I have purchased a spanking new set of lap counting cards so that my workout group can help one another as we slog through the Checkoff Challenge. I purchased a holder for said cards. Here is the stupid question: How do I open the holder so that I may mount the cards on it?
It seems lap counters are not dependable, according to this:
"At one California high school meet where there were no lap counters, nearly an entire heat of the girls’ 500 freestyle lost track of how many laps they had raced. Everyone in the heat except for the girl in last place assumed the girl in first place was keeping the right count. While everyone else was hanging on the wall thinking they were done with the race, the girl in last place—who knew exactly how many lengths of the pool she still needed to race—flip-turned. By the time the others in the heat figured out what was going on (and what the coaches had been yelling about) the girl who had been in last place was nearly 25-yards ahead of everyone else. She finished the race in first place. Always count your own laps. Even if you have a lap counter."
I've seen plenty of people miscount a 200 yard event. Saw it happen in championship finals of a college conference meet about 20 years ago. Leader in the 200 free was on pace for about a 1:38, and hit the wall at the 150 and stopped, thinking he was done. Oops.
-Rick
If I don't lose count in a 500, I wasn't swimming hard enough. Some combination of oxygen deprivation and wishful thinking means I'm never 100% sure of the count in the last 150 yards or so.
If I don't lose count in a 500, I wasn't swimming hard enough. Some combination of oxygen deprivation and wishful thinking means I'm never 100% sure of the count in the last 150 yards or so.
Me too. And if I am trying to race the field instead of just focusing on swimming my own race, I lose track on a 200y/400m. Sometimes I can see a paceclock or the scoreboard while I'm swimming or during the turn. Better to lose a half-second on a distance event peeking at the clock than to lose count.
I quit swimming the 500 & longer at most meets just because it was too stressful getting somebody reliable to count. It was not fun being on the blocks with your counter nowhere to be seen.
It seems lap counters are not dependable, according to this:
"At one California high school meet where there were no lap counters..."
Kind of hard to blame the lap counters when there were none.
