What I talk about when I talk about swimming

[Bierzo Baggie]

Some stuff to write up from Summer. Or at least to comment on..

First the swimming;

September 1st marked the end of the swimming season. Swam regularly during July and August in an open 50m pool just up the road where I live. Achieved a few things.

I can now swim 1 km front crawl without stopping or changing my stroke.

I’ve managed to approximate (not master) bilateral breathing. Dan’s very excellent list (see the start of this thread) provides more boxes to tick but they’ll have to wait until next Summer.

Swimming, as mentioned by some, is infinitely more boring than running. The trick is to think of it as yoga. Empty your mind, concentrate on technique, and if you want, concentrate on time too.

Timed myself every session. Given that you can’t swim uphill and a pool of water is always, well.. a pool of water, there is an absence of variable factors which makes swimming everything that off-road running is not.
My running times are difficult to interpret. When I run I’ll just note the time, an approximate distance and a few banal comments about the anthropological landscape. At the end of each session in the pool ,however, there are just raw statistics, a general tingle of well being, occasional ear blockage and a few mouthfuls of heavily chlorinated water.

Here are some of the raw statistics.

Best swimming times; Summer 2012.

100m: 2 minutes.
500m: 13:38
1000m: 29:37

Let’s put this in perspective. I’m told a very average swimmer will take less than 20 minutes to swim a kilometre. Tiny Chinese girls will do it in less than 10.

Looked up some world records for freestyle.

100m 46:91
400m 3:40
800m 7:32
1500m 14:31

From these times I calculated a multiplier which I then applied to the world records for 10k, half marathon and marathon to find out some running equivalents for my swimming times. The results were humbling indeed, especially considering I’d put in a lot of time and effort to improve my swimming.

My 100m time was equivalent to a 67 minute 10K
My 500m time was equivalent to a 2 hour 50 minute half marathon.
My 1000m time would make me a 6 hour 25 minute marathon runner.

Asked Teresa, the beautiful Baywatch babe working at the pool this Summer to observe me for a few lengths. Apparently I drag my legs through the water a bit. I should be more horizontal. She did compliment me on my bilateral breathing though.

The difference between a good swimmer and a bad one seems so much greater than in running where body weight is more important than technique. And with swimming, technique can only be improved by many hours in the pool.

I’ll be back next year.