This has been something I've wondered the last few years. I used to be a college swimmer, fit and trim, but the 10 years since then I've drank my fair share of beer and ate plenty of cheeseburgers. Just curious what peoples' take is on how much the extra baggage really effects swim races.
I don't really fit the swimmer mold anymore. I'm 31, 6'2", and 270lbs with a huge beer gut. I got some strange looks since the meet i was in recently was a USAS meet and I outweighed my competition by 100lbs in many cases. My first race in about 5 years i went 23.4 in the 50y free. I didn't expect to be that fast at this weight but at the same time I almost wonder if the added intertia is helping me more on the start and turns. Followed it up with a low 52 in the 100y free but I had a horrible reaction on the start and incorrect pacing. I think if i raced again today that'd be deep in the 51 range. For reference, typical non-taper times for me in college were in the low-mid 22 range at just a tick over 200lbs but I was obviously a lot stronger, younger, and doing a TON more yards at the time, that's why it makes me wonder just how much the weight is actually holding me back.
How much time do you think I stand to drop if i were 50lbs lighter? Could it be a measurable difference or something just slight? I guess I ask that to see if it'd be worth my while to drop that much weight quickly by dieting in addition to the swimming i'm doing. I don't really like dieting, and i generally eat what I want, when i want. Not gorging myself at every meal doesn't really seem to fit into my lifestyle :blush: Anyone have a similar story? "I dropped XX lbs and went XX seconds faster because of it."
Maybe it's an immeasurable, but I thought I'd ask for opinion anyway. I'm hoping it doesn't turn into a "to diet or not to diet" discussion though.
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Former Member
Hi Michael, (qbrain)
The power needed to overcome drag is proportional to the cube of velocity so the velocity drop off with a larger cross section is not as large as if you just multiply the velocity by the ratio of areas. I think it works out that with the same power the larger swimmer would finish in about 24 sec versus the 21.7 for the slimmer swimmer. Of course I'm notoriously bad at simple arithmetic so best to double check.
v(large) ^3 = v(slim) ^3 / ratio_of_areas.
Going purely on memory I believe surface drag is relatively insignificant, despite the prominence with which suit manufacturers advertise reductions thereof.
Sorry, I took your proportional comment incorrectly and didn't think through my 40%.
I came up with 24.3s so I think you did the math right, and I came up with the same formula that you did.
This still bothers me. fmracing should be no faster than 24.3s, and my area estimates were conservative, since fmracing is built more like a circle now and probably more like a rectangle at 200lbs. This would increase the ratio_of_areas and make the estimated fat time even slower.
Fat Man, I am probably not the first to tell you this, but you are too fast.
Something is missing. I fully expect an idealized model to predict a Master swimmer to be faster than they actually are based on their college times, unless the Master's swimmer is in similar shape they were in during college. The physics of drag does not account for age and decreased training.
I am trying to use less math in my posts.
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Former Member
Hi Michael, (qbrain)
The power needed to overcome drag is proportional to the cube of velocity so the velocity drop off with a larger cross section is not as large as if you just multiply the velocity by the ratio of areas. I think it works out that with the same power the larger swimmer would finish in about 24 sec versus the 21.7 for the slimmer swimmer. Of course I'm notoriously bad at simple arithmetic so best to double check.
v(large) ^3 = v(slim) ^3 / ratio_of_areas.
Going purely on memory I believe surface drag is relatively insignificant, despite the prominence with which suit manufacturers advertise reductions thereof.
Sorry, I took your proportional comment incorrectly and didn't think through my 40%.
I came up with 24.3s so I think you did the math right, and I came up with the same formula that you did.
This still bothers me. fmracing should be no faster than 24.3s, and my area estimates were conservative, since fmracing is built more like a circle now and probably more like a rectangle at 200lbs. This would increase the ratio_of_areas and make the estimated fat time even slower.
Fat Man, I am probably not the first to tell you this, but you are too fast.
Something is missing. I fully expect an idealized model to predict a Master swimmer to be faster than they actually are based on their college times, unless the Master's swimmer is in similar shape they were in during college. The physics of drag does not account for age and decreased training.
I am trying to use less math in my posts.
