Swim Time logging (Page 2)

Short answer:  Because it's really hard to tally up the rest time vs swim time

For biking and running- I just log the amount of time that I'm actually moving.  Of course- my Garmin tells me that.  For swimming it's a bit harder.  Like- if I do 10 x 100's on 1:45, and I hit them somewhere in the vicinity of 1:10 to 1:20- but don't really know when, then I add some 500's with a minute or two rest, and then some 200's with a minute rest, etc etc.  It's kinda' hard to figure out the actual time I was swimming.  

What I personally tend to do is take the total time I spend in the pool, include the short rest time between sets, but if I spend more than a minute or so chatting, I estimate and remove that time.  So, if I spend 45 min in the pool, but know I wasted 5 min of that time, I'll log 40 min... even though perhaps only 35 of those minutes was actually swimming.  So- I'm somewhere in between.  Short rests get included.  long rests tend not to.  Anyway- that's what I do.

So- how do you calculate your actual swimming time?  I have a Swimovate Poolmate.  It gives me total time with rests, but not total swimming time unless I manually add up all the sets...which I never bother to do.

When I log with the 910xt it logs logs swim and rest time, and so total swim time is actually swimming. But it logs my kick sets as rest, and when I edit the entry afterwards, there can no longer be a distinction between rest and swim time so it becomes total time swim+rest.

Recently I've left my 910xt at home and it is somewhat liberating. Now I guestimate, total swim time minus 15min. Hence my vote for somewhere in between.

I guess it depends on what you want to do with the numbers.  Someone mentioned that it lets them see improvements in their overall average pace.

If I do a swim set of 20x100m, I could do it a few different ways:

1. 20x100m on 2:00 - all fast, lots of rest and my times are around 1:10
2. 20x100m on 1:30 at T-pace with short rest and my times are around 1:20

If I count rest time, #1 says my average pace was 2:00/100m, #2 says it was 1:30/100m - this would suggest #2 was the harder workout but I would be a lot more fatigued by #1 (and working on something completely different)

If I don't count rest time, #1 says my avg was 1:10/100m, #2 says it was 1:20 - this would suggest I'm capable of holding 1:10/100m for 2000 meters which I am nowhere near able to.

Neither really paint an accurate picture if you look only at average pace.  That's why I include everything and note the specific swim times within the set.  Then when I look at the workout I see that I did xxx meters in yyy time and during that time I was able to swim at particular paces.

I used to use my 100 lap memory Timex Ironman watch to time all my intervals and rests. 

Too much work and a distraction from my actual swimming, so now I just use the pace clock to track my interval times and log the total time in the pool on my training log page.

Mark

Great question! I was swimming this morning and I noticed that the lady in the lane next to mine had the same watch that I do (910xt). I only track the time I spend swimming, but I she kept track of the entire workout, including rests. That made me wonder what people do and why, since it seemed obvious to me that I should only record my actual swimming time...

Next time, I will record the entire work out and see what works better for me. I think you all made good points for either option. Thanks to the OP for starting this conversation, I logged in to ask the same question...

I use a simple Timex watch. I push "start" when I start and "stop" when I stop. 

My kids would tell you that the "interval" is as important as the time you are swimming.  For instance, you swim 10 X 100's at 1:10 pace.....that's great, but they don't care.  They want to know what you left the wall on for the next interval.

My son will say, for instance, "we did 20 X 100's today, the first 10 were on 1:15 and the second 10 were on 1:10."  What he means is that the actual swim and the rest are in the "interval".  He doesn't care at all what he actually swam the 100's in until he is swimming one in a meet. 

Yeah I understand intervals.

I guess for ME (and others will vary of course) for long distance IM swim training I'm really most interested in my average pace over 2000, 3000, 4000+ yards. 

I think this is a big part of the difference.

 First, if I'm in the pool I'm not doing 2000 yard straight.  Maybe 500.   A lot of 200s or 100s.

If I'm doing OW then I'm much more likely to record exact time that I'm swimming. But then those tend to be jump in swim 1000 (min) and then maybe take a long break and do some more. 

In the pool most of my breaks are less than a minute.  The longer ones are maybe 3.  At least I like to pretend they are that short.

For what it's worth, you'll understand how to get the best improvement at those distances if you're paying attention, over the long-run, to how your shorter intervals in the pool are progressing.

To carry the running analogy ... I'm most interested in my marathon time. To understand how that improves, I need to be in tune with what I'm doing on the track. If I'm running my 800s at X pace, it will inform how I approach my race.

The same holds true for the water. If you're swimming your 10 x 100s at X pace, it will inform how you approach your longer race. 

Yep.

I'm no swim expert....but I watch ALOT of swim practices.  Most of the kids I watch swim a mile in 16:30 - 18:00....they NEVER swim a straight mile in practice.

Log how YOU want to log it.

I have varied my logging from logging TOTAL time and distance (which included rests), then there are days where I logged just the intervals TOTAL time (which skipped the rests).  Whatever works and makes sense to ME.

And you're not just looking at an average of the intervals, but looking to see what they do over time. Value that's missing by only doing overall.

This.    I know from my times during sets where my fitness is.   The average pace per 100 over an hour masters class is not a relevant number to me

Well, clearly your IM swim times tell me that you are artificially inflating your swim time in training.  

Here on BT: I record total time in the water.

On Training peaks: I track all my splits, heart rate (taken manually at the end of certain sets), number of strokes, SWOLF, and whatever my coach wants to know.

Do what make you happy and keeps you coming back the next day...