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Swim metrics for open water from pool

Are there any metrics to project open water wetsuit swim times from short course pool swim times?

Comments

  • I have seen 10s/100m faster with a westuit as a number thrown around on different sites, but in my (admittedly limited) experience it varies and there are many confounding factors i.e swimming ability (i.e. better swimmers= less benefit from wetsuit), drafting, currents, waves and wind etc etc that would influence the results.  

  •  In my experience, I pick-up 5-10s per 100 on a short OWS: 1500-2000. On the long swim: 3800 its a break even proposition for me, but for the same speed I'm expending much less energy, so I'm much less tired doing an IM  OWS than I am when I do it at the pool. Of course in rough water that all goes out. I think the time savings come from no turns ~ 3-4 s per 100 (I dont do flips) and the wetsuit forces better horizontal position and is a more 'slipery' surface in the water. 

  • After each IM, ENers are encouraged to fill out a spreadsheet which includes both those #s - swim time trial and IM swim result. Eyeballing those over the years, I believe that the average ratio is 93%. IOW, your wetsuit IM swim pace per hundred yards will be 93% of your 1000 yd TT. YMMV, as the range is 85-100%.

  • Yup, I went through that. About 93%.

    But it was fairly variable.
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