Hey folks,
For today’s Sunday with Sisson I am going to be talking about a couple things I’ve been doing lately.
I’ve been swimming more. Now, back when I was a triathlete, swimming was always my weakest subject. Running was great for me because, well, I’d been running my entire life. Cycling was a breeze because it's essentially moving your legs along a predetermined path. There’s some technique involved, but not as much as cycling enthusiasts would have you believe. What matters most in cycling is raw power output. It's hard, but it's simple.
But swimming is very different. Swimming is all about your technique because it’s your technique that allows you to move smoothly through the water and to go as fast as you can without getting as tired as you might. If you just get in the water and go hard without honing your technique, you fight with the water. On top of the technique, you’re also dealing with the cold water. Now cold water doesn’t always feel cold. Even if it’s a downright balmy 70° it’s still much colder than your body temperature and it still requires a lot of metabolic work for your body to maintain its own body temperature when immersed. That takes a lot of energy and it takes a lot of fuel and it takes away from the amount of work you’re able to do. And finally, in addition to the technique and the cold water you still have to be able to do a ton of work. It’s still physically grueling and it’s why I always dreaded the swimming portion of the triathlon most of all.
But what I’ve recently found out is that I love sprinting in the pool and in the ocean. A swim sprint isn’t just a cardiovascular workout. It’s much more than cardio. It’s also strength training. So, I’ve been getting in the pool once a week and really going for it, really going all out for short bursts. Maybe a lap or two, resting completely in between and then doing another one, and repeating it all. And it’s been great . I’m actually enjoying swimming and look forward to my swim workouts, rather than dreading them like back when I was training thousands of yards at a slow pace.
Another thing I’ve been doing is working in the sauna. I’ll sit in the infrared sauna, sometimes with my laptop, sometimes with a pen and paper, or often just with my phone and work. There's something about being in the sauna— probably a combo of the IR and the red light, that makes thoughts really seem to flow. It’s not a great place for buckling down and doing heavy research, but it is good for idea generation and writing off the cuff.
Both are fairly new developments for me, and they seem to really be working well. What have you guys been up to? Anything new? Any new exercises or habits? Let me know in the comment section of New and Noteworthy.
Take care, everyone.
