Posted by Jason on November 13, 2001 at 13:09:11:
In Reply to: Re: 10 mins 400yard swim posted by Maddiver on November 13, 2001 at 08:18:46:
I doubt many people fail the swim test. (The snorkel doff n don is the bad one) It may require a little bit of pool time to get form, but the cardio demands of the test are insignificant. My heart rate stays in the 110-120 range for my 7-8min quarter mile lengths. It's all about form. Once you have it, you can swim almost indefinitely. It took me 2 months to go from barely able to swim continuously to swimming over 2400m from Alcatraz at a pace better than 8:30/400m.
As an aside, I swim faster in salt water than I do in fresh, and I swim faster in a wetsuit than I do without. As I don't do flip turns, I'm faster in the ocean for a given distance than I am in the pool. Once again, it's all about technique.