I swim lots and lots of long distance and often find myself drifting off in thought while staring at the little tiles on the bottom of the pool. Doing sets of 200s or 300s tends not to be a problem...it's the 500 and 1000 yds that I loose concentration. When I start concentrating on technique is when I'm most likely to forget what lap I was on! Is there a gizmo out there to help me out? I envision something I can hang on the wall that would advance with my flipturn. Does anyone have any tricks to help them out with the counting of laps? Thanks!
The lap counter I mentioned is called the "Speedo Count II Personal Lap Counter." It's available from Kast-a-Way and costs $24.95. The description is: "Compact personal training device with digital readout and adjustable Velcro closure that secures to finger. Allows you to count each lap, track elapsed time and review summary statistics at the end of your workout." You can order it at www.kastawayswimwear.com/. In case you're suspicious, I do NOT get a kickback from Kast-a-Way!
When I do the longer distances, I count down from the number of laps it takes to finish.
Take a 300, thats 4x3=12 laps,so I count down from 12.
If I forget the last number lap, the last number will either be even or odd so it is easy to figure out by your direction.
I find that 1000-yard repeats are pretty smooth if you do this:
six 25s moderate, four 25s hard. Ten lengths.
Repeat four times.
You're done!
I did this the other day and was able to get through five 1000's and felt great.
I also coach masters and age groupers.
I had the kids do a broken 1650, you know: 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, with :20 rest in between. They all did it. Then I had them do a 200 kick right away, to give their arms a rest.
Quite a few of them got a bad calf cramp and had to get out and stretch.
Does anyone know why this happened? Should I not have had them kick? I always kick after a long freestyle set....and never get a cramp.
Okay, I just re-read a post that had pretty much the same advice for a 1000. Well, I guess mine's a little different, as you vary the speed within each 10-length segment. Spices things up a bit.
Thanks for the great responses to my original post. There are many good ideas here with the common theme essentially mixing up a long swim into smaller consecutive sets. Keeping track of the sets is easier than counting individual laps, and is a far more interesting swim. Having returned to swimming a relatively short time ago, I'm now putting an effort into a more creative workout. Up to this point, my focus has just been to get the distance in for the sole purpose of fitness and conditioning. I find myself now focusing on the details of a more creative approach to meeting those goals. The posted workouts found on this site are a huge help...along with the ideas expressed in threads like this.
Steve
Doing open turns and peeking at the clock works for me. All I need to know is the total duration target, and the target for how much time to knock off of each 50. If I can't meet the 50 yd times then the laps get lost, but at that point I don't care too much because the goal was missed. In that case I just say I swam for X minutes and go home. But it is so simple a method that when it works, I can really work on stroke count and technique.
OK, I admit I'm weird...
I've done 2500 or 5000 yd swims (not so much any more, since I care less about yardage totals). I also was a history major in college. So, for a 2500 swim, lap 1 is 1901 and I thought about something that happened in 1901, lap 2 is 1902, etc. I got so deeply into it that at the turn of lap 45, I stopped for a second as a kind of personal remembrance.
Like I said, I'm weird.
Matt
Matt,
Now that was weird. Was your remembrance because of the end of WWII or your birthdate? Did you also have flash backs on graduation from High school and college? Your marriage - the first kid? When did the USSR drop it's first atom bomb and it's first hydrogen bomb? You really got to be into history to remember the 20's and thirties.
Wayne
