Wow! Just got back from my 1st workout with pace tones and had to post.
If you are in the city, you prob. don't have this problem. But I have NO ONE to pace with. Our local pool has Water Aerobics, Zumba, and a handful of bobbing, dog-paddling octogenarians. At 58, I'm the youngster.
I just added pace tones to EVERY OTHER song on my playlist for my 1 hour swim. WOW did that jolt things out of the "Garbage Yardage"! The tones correspond to the flip turn, not the stroke.
Here's what I did:
I used Audacity in Linux. But, Macs & Microsoft must have their equivalent simple audio mixing programs .
1) Generate a 3 second 1000hz tone.
2) Now add (generate) a silence reflecting the target time to the wall (eg the 3 second tone + silence = wall to wall).
3) Cut & Paste the above tone & silence until you have a 5 minute string. (songs are usually around 5 min. so it works out well)
4) Save it as an mp3 file (call it your pace time)
5) Now you will have two mp3 files (tracks) to mix into one (your song, and your tones)
6) In Audacity, you import them each into separate tracks, then "Mix & Render".
7) Export & save as an mp3 file. VOILA!
I did 12 songs on my playlist, then alternated 12 songs in between with no tones, to catch my breath.
Best workout I've had in a long time!
Great idea, thanks for this! I have to admit I am a little slow when it comes to tech-driven stuff, but I have been thinking about getting a waterproof mp3 player to help rev up my workouts. If I do, I may have to try this! :)
Thanks for the feedback.
Yeah I splurged on the player a few months ago ($49 Jlab Audio). But, unlike with running, I didn't find that the pace of the music helped my stoke tempo. It mainly made the 60 min swim a little less tedious.
But with adding the TONES...!!! WOW. I purposely set them a little quicker than I would hope to do my 1650. It's been ages since I felt my lats burn after a workout :)
Course it's still not as fun as a flesh & blood partner.... but distance swimming is a lonely sport...
I have yet to find a waterproof mp3 player I like.
I wish apple would just make a waterproof iPod or Finis would make theirs be more intuitive and reliable.
Great idea though. Very clever.
I have yet to find a waterproof mp3 player I like.
I wish apple would just make a waterproof iPod or Finis would make theirs be more intuitive and reliable.
Great idea though. Very clever.
Thanks for the thumbs up.
My limited experience with this mp3 player (Jlab audio) is that it's a little like goggles. 90% of the time it fits fine...no leak. Every once in a awhile it just doesn't want to sit right and distracts for the workout...just like goggles.
One thing that helps is to have it already in place when I shower. Otherwise starting with water already in my ear canal before I put it on to swim doesn't help.
fwiw.
ps...One week later, since I added the tones... I almost dread the workout a little now, because I know it's going to make me WORK! :)
