14&23 wrote:Can you really overtrain from pool running? It just seems absurd to me.
Have you ever pool-run hard? It can lead to overtraining as easily as, well, running at a comparable intensity.
If your idea of pool-running is splashing around comfortably while moving your legs in a running motion, then you won't overtrain, but you won't get much aerobic benefit either. On the other hand, if you're pool running hard enough to get aerobic benefit (which generally requires doing it in fartlek form and absolutely focusing on the task), then it can be just as taxing as running.
The original question is interesting. My guess would be that, due to the principle of specificity of training, you want to do as much running as you can tolerate. And once you've done that, you need every bit of recovery you can get. So even if adding an hour of swimming would only add body stress equivalent to five minutes of running, that's still too much. (Or conversely, if you could handle five more minutes of running, you'd do that instead of the hour of swimming.)
Of course, there are lots of examples of top runners who do a fair amount of cross training because they're injury prone. But they're replacing running rather than adding to it.