estimating swim time?
 

I'm running my first sprint ever this week, and have no idea how to estimate a 400m swim time. Let's say I'm slow as heck - what kind of range would you give, do you think?

Have you done any laps in a pool? How long does it take you to do one lap (up and back) in a 25 yard pool? What kind of shape are you in? Is the swim in a lake? In the ocean?

Just a blind guess??? Slow as heck -- 25-30 minutes

What's the event? We need details man!!! Good Luck!

aikigreg: Can you swim down and back in 1 minute? If so that's 2 minutes per 100 or 8 minutes for your 400. You're probably better to guess a slower time than faster one.

cjbruin: Tell me about your avatar - when is it, etc.

I'm actually a good swimmer - been swimming all my life, swim at home in my pool all summer but I'm detrained in the swimming motion at the moment. All winter long I wrestle and weightlift, and I've kept it up this spring. My shoulders are physically better than they have ever been, and I'm 20 pounds lighter than I have ever been, but still detrained in the swimming motion.

The event is the Tom Landry triathalon. 400m in a pool, 33km bike, 5k run.

Thanks for the well wishes!

I was thinking about that one as well, but decided to put it off in place of more training. I was also thinking about the Benbrook Sprint this weekend, but didn't for the same reason...

Have any other races planned in the DFW metroplex anytime soon? It would be cool to meet some of the guys on the forum!!!

RT

So long as I make it through this one, I have no problems doing more. I plan to actually. I'd be happy to have a partner in crime, since I train by myself, when I train :). Mostly I do a lot of biking and lifting weights, and trying to run a couple days a week when I have the energy. It's all very haphazard at the moment.

400 m in a pool...with your experience...Sounds like sub-10 minutes to me.

The Honu is a Half-IM on the Big Island of Hawaii. It's in and around the Mauna Lani resort on the Kohala Coast (Kona side of the island). Last year (its first) it was an olympic length but this year they stepped it up to Half IM and made it a Kona Qualifier (that's not why I want to do it). This year it's on June 5th, I couldn't do a half by then without killing myself so the plan is for next year.

I've been thinking about it for a while as some friends of mine have a very nice condo at the Mauna Lani that they let my wife and I use.

I definitely want to do at least one half next year and I'm thinking Ralph's might be too early. June gives me more time but the heat and winds in Kona can be pretty brutal.

Slow as heck...I'm estimate 8 minutes. I swim 300 in just under 6 minutes and that's a relatively slow pace, nice and easy for me. Just hop in the pool and see how long it takes you to do 16 lengths. Tom Landry eigh? Where abouts in DFW do you train? I'm training for the Benbrook tri on My 1st. My run still stinks but I'm working on it. Looks like I'll be walking a good deal of it...but I"m not worried about it.

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.

Your not estimating marathon times here. Swim the 8mins or so and find out.

I have the same question. I am swimming a 200m pool swim in a triathlon in 2 weeks. The swim will be in a 50m pool. Currently I swim in a 25m pool, and I have timed 200m at 4 minutes, but that was within the context of my workout. Should I estimate 4 minutes, faster or slower, since there are fewer turns, but at the same time, I don't really want to blow it out?
The instructions are to pass only at the walls, and if you need to be passed, you have to wait at the wall for the other person to pass you. So, if I guess too fast, I will waste time at the wall waiting for passers.

You don't want to leave the pool with too high of a heart rate. Put the 4min training time down and if your faster on race day its just a bonus.

BTW in a 200m swim there will little to no passing even if the paces are a lil different. It takes time to build up even a 25m lead.

Hey Greg! I swim in my off-season in a 25yd pool, and average about 1:20 per hundred yards. Meters are a little longer, figure maybe 1:45 per hundred meters, or 2 minutes for 'slower than heck.' That's seven or eight minutes.

Thanks for the advice! Sounds wise to me.

From what I have found, I have a little bit faster swim open water then in a pool. I almost dont kick at all in a race(wetsuit is boyent enough for me) so in a pool if I do a 15min 1000m I would expect about 14 mins open water.

Open water you usually come out of the water in better condition beacue you can fall into a rythem and keep it there. Turns stop that rythem, so you have to work more to get back into it.

For this distance...400m, I do it in 5:30, so ya i say 7-8 minutes ish for a slower swimmer