Question About Distance

RE: Question About Distance

mcnair — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 09:56:30 GMT

When someone asks how far I swim I always respond in yards or meters, and then--being an ex-runner--I convert to miles for them automatically (I could be a walking conversion table). Occasionally, someone will ask "so, how many laps is that?" At which point I seem to have the same awkward response "Uh, well, let's see, it's # yards per length, if a lap is two lengths, then that's ## per lap, which means I did..." And I give them a dirty look for making me do so much arithmetic in my head on the spot. Being a former runner, I tend to get lapped a lot by folks who have been swimming a while... does that mean that I get "length-ed" twice as often?

RE: Question About Distance

Elaine Krugman — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 02:24:10 GMT

This question has been asked many times and the same opinions get trotted out every single time. The real answer is: a lap is either one length of the pool or two, depending on who you ask. For this reason no serious swimmers use the term. Instead we talk about the length of the swim 100, 200 (yards or meters) etc. There's no chance of ambiguity when you just state the distance swum. When swimmers ask me about my swimming, I speak in yards. When non-swimmers ask me about my swimming, I speak in yards- followed by a translation of how many lengths of the pool it is. I frequently get asked by people in my community how much I swim and I will say something like, "Today I swam a total of 3,500 yards which was 140 lengths of our pool."

RE: Question About Distance

knelson — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 01:52:02 GMT

RE: Question About Distance

jaadams1 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 01:14:30 GMT

Now,you didn't lap me in the 200 fly(fortunately it was LCM) ;)

RE: Question About Distance

jaadams1 — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:59:50 GMT

That's why I said :worms: .A lap is either 1 or 2 lengths(I say 2,but others say 1.) As I said on a previous thread on this issue,if someone talks about or asks about swimming in terms of laps they are,generally, not "one of us".By and large swimmers record distance in yards,meters, or for OW,miles. So for an OW swim that goes around buoys...1 lap is wayyyyy to long. That's at least 100 lengths.

RE: Question About Distance

Allen Stark — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:52:41 GMT

A length is always one traverse from one end of the pool to the other. If we were runners, we'd consider a swimming lap to be two lengths as you start and end a lap at the same point (e.g., the same way you do on a track). However, we are not runners; we are swimmers and able to have the same word mean two different things. So, sometimes a swimming lap is a swimming length and sometimes a swimming lap is a runner's lap. Embrace both and always be inconsistent when talking with runners or tri-folks so that we don't let them peek too deeply behind the mystical swimmer's veil. That's why I said :worms: .A lap is either 1 or 2 lengths(I say 2,but others say 1.) As I said on a previous thread on this issue,if someone talks about or asks about swimming in terms of laps they are,generally, not "one of us".By and large swimmers record distance in yards,meters, or for OW,miles.

RE: Question About Distance

Patrick W. Brundage — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:12:34 GMT

RE: Question About Distance

sickfish — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:01:13 GMT

:worms:,it might not seem that way,but it is.I say it's down and back(2 lengths). I'll bite. :argue: A lap and a length are the same thing!

RE: Question About Distance

Glenn — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 11:36:01 GMT

Allen, You don't have to be in a distance event to get lapped!

RE: Question About Distance

Allen Stark — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 11:04:48 GMT

If you are swimming a distance event with a faster swimmer in the heat,once they get 2 lengths ahead,they have lapped you.

RE: Question About Distance

Allen Stark — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 07:12:39 GMT

Or 200 Fly :bolt: Now,you didn't lap me in the 200 fly(fortunately it was LCM)

RE: Question About Distance

jaadams1 — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 06:52:19 GMT

You must have seen my backstroke. Or 200 Fly :bolt:

RE: Question About Distance

__steve__ — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 06:08:56 GMT

If you made one lap around the earth would it be one complete trip around, or two trips around and back ? Excluding jet stream

RE: Question About Distance

Allen Stark — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 04:21:41 GMT

Allen, You don't have to be in a distance event to get lapped! You must have seen my backstroke.

RE: Question About Distance

orca1946 — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 03:26:49 GMT

OH BOY or BOUY here we go again. Ask a swimmer & one length is a lap. Ask a round track person & a lap is one traverse of the track not two!! a dog laps his water bowl & a lap dance goes nowhere!!

RE: Question About Distance

Allen Stark — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:10:09 GMT

:worms:,it might not seem that way,but it is.I say it's down and back(2 lengths).