As I've gotten more precise about measuring distances in open water, I've been shocked to find out how SLOW my open water practice pace is.
The problem is that I don't have a visual cue in open water for how fast I'm going. I swim with other people, but I don't have a consistent OW swim buddy who is near my pace.
A few data points:
In the pool, my long-distance cruise speed is about 1:50/100 yards. I can hold that for at least an hour.
My OW 1K race pace is in the 1:50s--high or low 1:50s depending on conditions and how the course is measured.
My OW practice pace is 2:00-2:10 (Yikes!)
Yesterday, I did an experiment:
OW practice swim with a friend who is close to my pace. We stayed together the whole time and varied the intensity of our practice. Our average pace was 1:55/100 yards.
After he left, I waited about 30 minutes for some other friends to arrive. I got back in the water with them. (We were all in the water together, but not swimming together.) I used the tempo trainer and set it at 1.1 sec/stroke (54 strokes/minute). In the pool, that setting would keep me in the low 1:50/100 range. The chop had died down, and I felt great. I was disappointed to find out that my average pace was 2:07/100 yards.
When I'm pacing off of someone, I can visualize exactly what it will take to pass them. I'm sure I get a little adrenaline boost from the competition, but that's not the main thing. When I see someone ahead of me, my body just knows what to do to pass them. I don't necessarily give it a big physical effort, I just concentrate on letting my stroke close the gap.
I wish I knew more people who swam at my pace and wanted to practice regularly in OW, but I have a hard time finding them. Most of the people who want to get out there regularly are slower triathletes.
So how do you guys pace yourselves if you don't have a buddy to pace off of? I'd be grateful for any suggestions.
As Aquageek says, comparisons between pool and open water times will drive you crazy. In fact, because the conditions can play such a big part of open water, sometimes it's not even a good idea to compare times in open water from one day to the next.
But, don't you think it's strange that my OW 100-yd pace would increase by 12 seconds when I don't have anyone to pace off of? Or that I'd be off by my pool pace by :15/100 using a tempo trainer under easy conditions? My OW race pace is only about 5 seconds off my pool race pace. It's the non-pacing practice swims where I really slow down.
Here's my theory about your results. I think you skewed them with the tempo trainer. You started out with a friend and kept a roughly 1:55 pace. After your friend left, you went on your own and went a 2:07 pace. However, the biggest change between swims is not that your friend left. It's that you tried to use the tempo trainer to maintain your pace on the second swim--and set it at a pace that would give you a desired pace of 1:50. The key point here, though, is that that 1:50 pace is one you have measured in a pool--where there are walls (fastest you ever go) and a black line to keep you straight etc.
I wonder what would have happened if you had used the tempo trainer at the same setting on your first swim with your friend. I suspect that you would have quickly fallen behind unless you ignored the tempo trainer.
As Aquageek says, comparisons between pool and open water times will drive you crazy. In fact, because the conditions can play such a big part of open water, sometimes it's not even a good idea to compare times in open water from one day to the next.
But, don't you think it's strange that my OW 100-yd pace would increase by 12 seconds when I don't have anyone to pace off of? Or that I'd be off by my pool pace by :15/100 using a tempo trainer under easy conditions? My OW race pace is only about 5 seconds off my pool race pace. It's the non-pacing practice swims where I really slow down.
Here's my theory about your results. I think you skewed them with the tempo trainer. You started out with a friend and kept a roughly 1:55 pace. After your friend left, you went on your own and went a 2:07 pace. However, the biggest change between swims is not that your friend left. It's that you tried to use the tempo trainer to maintain your pace on the second swim--and set it at a pace that would give you a desired pace of 1:50. The key point here, though, is that that 1:50 pace is one you have measured in a pool--where there are walls (fastest you ever go) and a black line to keep you straight etc.
I wonder what would have happened if you had used the tempo trainer at the same setting on your first swim with your friend. I suspect that you would have quickly fallen behind unless you ignored the tempo trainer.
