Swimming time in tri vs training

Well, working on your swim technique is always a good thing

There are many reasons a tri swim would be slower than a pool swim, ESPECIALLY if the tri is open water. OWS and pool swimming are two entirely different creatures, distance notwithstanding.

I am a strong swimmer and my OWS times are always slower than my pool times.
- no push off
- dealing with waves, currents, other swimmers
- swim courses are not a straight line

x2

For me anyway, my training times (Both Pool and Ocean) are about comparable to my race times but can easily be thrown off by a mis-measured swim course or crappy timing. (IE. Swim Exit Mats 3/4 a mile up the beach)

When looking back at my swim times, I am never that concerned with rating my swim performance but I can say this, there have been a few races where I had a crappy swim and it affected me for a good portion of the bike. (really threw off my mental game)

Seems quite stupid when I look back and realize that I was down on myself for just a few minutes difference between expectations and reality.

Comparing triathlon swims, pool swims and OWS is hard to do. I think the swim portion of an OWS and a triathlon in this day and age should be pretty accurate. A true OWS will have a timing mat right at the swim exit and give you a time that might be much closer to your pool times. Depending on the triathlon you may have to run 200 or 300 yds before you reach the timing mat so your swim split suffers.

One thing I love about IM races is the 100m buoys. Every time I passed a yellow buoy I could look down and check my pace (or 100 m split). Last year I went a 32 minutes in a 1/2 IM swim but the last 100 yds in the water you had to run then run another 200 yds to the timing mat. In my training swims for 2100 yds I was coming in around 26 minutes. In all of my 4225 yd pool swims I was coming in at 53-54 minutes. When I got to IMWI I went a 53:00 and change, I would say the pool times are a pretty good estimate of the OWS time.

In other words, yes it does make sense that your triathlon swims are slower than your pool swims.

nscrbug - 2008-08-13 8:40 PM

rstocks3 - 2008-08-13 5:57 PM In other words, yes it does make sense that your triathlon swims are slower than your pool swims.

 

If that is generally the case (and I don't doubt you)...then why have both of my tri swims been much faster than my pool swims of the same distance? For my sprint tri, I supposedly swam a 13:45 750m...yet my pool swim for that distance was NEVER below 18 minutes. For my oly tri, I supposedly swam a 33:15 1.5k...yet my pool swim for 1500m hovered around 38 minutes. The only logical reason for this would have to be mis-measured race distances...would you not agree? It just seems very unlikely that I shaved 5 minutes off my pool swim times in a race.

It looks like you are either spending waaaay too much time on the walls in the pool, not counting correctly in the pool and swimming an extra lap or the distances in the triathlons you did are incorrect. Most likely the latter.

I never try to compare my triathlon times from one race to another, there are just too many variables to consider. My point to the OP was that generally speaking , if the distances are accurate the pool times are a pretty good ESTIMATE of what your pace will be in an OWS.