Hour Swim: What Do You Think About?

Originally posted by mbriones I just keep hitting my finger counter at each flip and listen to my SwiMP3 Under rule 102.15.9 in the disqualifications section or part 1 of the rules both of these devices would be illegal. "Swimmers are not permitted to wear or use any device or substance to help their speed, pace, or buoyancy during a race. Goggles may be worn and rubdown oil applied if not considered excessive by the referee." I am trying to get clarified whether these rules apply to long distance swims. You can see my post in the officials section. Long distance has its own set of disqualifications and make no mention of these rules but there has been no official statement yet. I do recall that when the rule was changed to add the word pace last year, the announcement said that long distance swims were not affected, however that was on the old site and I can't find the announcement to positively verify it.

You mean my SwiMP3 is considered something to help with my pace? It just entertains me while I swim, makes the swim seem shorter. I couldn't imagine swimming for an entire hour in silence. I guess I'm spoiled rotten with my gadgets!!

I swam the one hour postal twice this past January in two different age groups. My birthday is January 12th, so I swam it once before at age 39 and again at age 40. Since you have someone writing down your splits at each 50, no real need to have to count. There is a big pace clock on the wall at one end of the pool, so I knew where I was timewise. My counter would let me know when there were five minutes left and then when there was one minute remaining so I could pick it up. During my first swim, I thought about -my pace, my wife and kids, planned an anniversary trip with my wife, my pace, why my left clavicle occasionally clicks, NFL playoffs, feel kind of tight - stretch it out, hope I'm holding under 1:25, my counter attaches a picture of a bikini clad female on a kickboard and holds it underwater for me to view on a few turns (thought about that for a while), do I really want to go to work today?, who am I counting for next?, okay, when I get to 30 minutes, it's all downhill from there, swim a hundred hard and 100 easy (did that a few times), came up with a pretty decent college playoff system that utilizes most of the bigger bowl games (BCS is ridiculous), I wonder if I'll at least get 4000 yards in, man, I kinda need to pee. Five minutes - pick it up, now I'm concentrating on form and kicking. I hate distance! During my second swim 4 days later - why in the world am I doing this again? Pretty much the whole way.

Originally posted by mbriones I just keep hitting my finger counter at each flip and listen to my SwiMP3 which I load up with my favorite songs to swim by, such as...Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here (great warm up song), The Kinks Picture book - that one really is great for rhthm, a bit of Sheryl Crow, No Doubt, Train, Nickelback, etc. Before the finger counter I'd go 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 (etc) B] I don't have a finger counter so I do the 111111111112222222222...50 50 50 50 50 50 50 What was I thinking?51 51 51 51 51 51.... Can't be I ever figure out why I do it or find a good reason not to because I look forward to it every year.

So I replied by email, but I thought I would share it here. I do math. Specifically, I am constantly figuring out if I am on pace for the goal I set, and if I am not, how much I have to pick it up in the time remaining to reach the goal. (Or, if I am ahead, how much I will beat my goal if I keep my current pace.) Stuff like that. And I watch the clock. I know the pace I have set for myself, so I check at almost every 50 to see if I kept up or not. If I start picking up a second here or there, it encourages me to try for another and another. It makes an hour pass rather quickly! Also, if I still have any brain-CPU left given my level of oxygen debt, I might start computing how much more (or less) I will have done than the guy in the next lane given the rate one of us is lapping the other.