How many laps do you swim on a average workout? I ask because of the lap counter questions. I used to count laps but that was when I was swimming 18 laps or a 1/4 mile I stopped because it got to be a hassle and really did not care..Exercise is what it is but got to wonder how far I do swim.. I try to swim 30 to 45 minutes a day.. 36 laps to about 50 laps I guess. And a lap I am counting is once across 25 meters or 75 feet depending on the pool. Or is that a lenght across..? I am a lightweight compared to some as I know some swimmers training for Olympics measure their distance in thousands of yards a day. or 1760 yards a mile. thats..71 laps a mile 36 laps a 1/2 mile 18 laps a 1/4 mile give a bit.. Now meters unless I'm wrong its about 1624 meters a mile, or 65 laps a mile or 33 laps a half mile or 16 laps a 1/4 mile in a 25 meter pool rounded off.
I swim about 2100 - 2700 meters an hour. Depending on what kind of drills I do and what I intend to train with that workout programm.
Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com
I'm worried about the same question. I swim between 3,900 and 4,600 yds. Will a lap counter go that high?
If your lapcounter doesn't go high engouh try count in laps instead of lenghts. A lap is two lenght of a pool so you would count "one" when you touch the wall you pushed off. It also helps when you are counting without a lapcounter.
brgds
Matthias
Former Member
Originally posted by dorothyrde
Ok, I will bite. A lap is 2 lengths. So how far you go in a lap depends on pool length. I swim in a 25 yard pool, so a lap is 50 yards.
I average about 2500 yards in a 45 minute noon swim, up to 3500 yards if I can spend an hour to hour 15 in the pool. I never swim continuous the whole time, the most I swim at one time is a 1650, and I am miserable the whole time. I love interval IM work, so doing a 1650 free is my grunt work, I do it once in a while because it is good for me, ha.
I have always counted a lap as one length. I never thought about it until my father told me that a lap, in his opinion, was up and back. That seems reasonable to me because when you "lap" someone you swam two lengths to his one, except that in running, a lap is one time around a track (at least I thought it was). With that reasoning, if you straighten the track to look like a pool, isn't one running lap the equivalent of swimming one length in a pool?
I don't know the answer so I have quit referring to laps or lengths and now just think in terms of yardage. I swim 3500 to 3900 yards per hour (roughly). If my math is correct 3500 yards is the equivalent of 140 ups and 70 up-and-backs...I think.
Former Member
I swim low yardage. Those small pools make it different,try 15 yards at a health club pool. And I swim about twice a week in a 25 yard pool at a rec center. I swim about 800 to 1300 in the 15 yard pool and between usually 1500 to 2,000 in the 25 yard pool. All four strokes. Recently more freestyle because of a car wreck about a month ago. I found out that a lot of yardage makes me too stiff. Usually swim between 3 to 4 times a week.
Former Member
I usually try to swim 3000 yards per workout or so, and it usually takes me a little over an hour. If I do all freestyle, I can cut it closer to the 60-minute mark. As with others here, I use a variety of sources to get my workouts (yea, Mo!). I only count my lengths in an individual set, because I'm pretty bad at math.
The biggest obstacle keeping me from doing the 30-minute swim is I would never know how far I swam.
At my pool, which is 20 yards (sigh), 3000 yards equates to about 150 lengths. On Monday I swam with a masters team in a 25-yard pool, and the workout kicked my butt.
Adam
Former Member
My wife and I are doing 3500 in about 65 minutes. Most of it is crawl, but I do a 500 mixing up back and ***
I hate counting laps too; I'm going to check out the counters noted above :)
Former Member
When I took some classes from several Masters coaches, I don't recall them ever using term "lap" when referring to their workout plans. They always used the phrases like "do 6 50's" or "25 fast, 25 slow".
I got this definition for lap from dictionary.com:
1. One complete round or circuit, especially of a racetrack.
2. One complete length of a straight course, as of a swimming pool.
Interesting how a lap is a complete circuit for a racetrack, but one length for a pool.
Former Member
Here we go again with the old "lap" debate!
Let me give it to you as simply as I can:
Some people use "lap" to mean 1 length of the pool.
Some people use "lap" to mean 2 lengths of the pool.
Because of this, no one can ever know what anyone else means by "lap" unless the person tells them.
No one anywhere needs to use the term "lap". The term "length" works just as well, and if you use "length" you don't need to waste time explaining what you mean.
It is interesting that the dictionary defines lap as one length of the pool. I guess going with yards and meters is the best. And I always think of work-outs in subsets of 25's 50's 100's, and so on anyway.
