Originally Posted by jennings780
I have a question about this as well. My first tri is June 19th, 500m swim, 21M bike and 5M run. When I swim 1500yrds, my pace for the first 500yrds is about 8:45. So, 500m should be about 9:40. I suppose if I swim at a race pace I could do 500yrds in about 8:15 or about 9:10 or so for 500m.
This is in a 25yrd pool. How do those times translate over to the triathlon? My first two tri's are in pools. The third is olympic distance in a lake. Is it realistic to shoot for 9:00 - 9:15 for 500m? Or are things too congested at the actual event? How about at the lake? Is it realistic to shoot for 20 minutes for a 1000m swim in a lake if that's my pace in the pool?
If you hold that 8:45/500-yard pace for the full 1500 yards, then 8:15 for 500 yards is probably doable. And in a triathlon you should probably shoot for a time just a bit higher. I raced 500 yards at a masters swim meet a couple of weeks ago and swam it in 6:46. Last Sunday I did a triathlon with a 500 yard pool swim and did it in 6:56. The triathlon didn't have a dive start, and we swam two per lane so there were more waves, and I didn't give it all I had for the swim finish.
For yards to meters, multiply by about 1.1. *BUT* if it is SCY (25 yard pool) to LCM (50 meter pool), you have to take into account that there will be fewer turns and pushes off the wall. I usually add 1 second for each turn lost. So 500 SCY to 500 LCM multiply by 1.1 and add 10 seconds.
For open water, it gets even more complicated. First there's the "no-wall" factor which would be about 40 seconds slower compared to 1000 SCY. And then you could have waves, wind, you could swim off course, the water could be really cold and other factors that may slow you down. But then you may get a bit of a draft, you may be wearing a wetsuit, the swim may be in saltwater (increased buoyancy means less drag) and other factors that may speed you up. I would be conservative and add at least a minute or two to your pool time.