Blog #1 presented the problem determining open water pace and SPL , or “Getting Immediate Feedback of Pace and SPL” without the aid of GPS.  Counting strokes between evenly placed buoys or the same (two) buoys is a good start to striving for stroke count consistency.  But unless the distances are  known between buoys, other than perceived effort, it’s difficult to determine pace and tempo.

Blog #2, took it a step further after finding your cruising stroke tempo, then using the Tempo Trainer  to see if you can hold a consistent stroke count in 30 second intervals (e.g. 30 seconds / 1.2 seconds per stroke (tempo) = 25 strokes) on longer open water swims.  If you are holding tempo and strokes count on 30’s, you can get a pretty good idea of pace, or at least holding a consistent pace.

In this blog, blog #3, adds a PaceTempo.xls spread sheet for download to easily calculate your pool pace in the open water.  This of course does not account for currents, rip, fatigue, etc –  but you can easily check your pace and SPL, change gears depending on conditions and hold the “pool without walls” pace in open water using Tempo Trainer and stroke count.

Setting out to find  “true” SPL (TSPL) in the pool minus the subjective wall push, the distance from wall to first (recovery) “hand-dip”  (where you begin counting strokes),  needs to be measured.  Swimming a 25 yd pool using Tempo Trainer and three beeps from wall push to first stroke, fourth beep on hand-dip is where the stroke count begins and position to measure.  Measure this “Push” off distance from wall to the first “hand dip” using several tempos.  It’s good to have a partner watch location of first hand-dip and then measure, or do it yourself peeking at hand- dip and lane rope location. My push is 21 feet +/- 1 foot regardless of tempo – it’s a 7 yd push for me.  And yes, I got interesting looks from swimmers and lifeguards with my tape measure, cap and goggles — push off passive streamline (no kick), beep….beep….beep, stroke, hand dip, stop and measure — repeat.  But with this data, you can calculate actual swim length, true strokes per length, and “pool without walls” 100 Pace

Example 1. Cruising pace in 25 yard pool
*****************************************************************************************************
    SC(25y)  | Push | Tempo | SPL  | Act Dist  |  DPS  |   TSPL   |   Time   | 100y pace| Mile pace
*****************************************************************************************************
     25      |  7   |  1.15 |  14  |    18     |  1.29 |   19.4   |   22.36  |  1:29    |   26.2

*****************************************************************************************************

 

Example 2. Cruising pace in 50 meter pool
*****************************************************************************************************
| LC (50m)   | Push | Tempo | SPL  | Act Dist  |  DPS  |   TSPL   |   Time   | 100m pace|  Mile pace
*****************************************************************************************************
|    50      |  6   |  1.10 |  38  |    44     |  1.16 |    43    |   47.50  |  1:35    |   27.9

*****************************************************************************************************

Having the pool (SC or LC) length, “Push” distance, “Tempo”, and “SPL” use spread sheet to calculate “Actual Distance”, “DPS”, “TSPL”, (lap) “Time”, and “100 Pace”  All distances: Push, Actual Dist, DPS are either in yards or meters, not a mix of the two.

How do you use this data for an open water swim?

Using example #1, swimmer sets TT to 22 seconds and holds 19-20 strokes (TSPL) “beep to beep”, 100y pace would be very close close to 1:30 in open water.  And likewise with example #2, using 50m distance, swimmer sets TT to 47 seconds and holds 42 strokes beep to beep”, 100m pace would be very close to 1:35, … and so on.  Again, this doesn’t account for currents, rip, drift, etc – but at least it’s an audible queue combined with stroke count to help check your sustainable ‘pool’ pace in open water.  If you begin to add a stroke or two between the audible beeps, you are probably fatiguing, DPS is shortening, and  (most likely) slowing; then choose a slower tempo and pace, and/or have a range of paces you increment +/- one or two seconds on TT.  And for those that don’t have a patch of open water due to season change, in a 50m pool  set (lap) “Time” on TT, flip/turn on the beep, count strokes from the 25m line to the wall, e.g. flip on 47 seconds, 21 strokes from 25m line to end of pool = 1:35 pace.

Select this link: PaceTempo.xls spread sheet to download from Goggle Docs.  Select File->Download As->Microsoft Excel to save to your computer.  Fields in “blue” are values you key in (Pool, Push, Tempo, SPL); fields in “red” fields are calculated, don’t change these (Act Dist, DPS, TSPL, Time, 100 Pace).  If you find any errors in the calculations, or anything cool to add, please comment and/or attached a new version, or contact me directly.

If you have any questions, have problems downloading spreadsheet – or if you happen to be passing through in LA and wanna go for a Tower 26 swim off Venice Beach (may-nov), please drop me a line: stuart.mcdougal@ticoach.net

Happy Swimming!

Stuart McDougal

MindBodyAndSWIM