Discussion: Advice

Getting into swimming a bit. Or, going to get into swimming a bit. What should I do to make time go quickly? I see your sessions - do they impact running more than an easy swim or are they such different muscles it doesn't matter much?

It's so much better/easier when training with other people! Both so you can chat when resting and it's easier to have someone ahead/behind/beside to try to keep pace with. If at all possible join a club. It just means that you don't have to make up the session and the variety of what you do makes it a lot more interesting + there's more people and you don't have to worry about others as much when you're all doing the same. If training with others isn't possible I'd try to mix it up. Its a lot easier when a lot of your concentration is taken up with thinking about what you're doing, how many reps you've done, how many lengths you've done, and when you have to start the next rep.
I don't know about how much difference harder swimming makes to easy. I expect they're both good, but I think I get the most benefit from the harder stuff, especially from an aerobic point of view. I dont particularly remember my muscles being the limiting factor - it was my aerobic ability. I kick a lot harder when swimming hard than when swimming easy, but I'm not sure how much difference that makes.
All I know is I managed to do a sub 20 5k when I was 14 off of swimming, a few long hill runs, orienteering and any running I did during land training. I then went through the year in which girls don't improve and quit swimming so I could start running training. It took me 4 years to beat my 5k pb, so I feel like it must do more than I realise.

Worth noting that with the swim club I don't think we ever swam more than 400fc easy. If we were swimming easy the distances were still short.

Thanks! That's super helpful