What Does Best Average Mean in a Swim Set?
Best average means swimming the fastest repeat times you can hold consistently across the whole assigned set, given its distance and interval. It is not your single fastest repeat followed by whatever you can manage afterward.
How fast should a best-average set feel?
Fast enough to challenge you, but controlled enough to preserve technique through the final repeat. USMS describes best average as swimming as fast as possible while keeping technique good and stroke count consistent throughout the set.
The target depends on the prescription. USMS discusses distance, interval and velocity as separate variables, and gives best-average examples with extra recovery to allow faster swimming. A pace you can repeat with long rest may not work with short rest.
Pacing choice
Start at a time you expect to repeat at the end.
If the first repeat is spectacular and the final repeats fall apart, choose a more realistic opening target next time. Judge the whole set, including technique and recovery, before calling a faster average an improvement.
What does a consistent set look like?
Here is an original illustration, not a universal target or a tested workout result. Use these times only if they fit your current swimming; otherwise adjust the target and interval with your coach. This is a main set to place between a warm-up and an easy finish.
Best-average example: 8 × 50m on 1:15
Original main-set illustration, after your usual warm-up · 400m total
- 8 × 50m Best-average freestyle — GA2 · Leave every 1:15 between repeats · Illustrative target: 44–46 seconds each, with good technique. Choose your own repeatable target. The zone badge is a planning label for this example, not a definition of best average.
A send-off includes both swimming and rest. In this example, a 44-second swim leaves 31 seconds before the next start; a 46-second swim leaves 29 seconds. It does not mean resting 75 seconds after touching the wall. See the send-off versus rest interval guide if the notation is unfamiliar.
Illustrative results of 44, 45, 45, 46, 45, 44, 46 and 45 seconds total 360 seconds: a 45-second average and a two-second spread. Opening in 39 seconds and fading to 52 seconds shows a very different pacing pattern. Do not let that opening time stand in for the quality of the set; two seconds is an example here, not a universal pass/fail tolerance.
How is best average different from other swim instructions?
Best average asks for repeatable speed across the set. These common instructions describe different pacing patterns or effort targets; follow any more specific directions your coach supplies.
Workout language
| Instruction | What it asks for | Difference from best average |
|---|---|---|
| All-out | Maximum effort for the assigned swim | Does not by itself ask for consistent repeat times |
| Descend | Progressively faster successive repeats | Times deliberately decrease instead of staying close |
| Build | Increase speed within one repeat | Describes pacing inside the swim, not the set average |
| Threshold / CSS | A specified sustained-effort pace reference | Best average is not a fixed CSS pace or training zone |
| Easy aerobic | Comfortable, controlled swimming | Consistency alone is not the fastest sustainable set pace |
For the two instructions most easily confused, see build versus descend . For converting a repeat time to a pace per 100, use the swim pace calculator guide ; a conversion does not tell you which time you can sustain.
How can you plan and record best average in AquaPlan?
Open the example in the builder, or use the AquaPlan workout builder to write your own version. Keep the target and actual results distinct in the block's Description field; this is a manual note, not an automatic consistency score.
Compare later attempts under the same conditions. If you changed the pool length, used fins, took extra rest or completed fewer repeats, record that alongside the average. If the target was too ambitious, revise it before the next attempt rather than quietly changing recovery mid-set and treating the results as equivalent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does best average mean sprint every repeat all-out?
Do I include rest when calculating my average?
Is best average always threshold or CSS pace?
Sources and editorial process
Sources checked October 5, 2026. The USMS articles support the definition, consistency goal and interval principles. The numerical example and logging workflow are AquaPlan editorial illustrations, not first-hand test results.
- U.S. Masters Swimming: Pressed for Time? Want a Change? Try These Sets in Your Swim Workouts
- U.S. Masters Swimming: Best Swimming Workouts for Beginners
- U.S. Masters Swimming: How to Speed Up Your Interval Training
Limitations: coaching terminology varies, and these sources do not establish a universal target time, rest interval or acceptable spread for every swimmer. Confirm the intended effort with the person assigning your set.
Automated editorial check (daily-ai-v1): this article was authored using AI and checked through an automated editorial process. No human expert review is claimed.
Article publisher
Published and maintained by AquaPlan. The article above identifies its evidence sources and automated editorial process; no human expert review is claimed.