Pool vs OWS time difference

Push off the wall to return to the speed you were going when you got to the wall. Quite a few like doing flip turns, quite a few don't.

You're probably going to be 10-15 seconds per 100 slower in open water until you get used to it. Then again you gain about 10 seconds per hundred with a wetsuit so there you go

If this will be your first open water 1.5k swim you will do two things.

1. You will set a PR.

2. You will learn that you need to focus on different things when swimming in the pool.

My recommendation is to not focus on "cheating" but instead focus on swimming well. What that means to me is learning to swim multiple strong sets of 100-400 distances . This will build your speed and endurance. Practice swimming with you head out of the water. Work on swimming with your eyes closed. Share a lane.

I've never heard anyone evaluate their race day performance and say, "I could have won if I hadn't flip turned so much."

a 36min/mi is respectable.  you'll be MOP.

I agree with the above.  My pool times are roughly equivalent to my wet-suited open water times, although given that it's a race- I tend to swim faster/harder in a race.  Plus there's the drafting opportunities of a race.   You gain a little by the push off, but you lose a little stopping and turning.  How much is individual.

keep swimmin'
have fun.

I agree.  Factor in the adrenaline  and your OWS race swim will likely be faster than your pool swims. Could be lower too though, it depends on so MANY things.

Does the water temp mess you up?  How well do you sight?  Do kicks and other hits in the water break your rhythm? Do you draft?

If you are well prepared I would expect the OWS to equal or exceed anything you do in practice.

-eric

1. Stop thinking about OWS vs Pool. Swim the pool as well as you can. This means flip turns, push, glide, dolphin kick... etc. On your shorter harder sets, you can incorpate not breathing inside the flags. These are things that are specificly for swimming good in the pool, but they translate to OW by making you very comfotable in the water. The more comfortable in the water you are, the better feel for the water you have, the better swimmer you will be in all situations! This will make you a better swimmer in the pool AND in open water. This seems to go over most peoples heads for whatever reason. Don't skip out on all the swimmer things in the pool. I don't know a good swimmer that does.

2. 36 minute is on the slower end for 1500 the fact that you swam 1500 is respectable, but the time... not so much. Sorry, sometimes I think BT can be a bit too nice. No worries though, no one starts out fast! My first 1500m was much slower.

3. Your time from the pool to OW will be a tad slower, but it shouldn't be very much. Depending on conditions of course. Swimming from one side of the lane to the other won't make much noticeable difference on time in the pool.

For me it works like this in training.  No wall pushoff in pool + wet suit in the open water = if swimming longer laps in a roped off OW area = probably 5 secs/100 faster in open water, maybe 10. 

In a race it works like this since my siting is so bad and I can't swim straight.   Take race distance in pool add 15% more to the number of meters I will ultimately swim, subtract out aforementioned 5 sec gain from wetsuit = probable race time, assuming other factors are negligable like water current and so forth.

My open water swims are always faster then the pool.
For one the pool I swim in is a shallow pool (chest deep the whole way) this makes for a harder swim and slower times.
Two I flip turn and don't worry about how fast I flip. I can get a pit lazy in the flip. I also don't push off hard. When I do that in long sets I tend to get leg cramps from it so I just don't do it.

So in OWS I don't have the lazy flip, 90%+ I have deep water, there is also drafting and the adrenaline of the race.

Two years ago I was swimming a lot. I would only pull a 1:55/100 time in the pool but in races I would pull 1:30/100 and would be in the top 10 out of the water.
Don't let the pool dictate what your OWS will be.

Like some of the others, I'm about the same in a pool as I am in a wetsuit OW, but a wetsuit is faster if you subtract-out running to the timing mat. I averaged 1:34 from the gun to T1 in a sprint Saturday, and am lucky to swim sets at 1:30.

Forget handicapping yourself at the wall. Swim like a swimmer, and you'll have a better handle on your progress relative to others. If anything, swimming hard into and away from the wall is a better workout.

Now, as for your first wetsuit ows, there's a good chance you'll have the common experience that adrenaline+neoprene = fastest time ever.

It will be greatly affected by how well you swim straight.  First OWS like this I wouldn't worry too much about drafting.  More likely than not to get kicked instead of getting a good draft, particularly that far back.  Worry about swimming straight (practice sighting, swim with eyes closed to figure out which way you lean, etc.).