Long Course Swim Speed Versus Short Course

griffin100

A quick question for those of you who swim both long and short course. Until now I did all of my swimming in a 20m pool and have a set of 100m times and beyond from that swimming that gives me an indication of swim fitness. Now however I've started to do my training in a 50m pool and I've nothing to compare my times from a long course pool to. I've heard that a short course swim is a few seconds quicker per 100m than long course. Anyone got any experience of this? I'd like to know how I compare swim speed wise to this time last year.

couerdelion

griffin100 wrote: »

A quick question for those of you who swim both long and short course. Until now I did all of my swimming in a 20m pool and have a set of 100m times and beyond from that swimming that gives me an indication of swim fitness. Now however I've started to do my training in a 50m pool and I've nothing to compare my times from a long course pool to. I've heard that a short course swim is a few seconds quicker per 100m than long course. Anyone got any experience of this? I'd like to know how I compare swim speed wise to this time last year.

Yep, my 50m times are about 2-3 seconds slower per length over 800m in a TT (compared to 25m). NAC varies its format and everyone in the swim sessions prefers short course.

ray o

couerdelion wrote: »

NAC varies its format and everyone in the swim sessions prefers short course.

Not me, I can't keep count

I prefer 50m - less congestion in the lane and I feel more time spent swimming. Altough I am getting in some 25m swims to practise drowning tumble turns. I am not yet seeing any difference in my 100m times between the two formats but that is probably due to my very bad tumble turns....I'll stick with it though.

interested

griffin100 wrote: »

A quick question for those of you who swim both long and short course. Until now I did all of my swimming in a 20m pool and have a set of 100m times and beyond from that swimming that gives me an indication of swim fitness. Now however I've started to do my training in a 50m pool and I've nothing to compare my times from a long course pool to. I've heard that a short course swim is a few seconds quicker per 100m than long course. Anyone got any experience of this? I'd like to know how I compare swim speed wise to this time last year.

yep, based on the depth and volume of water the times vary. Oly pools and oly qualifying pools have to adhere to a fairly lengthy set of requirements defined by FINA.
As a rough **guide** you could try http://www.pullbuoy.co.uk/times (see 'All Pool Lengths' tab).
Moving from 20m to 50m pool will only do you good for ow swimming and swimming in general, but it can take some time to get used to.

pgibbo

I got to swim for a week in a 50m pool lately and loved it. Times were definitely a few seconds slower per 100 but it's much better than a 25m. I also got to swim in a 33m pool and that was just head wrecking for sets - it meant having to swim 132 rather than 100 to get back to pull buoy, etc

BTH

pgibbo wrote: »

I got to swim for a week in a 50m pool lately and loved it. Times were definitely a few seconds slower per 100 but it's much better than a 25m. I also got to swim in a 33m pool and that was just head wrecking for sets - it meant having to swim 132 rather than 100 to get back to pull buoy, etc

Where was this? I went to a 33.3m pool in Brussels earlier this year, but the thing was jammers with breast strokers so I went for a run instead. Can imagine it being a bit of a head wrecker.

interested

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Where was this? I went to a 33.3m pool in Brussels earlier this year, but the thing was jammers with breast strokers so I went for a run instead. Can imagine it being a bit of a head wrecker.

At a guess Glenalbyn, Stillorgan. Had to train there years ago for a spell. As above - head wrecker. Good masters session there in the mornings from what I know.


edit - doh, pgibbo in Dublin ? maybe not Its not December yet I guess.

pgibbo

Funny lad!!!!! :D:D

It was in London. The 50 was an outdoor Lido too. Class setup and cheap as chips. :cool:

griffin100

yep, based on the depth and volume of water the times vary. Oly pools and oly qualifying pools have to adhere to a fairly lengthy set of requirements defined by FINA.
As a rough **guide** you could try http://www.pullbuoy.co.uk/times (see 'All Pool Lengths' tab).
Moving from 20m to 50m pool will only do you good for ow swimming and swimming in general, but it can take some time to get used to.

