Can You Be a Runner & a Swimmer?

Training on land and sea doesn’t have to be an either-or proposition. If you’re a swimmer, running can be a good complementary exercise, and vice versa. Running is an excellent cardiovascular exercise, but running for long distances can be hard on your lower body. Swimming, on the other hand, is a low-impact activity. If your legs take a pounding during a run, but you still crave more aerobic exercise, hop in the pool.

  1. Combine Running and Swimming

    • Not only can you perform both running and swimming workouts, you can do both activities during the same exercise session. Certified strength and conditioning specialist Ben Greenfield notes that highly oxygenated blood flows to your target muscles during a workout -- primarily to your thighs and calves while you’re running and your arms, shoulders and back when you swim. Doing both activities invigorates your body almost literally from head to toe.

      Begin an outdoor running and swimming workout by jogging down to a lake, for example, and then swimming at a moderate pace for 25 to 50 yards away from the shore. Turn parallel to the shoreline and swim vigorously for four to six minutes and then swim quickly back to solid ground. Run back to the point where you first started to complete a running-swimming circuit.

    Compete in a Triathlon

    • Triathlons are tests of both your endurance and your athletic versatility. You’ll find a variety of triathlon formats, but standard triathlons include both a swim and a run, with a bike ride in between. Sprint triathlons, for example, begin with a 1/2-mile swim and end with a 3.1-mile run. Olympic triathlons include a swim of about nine-tenths of a mile, a bike ride of approximately 25 miles and then a 6.2-mile run. The famed Ironman triathlon opens with a 2.4-mile swim, continues with a 112-mile bike ride and ends with a marathon run of 26.2 miles.

    Run in Water

    • Even if you’re not an avid swimmer, you can still combine running with water in several ways. You can simply stand in water that doesn’t reach your head and then run through the pool. The water’s buoyancy makes pool running a fairly low-impact exercise while the water’s resistance helps tone your muscles. Underwater treadmills offer less resistance than pool running, because you’re not moving forward through the water. But the exercise helps build or maintain your cardiovascular fitness, making it an ideal activity if you’re rehabbing from an injury and require a low-impact aerobic exercise.

    From Running to Swimming

    • A runner who’s trying to add swimming to a fitness program may have trouble kicking properly in the water, which is a problem known as “runner’s kick.” Triathlon and swimming coach Kevin Koskella recommends that runners with this problem perform kicking drills to improve their swimming techniques. Hop in a pool, hold a wall and extend your feet toward the middle of the pool. Let go of the wall, cross your arms in front of you and kick enough to tread water for 20 seconds. You can also improve your ankle flexibility with seated stretches. Sit up straight, extend one leg in front of you and then push your toes as far as possible toward the floor. Hold the stretch for 15 to 20 seconds and then perform it with your opposite leg.