I had a curious thing happen this past weekend and I thought I would solicit input from foks.
My times in LCM events this past weekend were slightly slower than the same event times last fall in a SCM meet. I find it hard to believe I am slower as the meet a year ago was my first one ever and I had only just returned to swimming. However, I was so nervous that maybe the andrenaline gave me extra power, who knows.
My question for y'all is what factors (external to those of my own ability) could cause this? The outdoor pool was relatively shallow (going from 5'6" to 4') and it was hot (84 degrees+). The indoor pool of last fall was cool and much deeper.
I am holding out hope that there is some reason other than I just blew it this past weekend. Thank you for your input.
Former Member
I've played with some of those conversion tools, and I have found that they generate a difference of at least 2 seconds per 100 meters; in some races it's more, A LOT MORE.
I'd say that if your LCM times are only slightly slower than your previous SCM times, you have shown very substantial improvement.
Matt
My experience has been that LCM and SCM events are two ENTIRELY different animals. Trying to compare, by one-size-fits-all calculation, times swum in, say, a 200 SCM event with the "same" 200 LCM event is pure folly.
I have yet to see a calculation that takes into account such things as 1) how good your turning skills are, 2) how good your underwater/breakout skills are, 3) how good your hypoxic conditioning is, 4) how you are affected by WIDELY differing macro-rhythms of the event, 5) how much you might be affected by the fact you typically train in a different course (LCM or SCM) than the event you are swimming. All of these are essential pieces of whether and how times swum in the two courses might be corelated. Plus, even if there was such a calculation, these things are hard to quantify so as to plug them into said calculation.
Better to learn, through experience, how YOUR OWN performances might differ from course to course. It will be different than that of the next guy.
If you look at the conversion table for the three different courses (SCY, SCM, LCM) you'll note that LCM times are slower, due to fewer turns, than SCM.
Thanks for the input and advice. I knew I was swimming better but those calculators made me blue and dejected.
Now, is there any validity to pool temperature affecting times? I've heard pools will drop their temps significantly for major events and was wondering if this is conducive to better times.
Please don't think I'm trying to make excuses here. I know that practice, practice and more good practice is the one major factor in improvement. Just wondering about the peripheral items.
I think Emmett hits it with 25 vs 50 are very different. I've found it many times can simply come down to personal preference of what works for the individual swimmer. I prefer 50 meter swimming over 25 anyday. I have much better times swimming in a 50 meter pool. I only found that out when I joined a pool with convertible bulkheads that has it set at 50 meters about 1/3 of the year.