Cheers for that. I haven't swam regularly in almost 9 months so I finding it difficult to compare current times in the 50m pool to last years times in the 20m pool. Swimming in the 50m is certainly tougher, it's amazing how much difference the little break you get every time you turn and push off the wall helps you in the shorter pool. I found the 50m pool very tough at the start given that I hadn't swam in so long but I'm starting to get used to it, less lengths to count is a bonus (76 lengths as opposed to 190 in the 20m pool for a full IM swim - not that I'm anywhere near that yet).

interested

pgibbo wrote: »

Funny lad!!!!! :D:D

It was in London. The 50 was an outdoor Lido too. Class setup and cheap as chips. :cool:

Hey, anytime yep, swimming in other countries makes you realise ... again .. how much we're getting fleeced here for pay-as-you-go swims. I'd an entertaining swim in a oly size outdoor pool in Hong Kong a few years ago - it was about a euro for as long as I wanted. Kids thought I was Chewy from star wars so I had to leave due to the amount of autographs I was signing.

BTH

interested wrote: »

Hey, anytime yep, swimming in other countries makes you realise ... again .. how much we're getting fleeced here for pay-as-you-go swims. I'd an entertaining swim in a oly size outdoor pool in Hong Kong a few years ago - it was about a euro for as long as I wanted. Kids thought I was Chewy from star wars so I had to leave due to the amount of autographs I was signing.

:pac::pac:
Almost as good as Tunneys high-heels line yesterday. :pac:

griffin100

it was about a euro for as long as I wanted. Kids thought I was Chewy from star wars so I had to leave due to the amount of autographs I was signing.

Could hav been worse, if it was Vietnam or Korea they would have tried to eat you :pac:

interested

griffin100 wrote: »

Could hav been worse, if it was Vietnam or Korea they would have tried to eat you :pac:

Think they were just shocked at a swimming wookie but its a fair point. In truth, I stumbled upon the place in the centre of the city surrounded by all weather footie pitches and tennis courts (that were free for public use) and it was only a token amount to pay for pool access. No doubt it was a throw back to colonial rule, but giving pretty much free access to the public in an oly size outdoor pool in a city like that was brilliant. Half the pool was lane swimming, with people adhering to pace lanes (shocking ) and the other half was divided about 6 ways with pods of kids in (wearing coloured waterpolo hats) of various stages of learning to swim.

Anyhow, certainly off topic.

shotgunmcos

I definitely found a difference, going the other way 50m to 25m. I swim at the UL arena and its a 50m pool with about 4m depth for most of it. For a couple of months last year I started swimming with a masters group at lunchtime in a shallow 25m pool. I was fairly impressed at my sudden improvement in swim splits. So much so that when I went back to the 50m I felt like I was swimming in treacle for a while . I definitely noticed something that I couldn't put my finger on about the feeling of the depth of the water too.

interested

http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=366:fr-3-swimming-pools-for-olympic-games-and-world-championships&catid=88:facilities-rules&Itemid=184


depth, light intensity, water temp - all defined by FINA.

Of course if you talk to DD - 'short course' in the U.S is 25 yard pools and 'long course' 50 metres. From the little I know its divided into seasons for each.

Kurt Godel

griffin100 wrote: »

A quick question for those of you who swim both long and short course. Until now I did all of my swimming in a 20m pool and have a set of 100m times and beyond from that swimming that gives me an indication of swim fitness. Now however I've started to do my training in a 50m pool and I've nothing to compare my times from a long course pool to. I've heard that a short course swim is a few seconds quicker per 100m than long course. Anyone got any experience of this? I'd like to know how I compare swim speed wise to this time last year.

I noticed a flyer on the noticeboard at the local pool today, it had qualification standards for kids at various distances. One that stood out was (U12 boys?) a 6:00 min 400m free LC, or 5:53 400m free SC, so almost 2 seconds difference per 100m. Of course, that may just apply to kids who would have less kick-off, I imagine, but its a tangible figure.