Tip of the Week: Figuring Out Your Average Swim Time

January 12, 2009

Do you have a tough time figuring out your average time over a set when you aren’t timed by someone with a stopwatch?  It is tough to remember one thing when you are tired, let alone ten, twenty, or even thirty different times to get that overall average.  There is an easier way to keep track:  count your over/under on each repeat and tally up the number at the end.

Here’s how it works.  Let’s say you are doing 8 x 200yards on 4:00.  You expect to average 2:30 per 200.  Your first repeat is 2:27, so that means you’re 3 under.  All you need to remember is the number 3.  On the second repeat you go 2:28, so now you’re 5 under.  Then the third, fourth, fifth and sixth repeat you go 2:30 exactly, so you’re still 5 under.  On the seventh you go 2:33, so now you are now just 2 under.  On the last repeat you get real tired and go 2:35.  This moves you from 2 under to 3 over for the final set average.

Now that you know how many seconds you are over your goal time, you divide by the number of repeats you have done.  In this case, divide the 3 seconds by 8, which is .375 seconds.  Thus, your overall average is 2 minutes, 30.375 seconds, meeting your goal time of 2:30.  I typically round up or down to the nearest second.  In this way, you can easily calculate how fast you have gone without having to remember too much about the set.

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