout and two runs per day is too much; you'll either burn out or just not improve. The stimulus is too large for your body to adapt and you'll stagnate in both sports (though moreso running, it seems)
4) Likewise, one swim workout and two runs per day is also too much. It does not seem to be quite as bad because the runs are not interval workouts, usually.
5) As you might guess, no swimming at all and a full schedule of run training is optimal for running success. Your teammates who do this will improve more than you.
It all depends on what your priorities are. If you're 16 or older, it's time to focus on one sport at a time. I recommend choosing the one you're better at. Run in the summer and do cross country, then swim all winter. It's about an equal amount of time in the state I coach in. Or, if you are talented enough and have the desire to compete in college, pick one sport and do that exclusively from now on.
At the end of the day though, it's up to you, not your parents or your coach or random people on the internet.
i had some of the best races of my life while running 40 miles/week and swimming for 30-60 mins four times a week. Two days a week I would swim for 60 mins and not run and two days a week I would double with a 30 min swim in the PM and a hard running workout in the AM. I started that training regime because of injuries and found myself running better than when i was running 80 miles/week and not swimming. It was also cool to start a new sport because i improved tremendously at swimming very quickly while my running had reached the point long before that required great effort for just minor improvements.
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