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Working out in a 33.3m pool - problems!

CharlieHCharlieH
in General Training Discussions

Hey

Ok, so I'm week 1 of my first ever EN plan. Due to pool availability I've had to swap my swim and run day, no dramas.

My only problem is - the pool is 33.3m long. So, with only 1hour opening time over lunch, how am I going to structure a workout to get the best from it?

My math isn't the best but for I figured rather than swim a length and a bit for 50m, I'd just do 2 and call it 50m when it's actually 66.6m. But this means to fit in 1hr of swimming I'm going to have to cut something back - I was thinking the warm up? Say do 99.9 instead of 133 but then keep everything else as if it were a 25m pool? Is that a good idea? Otherwise for the 2x50 I'll have to a swim a length and a bit.

Today (first EN swim, bit of a lick out, thanks coaches!) I did it as if it were a 25m pool. I did all warm up, all drills and then nearly all the form bit. Had to reduce to 1x"50" for a few form sets and didn't get last swim golf in before getting kicked out. Total 2131m (instead of the prescribed 1800).

Is this going to be a problem? 331m more than I'm meant to?

I sort of dicussed this with the coaches a few days ago, but didn't realise it would be as pertinent until I actually did a workout. Any input appreciated

 

 

Comments

  • ejbeach01ejbeach01
    I simply couldn't do this. Not that it will help you any. :-)

    I kick off the wall underwater for a solid 7m (Passed the flags). I would in all seriousness take about 5 strokes before going into my flip turn.

    having said that...if you don't really kick off the wall and get in some actual swimming in the shorter pool then you can make it work. I think adding yardage the way you have makes the most sense of any of the options you have available.

    But I'd try to get into a longer pool if possible.
  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    Wow Eric, lots of folks are stuck in 25 yard pools and figure 25 meters is a bonus. 33 would be awesome! What the heck are you swimming in?

    Charlie- what plan are you working from? Are you doing the OS plans with the Swim supplement stuff? Or are you doing the new IM/HIM plans? If it's the IM/HIM plans, you should have 2 "main sets". My understanding from an earlier podcast was that R&P were gonna update the plans this year to make the second "Main Set" Optional for those folks who are gonna take longer than an hour to complete the workout.

    It's not gonna hurt to go longer than what the plan calls for, so I think "pretending" your pool is 25m instead of 33 will be just fine for most of the "short interval" sets. Cut the warmup/cooldown a bit short and you should be good. When you get to the longer 2x1000 or whatever stuff, you can do the math to do the # laps that gets closer to the actual distance.

    PS- what a bizarre pool length! I already have pool math problems, this would really fry my brain in the early morning!image
  • ejbeach01ejbeach01
    Gawd I'm dumb. I was totally mis-reading that.

    i was thinking of it as a kiddie pool...so closer to 15m pool. Or the pool for the ummm bigger older folks where they dance around.

    Not sure why I thought that...but I'll blame my parents and poor genetics.

    So...I agree with Nemo. Longer pool = better. Try to match the total yardage as best you can. But a few more yards won't hurt.
  • CharlieHCharlieH
    @Nemo - yeh, that's what I kind of what thinking, keep the warmup to actually length and pretend for the rest! I'm on the HIM 20wk plan. There are a fair few 33.3m pools in the UK, for some reason all military pools are 33.3. No idea why? It's good for me because it's free and it's longer (and colder, yay!) than the public pools around here.

    @Eric - I'm not flip turning at the moment, I can, but I'm just using the wall as I'm not used to the mileage RnP have me doing!!
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    I occassionally swim in a 33 meter pool in Georgia (like maybe 3 times a year). It's such a wierd distance that I thought it was the only one. I just do sets of 100m with an easy length between them.
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Of course, 3 lengths = 100 meters. For distances that end with 2 zeros in the workouts, just go with that. For 50s, do two lengths, for other distances ending in 50, round up or down as needed. For, say, "150", go 5 lengths, "250" = 7 lengths, etc. Pretending 33 meters = 25 yards will just frustrate you in the workouts, as you already expderienced.

     

  • kurshingkurshing
    The other thing to keep is mind is the 'objective' of the workout. Some are clearly speed work and some are endurance (and they are even labeled that way). So, when you are deciding what to cut down and what to keep, make sure you keep the parts that keep with the main objective...that make sense?

  • CharlieHCharlieH
    @Al - cheers, think I'll go with that, seems sensible enough!
    @Stephen - yeh had considered that as well - keep to the objective and probably will cut down on wu and cd
  • Jon BergmannJon Bergmann
    I used to race in a 33 yard pool. Our arch-rivals had that funky pool. It was sure interesting doing swimming meets there. I prefered the 25 yeard pool much better. The IM was sure odd..

    Anyways: for tris I think it is a bonus. Less turns is more like open water.
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