I recently received an email from a swimmer in India who was getting incredibly frustrated with his swim sessions. His local pool was 24 meters long, which meant every workout required constant mental arithmetic. He was trying to follow the CSS-based Red Mist endurance sets (Swim Smooth), and looking at his data, you could see the struggle. He was trying to program complex "48 m" and "96 m" intervals into his Garmin, wrestling with "CSS-based send-off" settings mid-pool, and getting demotivated when the watch missed a turn or miscalculated his rest.

If you have ever felt this way, here is the key insight: Your heart and lungs do not care how long the pool is!

Imagine walking into a gym where every plate actually weighed 5% less than was marked. Would you stop training? Of course not. You would still lift the weights, you would still feel the burn, and most importantly, you would still get stronger.

As long as the weights are consistent, you can progressively increase the load. Swimming is exactly the same. Whether you are in a 24 m pool in India or a 25-yard pool in the US (22.86 meters) or a long-course meters pool, the goal is exactly the same.

To train effectively in a "short" pool, you just need to calibrate your local CSS. Think of it like calibrating a power meter on a bike. Whether you are dealing with meters or yards, you simply adjust your target time to match the pool length.

Example Conversion

Once you make this one-time adjustment, stop doing math during the workout. Treat every four lengths as a "100" and follow your training plan exactly as written. You aren't "losing" 4 meters; you are simply training at the correct intensity for your environment.

The reason this works is that CSS is not really about distance; it is about intensity. CSS represents the fastest pace your aerobic system can sustain without progressively draining your anaerobic reserves. As long as the pace and time match the intended effort, your body experiences the same training stimulus, regardless of whether the pool is 24 m, 25 m, 25 yds or 50 m.

Note: If you actually perform your CSS test in your 24 m pool, you don't need to calibrate anything. Use those results directly. Calibration is only necessary when "importing" a pace from a standard pool.

One of the biggest hurdles swimmers face is trying to program the entire workout into their watch. When you are in an odd-sized pool, many smartwatches struggle. Features like auto-lap and auto-rest rely mainly on accelerometers that try to detect the push-off from the wall. When the pool length is unusual, the algorithms can miscount turns or miscalculate rest intervals.

Interestingly, some modern watches (like those from Coros and newer Suunto models) handle this better by combining a gyroscope with an internal compass. This approach is often more reliable because the watch can detect the 180-degree change in direction during a turn. The important point is that your training does not depend on your watch measuring the distance perfectly.

Our advice? Go low-tech for the workout plan and higher-tech for pacing.

Instead of programming your watch, try taping your session list to a water bottle at the end of the lane (or put it on a kickboard). It is splash-proof, easy to read, and requires zero button-pressing.

For the watch itself, adopt the "set and forget" approach:

If you are checking your wrist every 25 meters, you aren't focusing on your catch or your feel for the water. You are just chasing a number.

While the Tempo Trainer is great, there is a "Jedi Skill" that many great swimmers eventually learn: reading the pool pace clock.

We all know that one swimmer with no watch and no beeper, yet always knows exactly what their splits were. This isn't magic; it is "internalized pacing." By glancing at the big four-handed pace clock as you turn or finish a set, you develop a strong connection between your effort and the actual time.

Using a swimmer with a 1:40 CSS which is 25s per length:

Learning to read the clock removes the digital distraction. It forces you to stay aware of your surroundings, and develop a "clock in your head." For those who think swimming is boring, you can turn it into a high-speed math lesson!

There is actually a hidden benefit to these "odd" pools: The Turn Bonus.

Because you turn more often, you get more practice with push-offs and streamlines. You also spend slightly more time in the low-drag streamline phase after each turn. This briefly reduces drag and can make holding pace slightly easier than in a longer pool.

One warning: Do not "cheat" the pace with an oversized push-off. Use the wall to practice your technique, but ensure you are earning that beep (or that clock time) through the swimming itself. If you can hold a calibrated pace in a shorter pool, you are building the exact same aerobic engine needed to hold your true CSS in a 50 m pool.

Stop worrying about exact meters and start focusing on consistent pacing and rhythm. Whether the pool is 24 meters, 25 yards, or 33.3 meters, the goal remains the same.

Find your threshold. Progress it over time.

Remember, we don't just "hold" one speed: we use your CSS as a baseline to work at precise percentages of effort. Whether we are adding four seconds for a Red Mist endurance block or chasing two seconds faster for an anaerobic sprint set, we are targeting a specific physiological stimulus. By having a calibrated local CSS, you can hit these targets with laser precision, regardless of what pool you are in.

Next time you find yourself in a weird pool, don't change the workout. Just calibrate your “power-meter” and get to work.

See you at the wall!