Introducing Effort Pace: Swimming Intelligence That Knows Your Stroke
Open-water swimming has a lot of variables; it’s one of the best things about it - no two open water swims are the same. With that comes a lot of gaps in our knowledge of how effectively we are swimming and how the water conditions are impacting our swim. With this in mind, we’ve developed a new metric for the open water that effectively closes this knowledge gap, leveraging the power of your recorded swim data.
What Is Effort Pace (And Why You'll Love It)
Effort Pace is exactly what it sounds like: a measurement of your swimming pace based on how hard you're working. For those familiar with Grade Adjusted Pace (GAP) in the running world, a metric used to estimate what your pace would be on a flat surface, taking into account the elevation changes of your run. In swimming, Effort Pace is an indication of your pace in flat, calm waters.
For our goggles-only open water swimmers, this changes everything. Previously, when you dove into the open water without GPS, you were swimming with no pace data or distance tracking. Now you'll have real-time insights into your effort and estimated pace, giving you the data you've been looking for.
Those who connect goggles to either Garmin or Apple smartwatches also benefit. Open water conditions can make your data misleading. Swimming against a strong current? Your GPS might show you're crawling along at a snail's pace, even though you're working harder than ever. Swimming with a tailwind and current? Your GPS might suggest you've suddenly become an Olympic swimmer. Effort Pace, however, acknowledges these variables and understands how hard you’re actually working in the water.
Imagine confidently holding your target effort level regardless of whether you're battling choppy seas or gliding through glass-calm water. That’s the power of understanding your swimming effort with Effort Pace.
The Science Behind Your Stroke
Here's where things get interesting from a technical standpoint. This new metric isn't just broadly estimating your pace in open water; it’s tuned to your swim stroke from your lengths in a pool. Here’s how it works!
Every time you swim laps in a known-distance pool, we’re able to build your swim profile of your swimming signature. Through our advanced machine learning algorithms, we accurately profile your stroke rate, movement patterns, and subtle variations in your technique, correlating your pace over precise pool distances. Your unique swim signature is then applied in the open water to establish your Effort Pace.
It’s like creating your swimming fingerprint. We track how fast your stroke rate is when you’re swimming ‘easy’, how your technique shifts when you push harder, and the relationship between your arm turnover and your actual speed. This data feeds into a constantly updated machine learning model just for you. The more often and recently you swim in the pool, the smarter and more accurate your open water predictions become.
Ready to Swim Smarter?
This new metric option is now available to select in your FORM App. Go to My Goggles tab > Dashboards > Open Water (with or without GPS option) and find them in the Pace and Distance categories. Select to add to your dashboard and sync your goggles.
We're constantly innovating to redefine the incredible power and value of our swim technology, where your data adapts to conditions rather than us being limited by them.
