Swim workout thingy

I've seen some people write their workouts on a piece of paper with permanent marker. Then they wet a kick board and stick the paper to it. At the end of the workout, you can just throw it away.

Not what you're looking for, but a piece of paper with the workout handwritten or typed is all you need.  When you get to the pool, wet the paper in the water, then stick it to a kickboard (one you aren't using).  It will stick through the entire workout and is easy to grab when you get to the wall and need to see what's next.  

Drew 

Better how? I write my workouts in sharpie on half of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper and slide that into a large zip lock bag. The writing is big enough so I can see it without my reading glasses and it stays nice and dry. Works like a charm for me.

AHHHH....you beat me to it.  

Haha! For once I'm on top of it!

I guess better in that there has got to be a reusable system out there, rather than a new post-it every day. 

The voices in my head make my workouts and then shout them out at me while I swim. I think your way is a good one.

At least with paper and pen you don't have to worry about forgetting the dry erase board at the pool or at home.  If you lose/forget your pen or paper...no big deal.  Easy to improvise.

I write my workouts on index cards and put them in a ziplock.  That bag always stays in my gym bag and when I don't have a specific workout or forget to write one, I have a stack of workout cards to pick from.  Use the heavy duty freezer bags instead of the sandwich bags; they last longer. 

I record it the night before and then blast it through the synchronized swimmer PA system.

If you tend to do workouts from an established set you can get some of those small self-sealing lamination sheets--they sell ones that are about 3 x 5 inches. Put the workout in there and seal it (no machine required). This is a good solution if you have a set of workouts that you do a lot, but not good if you do something different each day. I have about 20 workouts that i've done this with.  Just be sure to seal them well, or water can get in. But if you seal it right it can go underwater just fine.

 

This.

I love having my old workouts at my fingertips.  There is no need to throw them away every time!  Just throw away the ones that seem ineffective (or obsolete as you progress).  Keep the good ones and reuse them.

I used to referee football. They make a plastic card you can write on in pencil, even in the rain to record penalties etc. I would think there would be a blank version of this you might be able to find somewhere. I would start by looking up a local officials supply store and calling them. Unfortunately the ones for football referees come with predefined areas for the things usually recorded before and during the game.

I use a 3-ring "view binder" that has a clear plastic presentation sleeve on the cover.  I either print (Swimplan.com) or write out my workout on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet and slide them into the sleeve.  I can stand the binder on the pool deck for easy viewing.

This is what I came up with.... got a waterproof "thingie" from the local sports store, they had 'em in the kayak section, then cut a piece of a plastic tray to keep it kind of rigid.  I have a bunch of swim workouts and just put one in when I pack my swim bag.  I can prop it up between my fins on the edge of the pool, or just lay it flat and check it.  I also have a grease pencil so I can write down times if I need to.

Ditto...that is when I write down a workout. I try to keep my workotus simple enough that I don't need to have written notes on how to do it.

Eg:
Warmup: (500)
500 yards of alternating long and short axis strokes, rest as needed per 100 (100free, 100breast, 100back, 4 x 25 fly, 100 free)

Main Set (2250)
3 Rounds of: 1 x 300 + 2 x 150 + 3 x 50

(some specific skill go will go along with each round & each repeat. EG, 300 @ 16SPL, 150s @ 17SPL, 50s @ 18SPL)

Cooldown: (300)
Make soemthing up here...one I like:
4 x 25 easy fly, reduce stroke count on each one, 100 easy IM, 4 x 25 Easy free

It may look intricate at first glance, but my warmup is fairly standard, I usually cool down with some easy alternate strokes focusing on glide & streamline.

My mainsets are usually patterned rounds of activity so that I can measure progress or improvement with each round, or measure if I've met a specific skill task. Patterns I like using include broken sets:

1 x 200, 2 x 100, 40 x 50
1 x 150, 3 x 50
1 x 500, 2 x 250, 4 x 125

etc...

As a recreational diver I borrowed this piece of equipment from my gear and it has worked great-my dive slate! Worked well to communicate underwater but works well for this too. Its affordable and reusable and useful if you want to write down splits or anything like that. I find that a Magic Eraser works very well to remove the pencil lead, but other cleaners like windex works too.  Here is a link to one similar to mine from Amazon (linky). I'm not sure what size mine is, but it looks like there are various sizes out there.

Edited by blindman10 2011-01-08 12:08 AM

I remember seeing some waterproof boxes at WalMart in the camping section.  Blue color I believe. Could work for this maybe and lots of other wet things.

I use Rite in the Rain products.  You can't erase but regular pencil works and there are plenty of pages.  I've been using the same journal for oh idk, a year or so now.  It'll get wet sorta, but it beads up and then it dries out really well.

You have got the simplest easiest and most effective way to capture a bad memory on paper. Stick with it.  It's relatively discrete and user friendly. Why try to fix near-perfection?

The waterproof notepad, slips into gear bag nicely, sits on flip flops at end o lane without being trip hazard chalkboardish, or overdone like a PowerPoint presentation..

Type them out on the computer, then print them out in whatever font you need and then put them in that zip-lock bag.  I discovered the ones the pharmacy puts meds in are perfect for a half-folded 8.5x11 sheet, plus they're free and recycled

Love this post!