Triathlon Swimming Q&A: Differences in Timing your Swim

Q: I do most of my workouts alone, and time myself. When somebody times me with a stopwatch or I swim in a meet, the times are always slower than what I go in practice. What gives?

A: When you start your own repeats and time yourself, you are able to anticipate. This means you lean forward on a dive or wall push-off at the “58” or “59” of the clock in anticipation of a fair start on the “60”. It may seem very innocent, but the ability to anticipate has a big difference on your time. Your muscles are engaged, and so there is no lag time in muscles firing versus when you issue the command to go. Conversely, getting started by somebody else means that your muscles have to be relaxed, and can only start to be mobilized when you issue the command to go. You should add 0.7 seconds to any self-started swim time compared to a “dead start” where somebody else tells you when to go. This is the time needed for your mind to send the signals and mobilize the troops (your muscles) into the coordinated action necessary to get started from the pool wall. This difference is typically negated at swim meets, because a dive off the blocks is typically 0.7 seconds faster than the fastest in-water start that you could do in practice. Now you know what’s going on when somebody times you and you wonder why the times are different than you would expect. Until next time, happy training.

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