Swim miles v Miles, yards, kilometers, laps v lengths and other distance issues!
AquaticQuests
Posts: 947 Member
A thread regarding all issues and controversies and clarifications relating to distance for the swimmer!
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So what is a swim mile?0
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ETA for clarification and non-Americans: An actual mile is 1760 yards.
A swim mile is 1650 yards, 66 lengths of a standard pool. (I would also say 66 laps, although r/Swimming had it out on this and apparently a "lap" is two lengths. I've seen posters here make the same distinction and will follow accordingly.) It is also 1500 meters. These are race distances.
The story is long and not that interesting, but it basically boils down to 1500m being an international race distance. Once upon a time the US *did* have an actual "mile" event, but the 1650 (yards) gradually absorbed it because US swimmers training for international competition wanted a close short course yards (25yd pool) approximation to what they would be racing internationally.
short course yards/scy = 25 yard pool
short course meters/scm = 25m pool
long course = 50m pool
Where it gets funky to me is when a 25yd pool is called "Olympic-sized" in publicity materials, even though ain't no Olympics held in yards OR short course.0 -
It gets better. For open water swims, some countries use a nautical mile (6025.33 yards or 1852 meters), and some use a land mile.
For my own training purposes (eyeing open water swims) and because US open water races often use the land mile, my "training mile" is 1800 yards (I train in a short course pool).
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NoelFigart1 wrote: »It gets better. For open water swims, some countries use a nautical mile (6025.33 yards or 1852 meters), and some use a land mile.
6075 feet? 2025 yards (and change).
And also, that's hilarious.
The general rule I've heard (I have an eye on triathlons) is that, "feel"-wise, you should be swimming double in the pool what you will OWS. Is that true?
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cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »NoelFigart1 wrote: »It gets better. For open water swims, some countries use a nautical mile (6025.33 yards or 1852 meters), and some use a land mile.
6075 feet? 2025 yards (and change).
And also, that's hilarious.
The general rule I've heard (I have an eye on triathlons) is that, "feel"-wise, you should be swimming double in the pool what you will OWS. Is that true?
Feet... Yeah.. Sorry!
I have never heard that conversion and doubt it is true. Can you imagine training for the English Channel and swimming FORTY-TWO miles in a POOL?
I am taking the advice of some experienced open water swimmers (marathon types) and they're not advising anything of the sort. They did advise me to test myself in the pool to see if I could swim the entire distance of the event early on to see if I CAN swim that distance at all (I can pretty easily)
Common wisdom is you can swim in a day event what you swim in a week. Let's just say that I am actually swimming a LOT more in a week than I plan to for any of my events next summer.
From what I can tell, in terms of volume, marathon swimming training isn't too different from marathon running training.
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Open water swims can be tricky. I have only done a few but my first one had a freak underwater current. The distance was 2.1km, but the amount of effort you had to put in was far far greater. A third of the people were not able to finish due to the conditions. The year before everyone finished. A running comparison would be; train for a 10 km run. Arrive and find out you are now running a marathon, uphill and with a headwind.
I always measure my swims in meters and km. For me a lap is there and back, a length is one way. Of course, all the pools in my area are in meters. I always get thrown a bit when other people comment and measure in yards.
I will be swimming a 1500 metre long course race today.0 -
I don't fret over the "swim mile." Just normal units.
35.2 laps in a 25 yard pool.
110 laps is 5.03km. (~22 laps per km)
176 laps for an integer lap/mile count at 5 miles.
Newer pools are mostly built to 25/50 meters depending if it is a competition pool or a YMCA/club pool.
I don't compete. I just swim to burn.0 -
Hmmmmm interesting, regional variation or just differences?
To me a mile is 1,600m (metres) - 64 lengths of a 25m pool.
The open water lake events I've swum in most often offer 500m, 1 mile and 3.8km swims - nicely inconsistent
The quarry pool near me has a 500m lap (circuit) so does timed swims over 500m/1,000m/1,500m.
Most public sports centre pools here have 25m pools - 50m Olympic sized pools are few and far between, hotel health clubs tnd to be smaller - 15m - 18m
I can remember dreading competing at the county pool when I was a kid - 33 1/3m when we trained in 25m.0 -
I was recently looking into doing a swim meet in the US. I got lost trying to figure out the yardage and equivalents. I think one of the events was the 1650 mile. I figured I wouldn't end up doing the meet anyways so didn't actually try to figure them out. Give me metres and kilometres any day of the week. They make so much more sense.0
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conversion roughly 1 KM = 0.62 miles0
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Or the way, 1Mile=1.609km0
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I'm from USA and I prefer meters and km also. My biggest problem in swimming open water was there was no line on the bottom of the lake! I know I swam further than a mile since I didn't spot the buoys very well. That's what happens when you're old. 0
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Never done open water and I'd be seriously disoriented without that line at the bottom of the pool too. Swam a few times in a pool that didn't have that 'T' at the wall at the end of the lengths and I had to hold back towards the end of each length for fear I'd swim speeding right into the wall. Irritating. There was that movie where a kid died swimming into the wall at the end of a race. I wonder if that ever happens in real life though. Either way, I really need that T to let me know where the pool ends!0
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This discussion has been closed.