5 ms·

In any given lane, if I'm swimming with the current in one direction wouldn't I be swimming against it in the return?

colanderman 10y ago
Yes, that's the first topic in the article.
phamilton 10y ago
It's doesn't quite work that way. Oversimplifying it a bit. Imagine a swimmer swims 5m/s and the current adds/subtracts 1m/s. The pool is 50m. No current each length should take 10s. Going with the current takes 8.3s and going against the current takes 12.5 seconds. 100m takes 20.8s instead of 20s. Why? While the benefit/detriment ratio is 50-50 in terms of distance, it's not 50-50 in terms of time. You spend less time benefiting from the current because you are going faster. Alternatively, if the race was a fixed 10seconds in each direction you would go 60m and 40m, making it equivalent.
- dzamo_norton 10y ago
  Yes. Imagine a current flowing exactly as fast as you can swim and you must swim one lap with it and one against it. You cover the lap in half your normal time when it's helping you and then when it's against you you cannot _even_ cover a lap. Total time = infinity.
  - sandworm101 10y ago
    >you must swim one lap with it and one against it. Lengths, not laps. A lap in running brings the runner around the track and back to where they started. A lap in swimming is from one side to the other and back again (100m). A length, from one side of the pool to the other, is 50m or half of a lap. If there is a current one length is different from another other, but the laps are identical.
- encoderer 10y ago
  Fantastic answer. Thank you.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
DiNovi 10y ago
Right, but there is a race where you only swim in one direction
- NegativeLatency 10y ago
  The 50m free
mikey_p 10y ago
If you look closely at the data, the effect was stronger in lanes 1 and 8, and weakest in lanes 4 and 5, which implies that the current was circular. This means that those in the outside lanes would get a bigger boost than those in the inside lanes.

Yes, that's the first topic in the article.

It's doesn't quite work that way. Oversimplifying it a bit. Imagine a swimmer swims 5m/s and the current adds/subtracts 1m/s. The pool is 50m. No current each length should take 10s. Going with the current takes 8.3s and going against the current takes 12.5 seconds. 100m takes 20.8s instead of 20s. Why? While the benefit/detriment ratio is 50-50 in terms of distance, it's not 50-50 in terms of time. You spend less time benefiting from the current because you are going faster. Alternatively, if the race was a fixed 10seconds in each direction you would go 60m and 40m, making it equivalent.

dzamo_norton 10y ago
Yes. Imagine a current flowing exactly as fast as you can swim and you must swim one lap with it and one against it. You cover the lap in half your normal time when it's helping you and then when it's against you you cannot _even_ cover a lap. Total time = infinity.
- sandworm101 10y ago
  >you must swim one lap with it and one against it. Lengths, not laps. A lap in running brings the runner around the track and back to where they started. A lap in swimming is from one side to the other and back again (100m). A length, from one side of the pool to the other, is 50m or half of a lap. If there is a current one length is different from another other, but the laps are identical.
encoderer 10y ago
Fantastic answer. Thank you.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

DiNovi 10y ago

Right, but there is a race where you only swim in one direction

NegativeLatency 10y ago
The 50m free

mikey_p 10y ago

If you look closely at the data, the effect was stronger in lanes 1 and 8, and weakest in lanes 4 and 5, which implies that the current was circular. This means that those in the outside lanes would get a bigger boost than those in the inside lanes.