Why Open Water and Pool Swim Paces Differ and How to Close the Gap

What is this episode about?

INTRO 0-1:38

Liz goes to Hawai’i!

Why Open Water and Pool Swim Paces Differ and How to Close the Gap

Open Water swimming is generally 10-30 seconds per 100 slower than times in the pool.  Why? 

Pool swimming and open water are different for many reasons.  Pool water is calm and open water has a lot of movement even if the water looks calm.  This makes water harder to 'grab' with the swim stroke and this impacts our forward movement.

Pool water is clear and has a black line on the bottom of the pool we can use to navigate in a straight line. In open water, we have factors like current, sun, and murky water to navigate through.  Swimming well in open water requires we become comfortable with those environmental factors so so we can swim undistracted.

We learn this in 3 stages: Swimming in open water, swimming in open water with other people, and lastly swimming in open water in a race.  To get the most out of our swim fitness, we must learn to swim undistracted in each of these environments. Doing this requires lots of practice.

It is also critical to develop deep swim fitness so you are strong enough to swim hard for your race distance. Part of developing swim fitness requires learning to pull hard without sliding through the water; every stroke needs to count and this takes a lot of physical strength and mental focus. But, it is something all of us can do - it’s not magic! Just hard work : ).