This means that the battery is discharged down to 10.5 volts over a 20 hour period while the total actual amp-hours that it supplies are measured. Sometimes ratings at the 6 hour rate and 100 hour rate are also given for comparison and for different applications.
Pool meets are usually no more than 4 hours, but beach meets last about 7 hours. It depends how many events are in the meet. And then if it is a really big meet (like a tournament kind of) it can last days. Hope that helps.
A typical workout for a series competitive swimmer might be between 8000-10000 yards in a 2 hour period, or 320-400 25-yard laps in 2 hours. A beginning obviously will be substantially less.