So tonight I'm swimming in the pool at the health club and I come to the 10x50 kick part of the program (Act 2, Scene 2, added during a quick rewrite before the curtain went up after reading Ande's Swim Faster Faster tip about kicking earlier today). Anyway, I have trouble counting when exhausted (which I will certainly be after even a short kick set), so what's a poor programmer nerd to do? I know! I'll use my zoomers and a couple kickboards to count to 10 on the pool deck in binary! Pointing up is a "1" bit. Pointing sideways is a "0" bit.
(I've done this before when stuck running on short indoors tracks, but there I've been able to count on my fingers without ruining my streamline.)
Am I weird or what?
Skip Montanaro
We've, like a lot others I'm sure, used the lane lines as an abacus. Works well when they are a bit loose.
...and there are no backstrokers pulling on the lanelines!
We've, like a lot others I'm sure, used the lane lines as an abacus. Works well when they are a bit loose.
By the way, abacus was the first big word my son could say. He couldn't tell us drink but he could say abacus!
Alison
I feel sorry for all those who have to count to know what they are doing. When I raced over a 200, I had a counter. When I trained I used the clock. If the coach was there he had a whistle, which told us when to go when to stop. 3 to 5 min is a warmup, all repeats are done by time, time tells us how far we have gone. I have other things to think about when I swim, no time to count.
