Something odd is going on with my swimming. At home I normally swim in a 25M pool (it really is 25M, not yards). I am overseas for work for a month in Tbilisi, Georgia, and was able to find a pretty nice 50M pool.
But there is one problem - I am a solid 10-12 seconds slower per 100M in the 50M pool. I know I should expect to be maybe 2-3 seconds slower per 100M in long-course vs. short-course meters, but this seems like a lot. I at first chalked it up to needing to adjust to having less rest for my arms due to having fewer flip turns, but I’ve done 5x3,000’ish workouts now over the past 12 days and same story every time. The thing is I feel great - my form feels pretty spot-on, and I train using a wetronome so I am maintaining the same stroke rate I normally do. My running and biking over here feel great, so I am not sick. This leaves three possibilities I can think of:
My form somehow dramatically deteriorated for no apparent reason and I lost all sense of RPE
The pool is mismeasured and longer than 50M (would not surprise me given that the pool was built in Soviet times and the fact that my times are pretty reliably off by the same exact amount every workout)
My form somehow dramatically deteriorated for no apparent reason and I lost all sense of RPE
If that’s true it’s purely psychological.
The pool is mismeasured and longer than 50M (would not surprise me given that the pool was built in Soviet times and the fact that my times are pretty reliably off by the same exact amount every workout)
Possible. It’s also possible that your regular 25m pool is short. Have you measured either pool? Tape measures are widely available (even in Eastern Europe).
Just so you know the gym I belong to (and actually go to 4 or 5 times a year) has a pool that is said to be 20 yards. They even say it’s 20 yards on their website. I measured it. It’s 16 yards. I called them on it and my false advertising complaint went way up the chain. I was told they measure it diagonally. Sure enough, it’s 20 yards on the diagonal.
I suddenly turned into a giant pussy
This is the most likely possibility. It’s probably true regardless of the other 2 options.
Here are some other things to think about. What’s the time difference there? 11 hours? Maybe you just haven’t adjusted yet.
Tbilisi can be as much as 2,000 feet above sea level. Not very high but could be a contributing factor if you live really low.
How’s the air quality there? All of the cities where I stayed in Russia had horrific smog. That’ll slow you down.
How has you diet changed over there? Too much borscht and vodka? Are you getting enough water? The tap water in Stavropol was reddish yellow and bottled water wasn’t always easy to find. Vodka doesn’t hydrate as well as water.
My guess is it isn’t any one thing, but a combination of these (and other) factors.
I was thinking it could be something like the food or the horrible air quality, but the thing is my biking and running feel great. My running is actually the best it’s ever been and I am running outside in the smog. And I’ve been able to eat healthy, similarly to how I eat in the US. The only change is you can’t get whole grains over here really - just that awesome black bread.
I am feeling like the pool is measured wrong - I’ll just have to buy a tape measure and check myself. Given the weird things people do at the pool here I don’t think anyone would even notice.
I was thinking it could be something like the food or the horrible air quality, but the thing is my biking and running feel great. My running is actually the best it’s ever been and I am running outside in the smog. And I’ve been able to eat healthy, similarly to how I eat in the US. The only change is you can’t get whole grains over here really - just that awesome black bread.
I am feeling like the pool is measured wrong - I’ll just have to buy a tape measure and check myself. Given the weird things people do at the pool here I don’t think anyone would even notice.
Maybe all of the things mentioned are a factor and you are running/cycling too hard for the conditions (I can push it way harder running and biking than I can swimming) and you’re to trashed to swim fast?
Another thing I just thought of, are doing a group workout (master swim) at home and swimming on your own in Georgia? I can’t go nearly as hard when I don’t have someone tickling my feet.
There are also “fast” pools and “slow” pools - things like water depth, type of lane ropes, how the edge of the pool dissipates reflections, all make a difference to your times. It might not make a lot of difference, but added onto the other factors it might help explain things. Also if one pool is in the open air, wind can make the water slightly choppy which would slow you down.
I swam in one pool where I was consistently 2secs per 25m faster in one direction than the other - there was a strong vent at one wall, so I moved to the next lane and the difference went away.
Interesting. I always feel like I am swimming up hill in one direction of the pool I swim in. Never thought of the vent.
They are building a pretty large aquatic center here and I cannot WAIT, but I wondered how the 50m pool would play out compared to the 25 yd one I am using now. I might report back
I actually had the reverse happen to me. I’m a pretty new swimmer, and when I started to ‘seriously’ swim train, was doing it in a 50m pool. I was very slow to begin with, but felt like I improved a lot, and was still around 1:55/100m, and everyone and their sister on BT told me I must have ‘major form issues’ which simply was not true, as 3 coaches checked me out and said only minor corrections.
I was too new to realize the differences were significant between 25yds vs meters vs long course pools.
Then, I joined a friend in a 25yd pool and would have been convinced the pool was mismeasured short, had not their local competitive teams done their swim meets there. My times, while still not fast, were much more in line with a respectable beginner-early intermediate swimmer, like 1:35-1:40/100yds. Felt like I was cheating, which I guess it kind of is when you go to short course pools.
don’t underestimate the small rest and the push off the wall every 25 meters. I have noticed a similar thing when I switch pools as well.
I like this theory. It sounds like you’re an accomplished swimmer and, assume, make powerful, efficient turns. I’m going to start packing my Leica laser range finder when I travel in former Soviet block countries.
Anything is possible. The pool I use during the summer is at a bible camp (open to the public in the early mornings for lap swim) the lane lines on the bottom are under the lane ropes. (Really) It does seem to be about 25yds long though…
