LCM vs SCY

This is not another attempt to coerce you into training with GPAC this summer as the title may indicate. It is, however, an attempt to help you understand the differences between Long Course Meters (LCM) and Short Course Yards (SCY).

As I have said before long course and short course, for all intents and purposes, are two totally different sports. There are many differences between the two that make this so. A quick conversion of 50 meters reveals it is equivalent to 54.68 yards or 164.04 feet. This difference is only really significant in the United States since pretty much the rest of the world swims short course in a 25 meter pool (just like outdoor summer leagues and some high schools in our area) when we swim in a 25 yard pool in the U.S. The second major difference between LCM and SCY is the number of turns one has to complete during the race. Turns are important to a swimmer's overall time because they inject an element of speed into the race. The fastest your body moves in the water during a race is when you immediately hit the water from the start. The next fastest you are moving in the water is when you push off of the wall after a turn. When we cut the number of turns done in a race, you cut the number of opportunities you have to gain momentum off of the walls. These two factors, the extra distance and the diminished number of turns, are key in understanding the difference between LCM race times and SCY race times.

For the purposes of our team, times done in similar races in each course (LCM or SCY) should NOT be compared. There are plenty of tools online at different website that allow you to plug in a time done in one course, click a button, and get a compareable time for the other course. However these times are never completely accurate as the conversion going from LCM to SCY often gives a much faster SCY time than it actually is. Converting times and comparing them to times done in the actual course can become very confusing and extremely frustrating to the swimmer. This being said, the GPAC coaching staff asks all swimmers and parents to follow these guidelines:

1. Times swum in long course meters should only be compared to other times/races done in long course meters. The same goes for short course yards and short course meters.
2. Time conversions should only be used as a very limited guage with the understanding that they are not well representative of the swimmer's true abilities at all.
3. Most meets that have qualifying times will give times in LCM, SCY, and SCM and swimmers must qualify using the proper course, not converting from one to another.
4. Some meets will, for the purposes of seeding, convert times done in SCY for a LCM meet and vise versa. But converted times for the purpose of entering the meet are not valid whatsoever.

The final point I want to touch on is stroke technique. A swimmer in a short course yards event may be able to overcome technique deficiencies through size, power, and good turns. But in long course meters the amount of straight swimming time (swimming time between turns) is more than doubled. Swimmers are taking significantly more strokes per laps as well. For these reasons, long course meter swimming really makes stroke deficiencies more obvious. The need for perfect technique in all strokes is essential to optimal performance in long course meters events. Luckily, what may work against you in a long course meter race can work for you in practice. The increased straight swimming time (uninterrupted by turns) each lap allows you to concentrate on necessary stroke corrections. Taking more strokes per lap also means you have more opportunities per lap to fine tune your stroke technique.

The bottom line is that times swum in long course meter events should never be compared to times swum in short course yards events. Compare those long course times to previous times swum in long course meters events. The more you swim long course meters meets, the greater the sample size you will have to compare your results and get an accurate gauge of your overall progress.