I’ve injured a tendon in my foot and unfortunately for the foreseeable future I can’t kick, but can pull (also can’t run, but can clip in on the trainer). Not particularly happy, but I figure I may as well try and reframe and view it as an opportunity to get stronger on the swim and bike… So, I just wondered if anyone had any pull buoy only workouts they could recommend?
You can get one of them wetsuit shorts a la Roka sim shorts of buoyancy pants thingamajigs and just swim as normal and dangle your legs, then you don’t have to fumble with a pullbuoy for an entire workout.
Or you can do ankle-band stuff.
I have patellar tendinitis right now and I can’t run at all nor can I kick. But, I’ve been on the trainer everyday and have been doing almost exclusively pull sets in the pool 4-5x a week.
I haven’t really changed anything up as far as main sets – I just add a pull buoy. I was doing 100s on my regular leave interval. I think the only thing I have switched up is that I’m using an ankle band a lot more often to mix things up. Good luck!
Thanks for the replies. By the sounds of it, I’ll just keep modifying some of my usual workouts (…haha I don’t think I’d get very far in my kick sets/using a board at the moment!). But I’ll definitely try out a band, and may start a bit more work using paddles.
I injured my hip last winter and could only pull when swimming. I spent about 2 weeks getting strong enough in the water to swim normal workouts, and from there just swam what I usually would, but with a buoy. I actually improved my swimming quite a bit training this way, getting down to 10min for an OW 750m.
Each workout was similar, ie warmup with 1000 of easy pulling, then a 2-3k hard main set, then an easy 100cd. Some favorite main sets:
-15x200 on 3:00, hold 2:45, every 3rd with paddles
-2x10x100 best effort on 1:30, then 10x100 smooth with paddles
-5x400 best effort on 6:00, evens with paddles
-50x50 with paddles, odds easy evens hard
-3x(600 strong aerobic, 3x100 with paddles)
-3x(300/250/100/75) round 3 with paddles
-4x200, 4x150, 4x100, 4x50, 4th rep is with paddles each round
-3x400, 3x300, 3x200, 3x100, last rep of each round is with paddles
That should hold you over for a while. I found that while pulling I could go harder much more often than when swimming normally, so don’t be afraid to really throw down on your swim workouts. Also, only pulling will let you hit the bike pretty hard.
Lastly, learn flip turns if you haven’t already. Open turns with a buoy are a pain.
Thanks, the above is super helpful! And yes, definitely agree on the flip turns… Haha I’ve now had to add the ‘one foot push off with a pull buoy’ to the flip turn repertoire as well.
Flipping with one foot is a pain. I decided when I was injured that I was going to learn flip turns once and for all, since all I could do was pull and that’s easier aerobically. The result is my flips are crooked…I still favor the good side! Regardless, kudos on flipping. It’s a good skill!
do things exactly the same but don’t do kick sets and only do pull.
do things exactly the same but don’t do kick sets and only do pull.
This is how I swim normally.
I injured my hip last winter and could only pull when swimming. I spent about 2 weeks getting strong enough in the water to swim normal workouts, and from there just swam what I usually would, but with a buoy. I actually improved my swimming quite a bit training this way, getting down to 10min for an OW 750m.
Each workout was similar, ie warmup with 1000 of easy pulling, then a 2-3k hard main set, then an easy 100cd. Some favorite main sets:
-15x200 on 3:00, hold 2:45, every 3rd with paddles
-2x10x100 best effort on 1:30, then 10x100 smooth with paddles
-5x400 best effort on 6:00, evens with paddles
-50x50 with paddles, odds easy evens hard
-3x(600 strong aerobic, 3x100 with paddles)
-3x(300/250/100/75) round 3 with paddles
-4x200, 4x150, 4x100, 4x50, 4th rep is with paddles each round
-3x400, 3x300, 3x200, 3x100, last rep of each round is with paddles
That should hold you over for a while. **I found that while pulling I could go harder much more often than when swimming normally, so don’t be afraid to really throw down on your swim workouts. Also, only pulling will let you hit the bike pretty hard. **Lastly, learn flip turns if you haven’t already. Open turns with a buoy are a pain.
That’s weird as i’ve found just the opposite: when i swim full-stroke and keep an even balance of pulling and kicking sets, i find i recover better and can be more consistent than when i do pull-heavy workouts. My theory is that b/c i’m more evenly distributing the load between upper and lower body, i don’t get as muscle-tired as i would just pulling. Obv the overall aerobic fatigue is pretty much the same, but less muscle-specific fatigue.
I think it works that way for me because I have very large legs (always have). Maybe since my legs are bigger, the fuel requirement to keep them running full throttle is extra high? I’m not sure. Also, without using so much oxygen to power my legs, I can go much harder with my upper body/pull and not go into as much oxygen debt.
While undergoing 2 separate knee surgeries in 2 years time I did swim but tethering myself to the wall with a stretch cord. Boring as hell, but effective and also you find weak spots in your stroke. You may be as I was, as wall pushoffs may be more damaging than the kicking.
I think it works that way for me because I have very large legs (always have). Maybe since my legs are bigger, the fuel requirement to keep them running full throttle is extra high? I’m not sure. Also, without using so much oxygen to power my legs, I can go much harder with my upper body/pull and not go into as much oxygen debt.
Hmmm, interesting point, never thought about that but i do have relatively long, skinny runner legs, vs it sounds like you have “big biker legs”
Since your workouts are going to be “pull-only” for a while, I would avoid loading up too much on extra paddle sets… no sense in adding an overuse injury to your shoulder to couple with the injured foot.
When I was a real swimmer and injured my knee I had to do about a month of pull only workouts.
I would recommend adding some backstroke pull periodically to change up the workload on your rotator cuff.
something like…
800 warmup 2 x (100 free 50 back 100 free 50 back 100 free)
400 build
3 x 50 backstroke ez
4 x 100 pull descending
50 backstroke ez
4 x 100 pull fast
50 backstroke ez
6 x 50 pull (ez-fast, fast-ez, fast-fast x 2)
50 backstroke ez
4 x 150 w/ paddles odds build, evens fast
100 backstroke ez
400 ez (100 free 50 back 100 free 50 back 100 free)
3,700