It is soo hard for me to concentrate during lap swim at my pool. Anyone else have this issue? Today i did my regular saturday morning swim. As I am traveling to the pool, I decide I am going to count how many laps I did today. I start counting as I go and then find myself trying to count my breaths for each length, or figure out a new drill to try, or why the heck is this person in front of me as slow as molasses in my lane? THEN, I rest when i hit the wall, and check out the other lanes..I get all competitive with strangers in the other lanes and it just ends embarassingly for myself. haha. On the way home, im mad that i didnt keep track of my laps n stuff. I dont time myslef as of yet because of my unorganized workouts thus far. I am going to join a masters team very very soon, hopefully that will remedy some of my issue. :shakeshead:
Things I do at various points in the workout to help keep track of where I am when swimming alone:
open turn & peek at the clock every 100 or 200 for longer swims (500 and up) - this helps me pace myself as well
alternate 100 free, 100 non-free (especially when warming up to warm up different muscle groups)
break it down into smaller chunks - never just swim laps - it's always 4x500 or 3x300 swim/kick/pull or something similar
swim sets on intervals that aren't multiples of 30 seconds (50s on :55 or 1:05 instead of 1:00, for example) - you can tell where you are in the set by where the second hand is
if I'm doing some high count of something like 20x50 or 15x100 I have even been known to use kickboards and zoomers on the deck to count the reps in binary
HTH
Skip Montanaro
I am going to join a masters team very very soon, hopefully that will remedy some of my issue. :shakeshead:
No it won't, cause the other folks in your lane will be asking you what the interval is. I just give them blank looks.
I hear you on the losing count. I hate going over 200 cause I always lose count. Then again, that's why I'm ussually doing the SPRINT workout not the silly distance one.
Join the Masters team now, trust me, you'll get a lot more out of it than swimming laps by yourself. I did that for the entire months of July and August and after 2 weeks of Masters work outs, I know I would have been better off doing half the work out with others than all of my laps by myself.
Paul
I loose count after 4 laps- LOL, and forget what we're swimming.
My mind goes all over the place when I swim. from counting laps to what I'm fixing for dinner.
I even asked Coach to write what we're doing on the board. He laughs at me say
okay, maybe you'll do it. I think it's funny. But having it written down does help alot, even if I loose count, sometimes it's not just me, it's who I'm following. It's funny if the lane "leader" looses count we all fall short, because we are just following the leader.
I do tend to pay more attention when I"m the leader.
Now if I can just remember the time intervals I'll be doing good.
I lose count unless I've got an eye on the clock/watch. So if I'm swimming alone and can keep the pace I've set, I know how far I've gone. In a lane with others of varying speeds, I'm clueless. I guess 15m of swimming ultraslowly behind a wide kick breaststroker just throws my math off a bit, and I lose track because I'm not accustomed to having to count.
it has been said that all swimmers have ADD.
i mean, crap, those of us who aren't training on top of 20,000ft ocean trenches (Go Donna! :drink:) have only a black line to stare at for 60/75/90+ minutes during workout. with our faces in the water, its only that line and our imagination to entertain us.
I was quoted in a local paper, when asked "What do you think about over 4.4 miles?," to have thought about fellow forumite SwimmieAvsFan and playing hockey during this year's 4.4 mile bay swim.
If I were you, I wouldn't get too concerned until you bang into the wall headfirst while lost in a thought. :frustrated:
have only a black line to stare at for 60/75/90+ minutes during workout
Hey, some are BLUE you know. :agree: I used to do that all the time, just go to my happy place. Now my happy place is filled with tired arms and thoughts of :drown: And I keep trying to click my heels together. Nope, that ain't working either.
Paul
I guess 15m of swimming ultraslowly behind a wide kick breaststroker just throws my math off a bit, and I lose track because I'm not accustomed to having to count.
Do what Fort suggested in the Swim Rant thread. Dive under them, turn over and wave as you go by.
Paul
If I were you, I wouldn't get too concerned until you bang into the wall headfirst while lost in a thought. :frustrated:
Um... I actually did that cooling down from the 1500 at nationals. Cruising along, doing some backstroke to unwind the arms, and not thinking about the flags at all! Just enjoying the feel of the water, until, WHAM. Direct hit on top of the head while mid stroke. :blush: That's how I knew it was time to get of the water.
that's why you do sets
ie 15 x 100 on 1:10
I suggest you focus on the task at hand
think about your swimming goals
train to make them happen
join a team
show up and do what the coach tells you to do
as meets approach if you're going to them you may need to modify the work outs to accomodate your taper
It is soo hard for me to concentrate during lap swim at my pool. Anyone else have this issue? Today i did my regular saturday morning swim. As I am traveling to the pool, I decide I am going to count how many laps I did today. I start counting as I go and then find myself trying to count my breaths for each length, or figure out a new drill to try, or why the heck is this person in front of me as slow as molasses in my lane? THEN, I rest when i hit the wall, and check out the other lanes..I get all competitive with strangers in the other lanes and it just ends embarassingly for myself. haha. On the way home, im mad that i didnt keep track of my laps n stuff. I dont time myslef as of yet because of my unorganized workouts thus far. I am going to join a masters team very very soon, hopefully that will remedy some of my issue. :shakeshead:
