Counting swim laps

[Lise]

How do you keep track of swim laps when training? I swear, I need a little clicker.

[KSH]

Some suggestions from my Beginner Triathlete board:

1) Use the letters of the alphabet for each 50. Go up to J = 500.

2) After each 50, state what you are on outload, underwater. "100", "150", etc.

3) Buy a counter that goes on your finger (they have those).

4) Use your lap counter on your watch.

5) Use pennies on the side of the pool. Make a pile beforehand with how many laps you need to complete (count a 50 as a lap). After each 50 reach up and move the pennies to the completed pile.

[Lise]

Some suggestions from my Beginner Triathlete board:

1) Use the letters of the alphabet for each 50. Go up to J = 500.

2) After each 50, state what you are on outload, underwater. "100", "150", etc.

3) Buy a counter that goes on your finger (they have those).

4) Use your lap counter on your watch.

5) Use pennies on the side of the pool. Make a pile beforehand with how many laps you need to complete (count a 50 as a lap). After each 50 reach up and move the pennies to the completed pile.

What does the "50" refer to?

[Dianyla]

What does the "50" refer to?

Meters. An Olympic sized pool should be 50m long, but many smaller pools will be 25m.

When I was on swim team years ago, we had a gigantic clock next to the pool. When training we would do a lap starting every 60 seconds, so you'd launch off at the 0 second mark every time, finish your lap, and then start again. They were like mini-intervals. Then afterwards you would know how many laps you'd done by how many minutes you'd been going.

As for long stretches, I always did the longer 500m events (20 laps in a 25m pool) and I don't remember having problems keeping track of laps. I would just repeat the current number in my head over and over again through each lap.

[Grog]

50 yards - or 50 meters, depending on your pool...

I count meters, not laps. For some reason, I find it easier and more meaningful (plus: I'm usually swimming with a goal, e.g. 1000 m, more than a time goal... or I renegotiate my goal as I go, like yesterday: ok I have 5 more minutes to go before it's half an hour, I can do 150 or 200 more meters...).

[Lise]

"My" pool is only 20m long! It's in an ooooold YMCA building close by. I'm off to there now--got to get in my laps between the guppy and senior citizen swim classes! Thanks for the tips. L.

[RoadRaven]

I don't do swim laps, but I do do flat road laps... we have 1km of straight road before the hills begin, so when I want a recovery ride, I go out and do "farm flats" which is a 1km false flat rising toward town, turn and back to the gate.
I also do hill reps on a 1km long medium rise.

I find it very hard to keep a track of how many - numbers just get muddled.

So i do something similar to KSH's suggestions. I have five children and and eleven nieces and nephews... so I work out how many laps/reps I intend to do, and then chose a combination of families so I have the right number of children to match the laps/reps, and then I ride... each stage for one of the kids... I usually order them youngest to oldest by family and I never lose track...

"This ones for Em, this ones for Em... ok, that was Em's, this must be for Becca..."