Swim Pace Calculator

How it is calculated

Swim pace is quoted per 100 m. The tool turns your time into seconds, T = minutes × 60 + seconds, then scales to 100 m: pace = T / (distance / 100). The pace is rounded to the nearest second and shown as m:ss. Average speed is v = distance / T in metres per second, to two decimals. Distance is in metres and must be above zero, and the total time must be above zero. Minutes or seconds may be left empty (counted as 0), so a time of 90 seconds can be entered in one field. Because pace is rounded to whole seconds, two close swims can show the same pace.

Common mistakes

• Entering the distance in yards or kilometres. The field is metres; a 1.5 km swim is 1500.
• Typing the time as 7.30 in the minutes field when you mean 7 minutes 30 seconds. That is 7.3 minutes, i.e. 7 min 18 s.
• Including rests at the wall in the total time and expecting a pure swimming pace.
• Comparing pool and open-water paces directly; currents, turns and sighting change the real distance and speed.
• Leaving both minutes and seconds empty, which gives no result.