I say 850 yards or 34 lengths. Some say 36. I know this seems stupid, but I am totally confused…
What do you guys do?
a mile is 1650 yards? mabe? that’s what we always called a mile.
so, do 825 yards. so 33 laps.
or maybe a mile is 5280 ft or 1760 yards or 70.4 lengths of a 25 yard pool.
1/2 mile is just over 35 lengths in a 25 yard pool.
-mike
a “real mile” is 1760 yards. In swimming they swim 1650 yards and call it a mile sometimes.
I would swim 34 lengths of the pool and call it good. 850 yards actually.
35 lengths.
(Fix your sig, buddy. It’s Normann 
)
**What do you guys do? **
Half mile= 880 yards
I round up and do 36 laps=900 yards.
The maths works out to 35.2, and being the lazy sod I am I do 35 and take the bonus.
I agree with vitus979 with the 36 thing.
I think the confusion comes from metres vs. yards. It’s likely that most competition pools, even in the US, are 25 mtres, not 25 yards, which would then go back to the 32 or 33 lengths/1/2 mile. The metric pool is about 10% longer than the non-metric.
36 lengths (18 laps) and then I know I’ve done it.
What does your Garmin say?
- There is at least one upside to swimming in 25m pools.
why swim a 0.5 mile TT? just swim 1000 yards and call it a TT. the math is easier.
The US is one of the few places where SCY (25 yd.) pools are common. Most high school pools are going to be SCY. LCM ‘Olympic’ pools (50m) are few and far between, although many summer league pools are SCM (25m).
In SCY swimming, the distance event is the 1650, commonly referred to the mile. It is very similar in distance to the 1500m (L/SCM).
A lot of U.S. pools – including the one where I swim – are 50m x 25yds. I hate that, because you have to change from metric to statute units when they switch from long course to short course. So stupid.
As a former competetive swimmer, I can’t bring myself to do any time trials for distances other than the standard race distances. So I’d do a 1000 yd swim or an 800 meter swim. I then figure out my average pace per 100 and use that as a basis to predict an open water swim, if that is what you’re after.
Because of turns, the fact you are swimming straight, without a wetsuit and probably not getting kicked in the face, pool times are hard to convert to open water times. There is no need to wed yourself to the exact distance of the open water swim you are training for. Actually, it is a lot easier to pace yourself and analyse your results if you stick to distances that are evenly divisible by 100. The 100 yd/m pace is the bedrock of distance swimming pacing much like the mile pace is in running.
I think the confusion comes from metres vs. yards. It’s likely that most competition pools, even in the US, are 25 mtres, not 25 yards, which would then go back to the 32 or 33 lengths/1/2 mile. The metric pool is about 10% longer than the non-metric. **Actually, since all HS and almost all college meets are in yards, I think that most American competition pools are in yards. I have rarely swum in a metric pool. **
I swim in one 25m pool and one 25y X 50m pool which can be laid out either way.
So, who cares how many you count as a mile. I just call it out in meters or yds.
FYI: the 1,650 yard distance is the closest ‘american’ approximation (only about 10 ft too long) to the 1,500 meter distance.
I was trying to do a comparison to open water performances and see where I am at fitness wise.
Ultimately though, you’re right. It’s wet and you have to pull your way through it.
If I am swimming between 500 to 800 yard repeats in a 25 yard pool at a comfortable pace, then I am swimming about 5 to 10 seconds faster per 100 yards than I am in the swim leg of a triathlon. I don’t wear a wetsuit to race, and I swam competitively for 12 years so my flip turns are reasonably good for a triathlete. So, if turns are so-so and you race in a wetsuit, then I would guess you are probably be going about the same speed in open water and in a pool. Or at least close enough to give you a rough approximation of fitness. Or my one person sample is completely meaningless.