Honestly, a HIM 35min swim and 5k of 21 minutes for a man of your age, seems completely in line with what I would expect for someone with roughly balanced swim and run ability.
I would actually argue that you're a decent (def not horrible) runner, but only a middling barely-better than MOP swimmer with a 35 HIM swim. With your numbers, I could honestly rename your thread "Decent runner and horrible swimmer - Why?" and be not too far off the mark if you were putting in a fair amount of swim time to swim a 35 HIM.
Running just feels 'hard' most of the time because of the impact involved and subsequent injury risk. I run 5ks in 18:30 range and I can say with absolute honesty that it never really feels easy or natural to me with the exception of the taper week. I feel like I'm low-talent, suffering, and underperforming on running pretty much all the time, especially when my weekly run mileage goes up and the paces start to slow as a result. Running is hard on the body - I think you're mistaken if you think that running should feel easier, more natural, and faster to you - the impact and volume takes its toll and beats you down if you're really doing it right.
I would actually argue that you're a decent (def not horrible) runner, but only a middling barely-better than MOP swimmer with a 35 HIM swim. With your numbers, I could honestly rename your thread "Decent runner and horrible swimmer - Why?" and be not too far off the mark if you were putting in a fair amount of swim time to swim a 35 HIM.
Running just feels 'hard' most of the time because of the impact involved and subsequent injury risk. I run 5ks in 18:30 range and I can say with absolute honesty that it never really feels easy or natural to me with the exception of the taper week. I feel like I'm low-talent, suffering, and underperforming on running pretty much all the time, especially when my weekly run mileage goes up and the paces start to slow as a result. Running is hard on the body - I think you're mistaken if you think that running should feel easier, more natural, and faster to you - the impact and volume takes its toll and beats you down if you're really doing it right.