1001Ferramentas
🏊Calculators

CSS Natação (Critical Swim Speed)

Calcula Critical Swim Speed (CSS) por teste 400m+200m: (D400−D200)/(T400−T200).

CSS (m/s)

How the CSS test works

Critical Swim Speed (CSS) is the highest pace sustainable predominantly under aerobic metabolism — the swimming analogue to running threshold pace. Standard protocol: swim 400 m and 200 m all-out (with full recovery between), then apply CSS = (400 − 200) / (t400 − t200) in m/s. The result is a pace sustainable for roughly 1 hour. CSS-paced sets (e.g., 10×100 with short rest) build aerobic capacity and lactate threshold. Tools like SwimSmooth, Garmin Swim 2, and FORM goggles pace CSS directly.

Example: 400 m in 6:00 (360 s) and 200 m in 2:45 (165 s) → (400 − 200) / (360 − 165) = 1.026 m/s ≈ 1:37 / 100 m.

Applications

Triathlon (Ironman, Olympic, 70.3), masters swimming, structured pool training, interval prescription, and progress tracking over the season.

FAQ

How often should I re-test? Every 4–8 weeks of consistent training, or after a structured training block.

Difference from race pace? CSS sits between 1500 m and 5 km race pace — sustainable about 1 hour, not maximal.

Why 400 + 200? The two distances bracket the aerobic-anaerobic transition; the math extracts steady-state speed from the difference.

Related Tools