If you are training for a swimming event or just want to know how many laps in a pool is a mile, then this article is for you. We will talk about how many miles can be swam in different lengths of pools and what the conversion rate between yards and meters is. If you have never been to the gym before, it might seem like there’s no way that you’ll ever finish your workout. But don’t worry – after reading this article, we think that everything will look much clearer!
To answer the question “how many laps in a pool is a mile”, you will need to ask yourself those questions first:
What is a mile?
The word “mile” comes from the Latin words milia (meaning thousand, or a measure of distance) and passus (which means ‘step’). So when we say that one mile is equal to 1609.344 meters, it’s because 1000 steps would be about that far. To put this in perspective – if you were walking at an average pace of three miles per hour then you could walk around 15 miles before dinner time!
What is a lap in swimming?
A lap, or length of a pool is the total distance swam from one end to the other without stopping and back.
So when someone says “swim a lap”, it’s generally understood as 2 times the length of the pool. It doesn’t how long the pool is, a swimming lap is always 2 times the length of the pool.
Meanwhile, if someone says “swim a length”, they mean just from this side of the pool to other side.
What is the length of a pool?
In the US, the standard length of a pool is 25 yards or about 22 meters.
In other countries, the standard length of a pool is either short-course 25 metres (27 yards) or long-course 50 metres (54 yards) which is longer than in America. For this reason, countries worldwide tend to use kilometers for measurement. Meanwhie, in the US, we will use Americans miles (or more precisely Imperial miles) when talking about how many laps are worth in our pools.
In worldwide events, like the Olympics, lengths of the pool are always measured in metres. And finally, we’re approaching the answer of the question “how many laps in a pool is a mile”.
Finally, how many laps in a pool is a mile?
To calculate the number of laps you need to swim for a mile, you will have to use this formular: number of laps = (*mile in yards* ÷ *pool length in yards*) ÷ 2. Because we know that a mile equals 1760 yards, so the formula will be: number of laps = (1760 ÷ *pool length in yards*) ÷ 2. We divide by 2 because a lap is 2 times the length of a pool.
So if you’re swimming in a 25 yards pool in the USA, then a mile is 1760 yards, so if you apply the formula: number of laps = (1760 ÷ 25) ÷ 2. That means the number of laps you’ll need to swim is 35.2 laps (or 70.4 the length of your pool).
Meanwhile, if you’re swimming in a pool not from the US, then the formula should be:
- For 25 metres pool: number of laps = (1760 ÷ 27) ÷ 2 = 32.6
- For 50 metres pool: number of laps = (1760 ÷ 54) ÷ 2 = 16.3
So if you plan to swim a mile in USA 25 yards pool, you will need to swim 35.2 laps, or round up to 36 laps.
If you plan to swim a mile in a 25 metres pool, you will need to swim at least 32.6 laps, or let’s round it up to 33 laps.
If you plan to swim a mile in a 50 metres pool, you will probaly 16.3 laps, or round up to 17 laps.
How long does it take to swim a mile?
A average freestyle swimming pace is about 2 minutes for 100 metres. Assuming you will be swimming nonstop, then let’s convert to yard, so it will be about 110 seconds per 100 yards. Meaning it will take about 1936 seconds to complete 1760 yards (or a mile) if you swim freestyle. And 1936 seconds is about 32.3 minutes.
Other strokes, such as backstroke, butterfly & breaststrokes will have the time around the 32.3 minutes mark.
Final thoughts
Swimming a mile nonstop is not a hard challenge, but it’s something every swimmers will strive to achieve. If you can’t swim a mile at the moment, don’t be discouraged, you just need to improve yourself with some small goals first.