Anyone who may have been following some of my “newbie” post - I have another question.
I’m purely a self taught swimmer…started only a few months ago. From threads and advise here on ST and recommended Utube videos, I think my “form” is pretty decent for 3 monhs work, although no video for an outside review so I could just be kidding myself. The “Mr Smooth” video this week helped me a bit with my “fingers down” on the catch…now I need to work on my dead spots. I feel I can hold my form for 2500 now.
So my question is…since I’m always swimmming alone and not planning on competing until next season so I really have no idea how my speed is coming along. I just started some interval work last week and increasing my long swim day to 2500.
What is a decent pool swim 100m lap time when swimming 2500?
During yesterday swim I kept track of my lap times (50m) for 50 laps and most laps (60%) were within 1 sec of each other, 35% within 2 secs and a handfull of laps 3-4 secs faster than the average. So, what is a “decent” middle of the road time I should be ok with?
Just to confirm…you’re swimming in a 50m pool, long course and if so here’s my response.
Holding 1:15 per 100 for 2500 would really impressive and you’d be out front of your age group.
Holding 1:25 per 100 for 2500 would be very good and you’d be in the front pack of your age group swim.
Holding 1:30-1:40 per 100 for 2500 would be decent (there, we got to your question).
Holding 1:45 - 2:00 would be…dare I say it…fairly typical for MOP
Holding 2-2:30 would be on the slow side of things.
Holding 12 minutes per 100 means that you are likely at the back of the 60+ age group and swimming against the current in the Black Warrior River at Age Group National Championship, Tuscaloosa, Alabama August 22, 2009.
So…you tracked your 100m splits on that swim…what was your fastest, your slowest and your average?
1:15 in practice over 25 100s is ridiculous in practice. hed probably be beating pros.
thats close to a 1 07ish in yrds and i bet 99.5 pct of slowtwitch couldnt hold that in practice over 25 repetitions.
anyways, to the OP, youre asking the wrong question. what training program will allow me to reasonably hit my season potential without injury. VO2max, threshold, easy/long, recovery, are the 4 weapons of distance athletes.
If you want to improve, a decent time is a bit faster than you went last week
Seriously, its impossible to define a generic “decent” time for an individual. Even for full time competitive swimmers, decent for one swimmer may mean making an Olympic trials cut while for someone else, it means just not getting lapped. A triatlete my be aiming to be FOP at a major race or just not being last out of the water at a local race. Either can be concidered “decent” depending on individual talent and goals.
One way to benchmark yourself is take your time for your 2500m swim, calculate a per 100m pace then dig up some triathlon results on the web and see how that pace would place you in the swim.
That would be a great idea…if you could count on the accuracy of swim course measurements. Which you can’t.
As for holding 1:15s per hundred, that’s actually not as fast as you might think and easy enough for anyone will a fairly decent swim background. (I can do it and rarely get in more than 12,000 yds a week, well below the 50,000 I got in college.) But, yes, you would be beating the pros who were relatively poor swimmers… The most ‘decent’ time for an individual is as fast as they can go without tanking the rest of their race. Comparing to others is possible, but it won’t make you any faster or slower…
Pool length is 25 (but now that I think about it, not sure if it M or yards - guess I better find out) so I’m timing 50m (2 x25m) x 50 laps
I’d say my “average” 50m was running 56-57 sec with a handfull of 54’s and slowest was a few 58’s
So looks like I’m in the: “Holding 1:45 - 2:00 would be…dare I say it…fairly typical for MOP”
Which is fine by me for now with my swim experience, it gives me an idea where I currently stand and that I need to work on speeding up my swim times.
If you are not using a wetsuit, your lake + wetsuit times will be a lot faster.
For me it is about a factor of 0.75. Either that, or the pool is meters (not yards) , or the swim courses are way short likely a combo of this + wetsuit + draft).
13 minutes (in a race) for 0.5 miles (880 yards) = 1.5 minutes per 100
880 yards in the pool = 17.6 minutes = 2 minutes per 100
I guess 1.5 minutes per 100 yards would be something like 1:38 per 100 meters.
Just to confirm…you’re swimming in a 50m pool, long course and if so here’s my response.
Holding 1:15 per 100 for 2500 would really impressive and you’d be out front of your age group.
Holding 1:25 per 100 for 2500 would be very good and you’d be in the front pack of your age group swim.
Holding 1:30-1:40 per 100 for 2500 would be decent (there, we got to your question).
**Holding 1:45 - 2:00 would be…dare I say it…fairly typical for MOP **
Holding 2-2:30 would be on the slow side of things.
Holding 12 minutes per 100 means that you are likely at the back of the 60+ age group and swimming against the current in the Black Warrior River at Age Group National Championship, Tuscaloosa, Alabama August 22, 2009.
So…you tracked your 100m splits on that swim…what was your fastest, your slowest and your average?
Ian
Haha! Man, I need to swim where you guys swim! I swim 1:48 / hundo, and I am decidedly BACK OF PACK. Not even “Eh, he’s kind of in that liminal space between medium and slow.” I’m talking, the kayaks stay with me because they expect me to give up at any moment.
One other thing to check is that you are actually swimming in a 25m pool. I hear lots of people in my pool saying that they swam 2000 meters but it is actually a 25 yard pool. Bring a measuring tape and verify it yourself, don’t take anyone’s word for it.
Or just go to the masters workout and ask one of the guys in lane 1. I can jump into any pool blind, swim two laps, and I know whether it is yds or meters…
I can jump into any pool blind, swim two laps, and I know whether it is yds or meters…
x2.
Usually swim yards, swam scm this weekend in an outdoor pool and managed to flip about two strokes early on every single back/back or back/breast turn.
**Usually swim yards, swam scm this weekend in an outdoor pool and managed to flip about two strokes early on every single back/back or back/breast turn. **
Usually swim yards, swam scm this weekend in an outdoor pool and managed to flip about two strokes early on every single back/back or back/breast turn.
er, two strokes late maybe?
No - I am accustomed to short course yards - so in a meter pool I have to take a couple extra “strokes” and 25 y is too ingrained in muscle memory… I was doing 100s IM order and IM and on the backstroke would turn over onto my stomach only to find the wall a couple feet in front of me still…
m → yds would be 2 stroke too late and hitting the wall!
