Independence of Swim work from Bike/run
I hear a lot of people say something to the effect that swimming doesn't add much to their "fatigue" in general...and I agree that's true to a degree, especially to the extent that your fatigue is muscular.
But I wonder about the reverse.
I've been trying hard to pay attention to my swim this season, and I've noted that my swim pace falls (i.e., gets slower) when I get some heavy run/bike fatigue. Maybe 5 sec/100 yards or something for the same RPE as when fresher. I feel like this occurs regardless of how hard I feel like I'm working the swim or how good my form feels that day.
Other folks find the same thing? Or is this simply a focus issue?
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No question, fatigue is global, not just localised to specific muscle groups. There are of course all sorts of reasons, including quality of on-going nutirition and hydration when doing hard workouts, depletion of key hormones such as cortisol and testosterone, and that mysterious quality of brain fatigue.
Like everyone else, I supose, I notice it even when swimming first thing in the morning after a good night's sleep, if I'm following a hard interval workout in bike or run, or a long run, then I fully expect to not fire on all cyclinders when swimming. I just accept it, like the bumps and bangs in an IM swim.
I noticed this week that my 100 pace is down 3-4 seconds from my pre-IMCDA pace. That can only be caused by the fatigue of the race.
Even though your not getting the fast work in, if you maintain form and technique your getting in quality pool time and that is what translates to improvement over time.
I have to be very careful to deconflict my swim workouts from my bike and run workouts, and chose swim sets accordingly. Specifically, if I do a hard bike or run in the AM and swim at lunch, I have to pull 95% of my swim workout for fear of getting foot or calf cramps. And if I'm carrying a good deal of leg fatigue, my swim kick is pretty weak = I don't swim as fast as I normally would. For perspective, my swim paces are about 2" per 100m faster than my pull paces, but that narrows as my legs are fatiqued and my kick is weakened accordingly.
Swimming, however, doesn't affect my bike and run. That said, I'm about to swim about 2mi open water and then ride about 3hrs on the bike, as an exercise to see my how my neck and back do on the tri bike after a ~45' swim. 6mi run in the evening.
I certainly agree with the others in that run and bike fatigue has a very tangible influence on my ability to swim well. Much like Rich, I'll get bad calf and foot cramps after hard bike or run work, this may also be influenced by hydration, electrolyte and nutrition decisions made during/after those workouts.
The only thing I'll add that might be a little different from what the others have said is that I have noticed on the rare occasion where a swim was able to break me out of deep fatigue induced by the other sports. I used to hit a swim on Thursday night and usually would be carrying deep fatigue from Wednesday's bike and brick efforts and Thursday's AM long run. I've hit that workout yawning, barely able to make it through a 200 at the start, fully intending to bag it after about 30 minutes max to loosen up. Fast forward an hour and I've significantly loosened up and will sometimes pop out of the water feeling much better than when I went in. I know the whole stay loose with a swim thing isn't a novel concept, but I was still surprised on a few occasions when I swim seemed to virtually bring me back from the dead of deep fatigue.
@Trevor I can certainly relate to the "loosening up" phenomenon. Been there, done that.