Anyone have a reasonably accurate approximation of how their SCY pace per 100 translates when swimming open water? Assuming calm conditions and no navigation issues I'm curious what other people would use to estimate a 5K OW time based on say a 1000 SCY time of 12:30. Any thoughts?
Every time this subject has come up, I have marvelled because my experience has been the opposite. Example. In a recent work, I did a 1000 SCY in 15:00 or 1:30 per 100 yards. Compare that to my last 5K time of 1:18:57 which translates to 1:26.6 per 100 yards.
I've finally figured out why my OW pace is actually faster than my SC pool pace! (at least when the OW is a lake with no significant current and when we're talking of distance of at least 1000 yards). It all has to do with oxygen exchange.
When I swim open water, they are none of those pesky turns to breathe through. When I have to turn as often as every 25 yards, my breathing practices stink and by after about 700 yards or so, I really begin to lose efficiency. I actually have a solid flip turn that served me well back in my sprinting days, but the breathing in and out of turns leaves me building up an oxygen debt that doesn't occur for me in open water when I typically follow a 2 breaths to one side / 2 breaths to the other pattern without interruption.
I can tell this is occuring because lactic build up for me comes much sooner in pool swims than in open water, and eventually my turns start getting very sloppy. The difference can be up to 3 seconds per 100 over a 5K for me. I'll have to work on this should I ever want to improve in postal swims.
Any ideas? (or should I jump to the main board on this one?)
Every time this subject has come up, I have marvelled because my experience has been the opposite. Example. In a recent work, I did a 1000 SCY in 15:00 or 1:30 per 100 yards. Compare that to my last 5K time of 1:18:57 which translates to 1:26.6 per 100 yards.
I've finally figured out why my OW pace is actually faster than my SC pool pace! (at least when the OW is a lake with no significant current and when we're talking of distance of at least 1000 yards). It all has to do with oxygen exchange.
When I swim open water, they are none of those pesky turns to breathe through. When I have to turn as often as every 25 yards, my breathing practices stink and by after about 700 yards or so, I really begin to lose efficiency. I actually have a solid flip turn that served me well back in my sprinting days, but the breathing in and out of turns leaves me building up an oxygen debt that doesn't occur for me in open water when I typically follow a 2 breaths to one side / 2 breaths to the other pattern without interruption.
I can tell this is occuring because lactic build up for me comes much sooner in pool swims than in open water, and eventually my turns start getting very sloppy. The difference can be up to 3 seconds per 100 over a 5K for me. I'll have to work on this should I ever want to improve in postal swims.
Any ideas? (or should I jump to the main board on this one?)
