All,
I will be participating in my first triathlon in more than ten years this October. The swim is 800m and I’m curious to know…how do open water race times compare to pool times? My 800m pool PR is approximately 16minutes. On race day…with a wetsuit and the ability to draft off other swimmers, can I expect to swim faster than my pool time (note that the race is slated to be held in a lake with little/no waves). Thanks in advance!
SF
that all depends on if the swim is exactly 800 meters. Usually in a tri you need to count on the swim being longer and or shorter than advertised. They might have some young punk that never used a gps dropping those bouy’s…
Can you swim a straight line in the open water? I can’t and therefore my 1500 meter swim was more like 1800 with all the zig zags…
One doesn’t want to say “never, ever” in a situation like this, - but open water is usually slower. Sometimes though, - you can get a current working for you, - big time. But mostly, - you do not swim straight in open water, you slow down to navigate, and things like waves and currents sometimes work against you. Depending on whom you draft behind, - you may not derive benefit from someone else who isn’t swimming straight. And, finally, depending on how your turns are, - one derives a speed benefit from turns pushing off the wall, - swim less, rest more…
Your speed will be influenced by all the things everyone else has mentioned, plus the fact that (if you are like 99% of us) you will probably start way too fast for the first 150 meters.
Your time, though, will be most influenced by whether the course is longer or shorter than advertised. Triathlon swims (perhaps all open water swim races? can anyone comment on the accuracy of OW swim races?) are notorious for being “roughly” the advertised distance.
Also depends on whether you are doing open or flip turns in the pool. If you freak out in open water.
Would not even think about it.
Dave
Also depends on whether you are doing open or flip turns in the pool.
Not that it matters, but can you explain where open vs. flip turns in the pool come in when you are comparing pool times to open water.
Sindre
yeah, you will be slower. first of all i have yet to find a traithlon that actually marks the swim course short. they are always long!
2nd of all you have to site and navigate and if you are fast you have to go through or around the previous wave.
3rd you are not pushing off the walls, even if you don’t do flip turns and you do open ended turns you are still pushing on the wall and when you push you travel much faster than you would if you where swimming.
4th currents and waves going in and coming out.
oh yeah and why does everybody always race to the first buoy and blow up. by the time i am at the 2nd buoy i am swimming by myself. the fast guys are ahead of me and the slow people behind me. Pace yourselves!!!
Lets see. If I do swimming in a pool, since I do open turns, I am a lot slower than folks who I swim with who do flip turns.
So, for the same distance in a pool, depending on how you do them, the times could be quite different.
So, my pool times would be slower than my open water times since I do the turns so slow.
Maybe I missed the question.
Dave
I don’t do flip-turns and I wear a wetsuit at my races. My swim times in my tris are typically slightly faster than my pool time. Sighting slows me down slightly and takes me out of my rhythm because I’m not very experienced. Hope that’s helpful.