yesterday I swam a 1500 to get a sign up time. it's been nearly 6 months since i have swam anything over 400m. I had no idea how I should swim it, or how it would feel during. took off way too fast 1:15, then 2:25 at the 200 and 5:20 at the 400. but then averaged about 1:25-1:26 for the rest and ended upw ith 21:10.
it got me thinking about a 5km run. I don't run, but it seems that almost every spring I decide it's time to start and i do run 3-5 times and I always use a 5km as a test/goal distance.
my goal for the 1500 in 3 weeks is to be under 20:00 so I have 3 weeks to learn how to hold a 1:20 pace, as well as to prepare mentally how it feels to swim that long. but I find it funny that my goal for the 5km has also been to run it under 20:00
anyone else have similar times for the 1500 and 5km? (1650yd vs 3 miles)
I've always thought that swimming freestyle and track running have close to a 1:4 ratio--that is, the world's best swimmers can cover about one-fourth the distance as the world's best runners can in the same time.
Running records:
200 m Progression 19.19 (-0.3 m/s) Usain Bolt Jamaica
400 m Progression 43.18 Michael Johnson
800 m Progression 1:41.01 David Rudisha
Compare this to the Swimming records for 1/4th the distance. Swimming one-fourth the distance is still a little bit slower, but the gap seems to be closing by the 200 m.
50 m freestyle 20.91 César Cielo
100 m freestyle 46.91 César Cielo
200 m freestyle 1:42.00 Paul Biedermann
The SCY records are:
50 free 18.47 César Cielo (Auburn)
100 free 40.92 César Cielo (Auburn)
200 free 1:31.83 Dave Walters (Texas)
So anyhow, the 1500 m (or 1650 yard) swim would be roughly equivalent to a 6000 m run (or 6600 yard run). Correct me if my math is wrong here, but:
1500/6000 = x/5000; x = 1250 meters. 1250/1500 = the conversion factor, or roughly 83 percent.
So...Bottom line: Take your swimming time for the 1500 m or 1650 yards and multiply it by 83 percent, and you should have a reasonably accurate "equivalency goal" for your 5K running time, that is, if your swimming and running abilities are comparable.
PS I would be honored if you would, in all future discussion of this topic, refer to the 83 percent conversion factor as simply the Thornton Coefficient.
Let us test it out on Lefty's stats:
Men's Swimming: 1500M LCM 14:34 (874 seconds)
Men's Track: 5000M 12:37 (757 seconds)
83 percent of 874 seconds is 725 seconds.
Not perfect, but not bad. Only 4 percent off. Who knows? If the 1500 m swim had been a straight shot in open water instead of assisted by wall pushoffs, the times might be identical.
I've always thought that swimming freestyle and track running have close to a 1:4 ratio--that is, the world's best swimmers can cover about one-fourth the distance as the world's best runners can in the same time.
Running records:
200 m Progression 19.19 (-0.3 m/s) Usain Bolt Jamaica
400 m Progression 43.18 Michael Johnson
800 m Progression 1:41.01 David Rudisha
Compare this to the Swimming records for 1/4th the distance. Swimming one-fourth the distance is still a little bit slower, but the gap seems to be closing by the 200 m.
50 m freestyle 20.91 César Cielo
100 m freestyle 46.91 César Cielo
200 m freestyle 1:42.00 Paul Biedermann
The SCY records are:
50 free 18.47 César Cielo (Auburn)
100 free 40.92 César Cielo (Auburn)
200 free 1:31.83 Dave Walters (Texas)
So anyhow, the 1500 m (or 1650 yard) swim would be roughly equivalent to a 6000 m run (or 6600 yard run). Correct me if my math is wrong here, but:
1500/6000 = x/5000; x = 1250 meters. 1250/1500 = the conversion factor, or roughly 83 percent.
So...Bottom line: Take your swimming time for the 1500 m or 1650 yards and multiply it by 83 percent, and you should have a reasonably accurate "equivalency goal" for your 5K running time, that is, if your swimming and running abilities are comparable.
PS I would be honored if you would, in all future discussion of this topic, refer to the 83 percent conversion factor as simply the Thornton Coefficient.
Let us test it out on Lefty's stats:
Men's Swimming: 1500M LCM 14:34 (874 seconds)
Men's Track: 5000M 12:37 (757 seconds)
83 percent of 874 seconds is 725 seconds.
Not perfect, but not bad. Only 4 percent off. Who knows? If the 1500 m swim had been a straight shot in open water instead of assisted by wall pushoffs, the times might be identical.
