Real runners swim

In my ongoing plight to find fulfilling cross training to supplement my lack of running, I'm falling more and more in love with swimming. Today I worked legs and core with the kickboard alternating between laps doing breaststroke and freestyle (freestyle is hard!). Here's the drill:

• 2 laps breaststroke
• 1 lap kickboard
• 2 laps breastroke
• 2 lap freestyle
• 2 laps breaststroke
• 1 lap freestyle
• Stretch
• Plank
• Home for a giant dinner
  

I'm confident swimming will stick when I take my workouts back to the trails. It's helping with my breathing now, but I can already feel my already faulty IT band grooving back into place. Current injuries aside, here's an interesting data-point from Runner's World: "Runners who swim regularly may recover from their road miles faster than landlubbers do." An even older article in Runner's World notes lap swimming is effective cross training because it "helps you maintain cardiorespiratory fitness while simultaneously strengthening and soothing your body."