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.
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.
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.
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."
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?
