Only one day to swim...

Not sure how much use swimming in a 15 yard pool will do you, what about a pool trainer? It's basically a bit of rubber you tie to your legs or waist and it provides resistance allowing you to swim without moving, ideal for small pools. And when you do go to the Olympic pool, do a long session. Really you need to be swimming 3 times a week, but as long as you can swim 1500m straight without struggling you will be fine.

That really depends on where you are now. If your not a good swimmer you can make gains in the short pool, but still go to the other pool once a week.
If you are a good swimmer already, I would say just go to the big pool most of the time. You could still do some workouts in the 15 yard pool. I'm thinking kick sets with a little swimming in there to break things up.

I only swim once or twice a week anyway, but I have a swim background and can get away with putting in less time in the pool.

You can also use the short pool for lots of drills. I've done this when traveling (hotel pool maybe 10 y long). It wasn't ideal, but you can do good balance work and kick drills.

It depends on your swim background. If you're a weak swimmer, I'm guessing you could still get in some useful training in a 15 meter pool, esp. technique work, kicking, etc. If you're a strong swimmer already (sounds like you might be if by "turning over" you mean flip turns), then maybe it would be of limited use. I've occasionally been stuck with pretty small hotel pools when traveling--one solution is swim cords; failing that, you can do a lot of butterfly and IM work. Even a little fly gets the HR up pretty fast! Don't know what your comfort level is with that, though. I'll sometimes do workouts where I'll alternate so many minutes/laps of each stroke, plus kicking, pulling, and some technique work, if stuck with a small pool.

I'd make the most of the bigger pool when you do go and do your longer sets there, with the occasional longer, continuous swim to develop endurance and figure out pacing for your race distance. Do as much yardage as you can without your form breaking down.

At any rate, as long as you can swim the distance confidently, I wouldn't worry too much. If you look at some of the monthly totals threads, there are quite a few people, even pretty accomplished athletes, who put in astonishingly little time on the swim. It may not be ideal, but as long as you can finish comfortably, you should be okay.

Random thought- is there a lake somewhere that you can consider swimming in? If you could get a lake session in once a week or every other week, then a session in the longer pool and then maybe supplement that with the little pool, you would be nicely prepared. Might not be possible though.

ETA: Kansas is probably too cold to swim outside now though!! Maybe in a couple of months this might work.

Edited by louiskie 2014-03-04 10:37 AM

I'm totally understand! I live 45 miles from the closest indoor/heated pool, right now I'm training for IMTX in May and I'm swimming once a week. I plan to start swimming twice a week in April. My coach has me do a long swim and she incorporates some speed sets.