Introvert Talks - The Mystery Of My Swimming Pace
"Introvert Talks" is meant to be a new initiative or theme, where I myself as an introvert, just talk about reflections and thoughts about my life, or maybe share more personal stuff. :)
This is my weekly post under this "Introvert Talks" theme and let's see where it takes me and us.
It's surprising how one simple change can make a big deal of difference.
So recently, if you have been following my "knee injury/recovery" journey, I have started to swim. The more correct word would have been "resumed" so I used to swim a lot while I was younger, but the lack of time or the convenience/accessibility of swimming pools made me decide to do long walks outdoors or at the gym instead.
Anyway, being a numbers and data freak, I decided to also record some data for my swimming sessions, and so far, I have 8 data points below.
| Date | Laps (25m) | Time | Pace/100m |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Jun | 10 | - | - |
| 4 Jul | 20 | - | - |
| 9 Jul | 30 | 41 min | 5:28 |
| 11 Jul | 30 | 44 min | 5:52 |
| 15 Jul | 40 | 55 min | 5:30 |
| 18 Jul | 30 | 42 min | 5:36 |
| 20 Jul | 30 | 42 min | 5:36 |
| 22 Jul | 30 | 34 min | 4:32 |
As you can see, I started slow before settling down at 30 laps per session consistently. I tried to do 40 laps last week and I think my knee felt a little overstretched so I decided to revert to 30 laps again.
For the timing, as I am still recovering from my injury, it was more of a reference point and I wasn't chasing any time target. My objective was really to get some exercise and activity going, and also to maintain some level of consistency.
But I was always puzzled at how slow my timings were.
Olympics swimmers can do 100m in less than 1 minute, and here I am, taking more than 5 minutes to complete 100m. Another reason is, I used to be much faster than this when I was younger. But the mystery remained unsolved, and I just brushed it off, thinking maybe it was because of my weaker knee, or maybe my fitness level just plunged over time.
So yesterday, out of randomness, I decided to bring my pair of swim trunks along since it has been in the wardrobe for some time.
The thing is, before yesterday, I had been swimming in my gym shorts so that I have one piece of clothing less to remember/wash after my swim. And guess what, I was shocked at how much faster I was able to go through the laps and when I finished the 30 laps, I looked at my time - 34 minutes! That's about 20% faster from my previous 41 to 44 minutes in the same month!
I was clearly sure that I swam 30 laps, and it was quite unrealistic that my knee suddenly improved overnight a few days, so the reason for this better time was narrowed down to my swim attire, i.e. swim trunks instead of gym shorts. And I went to consult AI (Gemini), and the response confirmed what I thought as well: You are entirely correct about the physics of the attire change. Because water is roughly 800 times denser than air, hydrodynamic drag is the biggest obstacle you face in the pool. Regular shorts essentially act like deployed parachutes, catching water and forcing you to drag that extra weight with every pull. Switching to proper swim trunks eliminates that resistance, allowing for a much smoother glide and freeing up your leg mobility.
So the mystery is solved! Although 4 minutes plus per 100m is not fast by any terms, but at least I was not as slow as I thought. What I found interesting was how much difference in speed the choice of swim attire can make. Makes me wonder if all the Olympics swimmers have to wear a pair of shorts to swim, what would their timings be? Hehe.
So that's all for my sharing this week, a little learning point in my life journey. Ending this post with the photo of one of the more scenic pools that I swim at.
