Tips for Counting : Pool Swimming ...... 1, 2, 3 etc.

Seanie_H

I've some marathons under my belt and plenty of long cycles. I swear by my Garmin 610 for measuring them but having just started to swim in my local 20mtr pool, I'm struggling to keep count of lengths. Silly - yes and I know the implication of getting it wrong doesn't really matter but if I'm going to measure it then I'd like to do it properly.

At the risk of being ridiculed..... Does anybody have any tips / systems / very cheap gadgets?

Oryx

Count every length, so one directions odd the other even. Sounds obvious but it helps.

Break your swim session into some kind of plan, like 10 x 100 or a pyramid, or 100s of drills. A written plan is even better.

Poolmates or garmins aren't cheap and work well most of the time. I think there are cheaper options, where you hit a clicker after each lap, but I don't know much about those.

gerfmurphy

I always hard this problem. I bought a poolmate it helped a bit. But to be honest when you start swimming regularly you know the about time you do the sets.
So the pool clock helps you know your distance.
Ps if you want a poolmate cheap pm me. But you can trust the clock

Shedite27

Yeah for me the clock helps me out regularly. I swim in a 50m pool, so it's unlikely I'd ever be left thinking if I'd been going really slow/fast or miscounted.

dx22

Kinda repeating what Oryx said...

I swim mainly in a 20m pool
I only need to count to 5
How?

Firstly i usually do sets of 100m,200m or 400m depending on what i have to am trying to achieve

100m = 5 lenghts
200m = 5 laps (a lap is when i swim to the far wall and back)
400m = 5 laps twice

A typical 2K session might look like 2 x 200m warm-up
3 x 200 drills
Main set: 5 x 200
or 5 x 100 twice
So i only need to count to 5 if ya get my drift

It sounds like you are just swimming endless lenghts, which is difficult for anyone to count, which you shouldnt be in a structured swim session

Seanie_H

Thanks folks... some useful tips and what is becoming obvious to me is that I need to start breaking down my sessions rather than 'endless lengths'.

I've only really managed to get some longer distance sessions in the past few months. I've registered for the Dun Laoghaire Sprint distance and was anxious about not having the distance in me. The last week or so I've proved I have that and more a good bit more so I suppose it's obvious now that I have to start training a bit smarter.

I've plenty to work on technique wise so drills etc should be the target I suppose.