Counting laps in the pool

I swim at the Y and they have a PVC rack set up with numbers, just flip one # every 100 laps.

Others use pennies set byt he edge of the pool.

amazon has this bad boy for $25

http://www.amazon.com/SportCount-Inc-90040-LapCounter/dp/B0016J9NE8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1305723931&sr=8-2

Take your pick

Poolmate by swimovate.

Not a must have.  But it'll keep you from going insane in the pool counting.

I count distance in sets of 100 instead of laps.  What also helps me is that I break up my swim into smaller distances, so for example I'll swim 300 to warm up, then take 15-30 seconds, then swim either 600 or 1000, then take another 15-30 seconds and get a drink, then swim another 500, then warm down with an easy 200.  Or something like that.  Breaking it up into smaller pieces makes it easy for me not to lose track.

I've seen that underwater timer/lap counter thing and it looks like a cool trick as well.  Not terribly expensive if you consider how often you'd use it.

This is what I use also. I have enough worries with my swimming, so not having to count laps is an asset for me!

Two things worked for me:

1)  Count lengths, not laps.  It's easier for me to remember when I always know it should be 'odd' going away and 'even' coming back.  If I can't remember if I'm on 8 or 9, well, this solves it.

2)  Breaking into sub-sections.  If I'm doing 1500 yards then I do three sets of 20 lengths.  For some reason three sets works best for me - I never forget if I'm in the first, middle, or last set.

move the "bobbles" on the line marker per 50 or per 100.

Count distance.  When I am off, I just use the lower number and get more (maybe) in.

ellen

http://www.amazon.com/SportCount-Inc-CHRONO-100-Chrono/dp/B000TRI7W2/ref=sr_1_2?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1305727639&sr=1-2

Gives you laps, total time, time for each lap, and average lap time.  I love it.  Click the button every time you hit a wall.  You can pause and resume also.

So how many 5000 yard sets do you do at every practice?  :impressed:

This is what I do as well.  Every 100m, I check the (nice big) digital clock on the wall.  Just before taking a peek at it, I have what time I expect to see.  If the time is within a small window of that expected time, I know my count is accurate.  If it isn't, I recalculate.

Most of the time I am swimming in a lane by myself and most lanes have a center line. I split the lane up into thirds.  I swim a 100m right of the center line, I then swim the next 100 directly over the line and finish the next 100 left of the line.   At this point I just keep rotating between the 3 positions and have a good idea how far I have gone and dont need to count every lap, just need to keep track if I've done a 100m before switching and how times I have rotated to my initial starting position.  Of course Im only swimming 750-1200m most of the time.

One more vote for the fingertip lap counter. Excellent tool.

I also use a swimp3. It really is an awesome invention. Forget waterproof earbuds. Swimp3 all the way.

I usually think the lap every right arm stroke.  Yep gets old saying 1,1,1,.....2,2,2,...   Or I'll also count laps and strokes as 1-1, 1-2,1-3.....2-1,2-2,2-3, etc.

All that said, when I started doing triathlons, I would be happy leaving the pool saying I swam # laps today.   But after a while, I learned I was just swimming 1-lap, # times.  In other words, it didn't give me much experience or training.  My time improved but not by much.  I got a lot better, a lot faster, swimming intervals.  If you want more endurance, just swim more intervals.  The longest sets I now swim training for IM is 350's.   Not too hard to count laps on those.