In taking a closer look at my swimming goal of 1:15 for the 2.4 mile Ironman swim, I was looking for intermediate goals for shorter distances.Â
The closest that I found to an equivalency chart was in the Endurance Nation stuff, where they note that their ‘unofficial’ observations for what constitutes ‘good swimming’ is 1:46/100 yards or 1:56/100 meters for 2.4 miles, with a shorter distance pace goal of 1:27/100 yards or 1:36/100 meters for 1500 meters…sounds pretty fast to me, since all out, right now, I can’t swim 100 yards ‘once’ in much under 2:00.
I’ve always liked the Total Immersion (TI)  philosophy of focusing on efficiency, and form. There has always been ongoing controversy with the TI approach, and whether it produces ‘pretty’ swimmers rather than ‘fast’ swimmers’.
Since for 2.4 miles…current and open water path deviation aside…on a great day, I’m now probably around 1:30:00, or 2:07/100 yards, or 2:19/100 meters, I have plenty of room for improvement.
So I guess the first goal, is to be able to swim 100 yards…once…in 1:30.
No points for pretty in Ironman.