I can’t count. It’s true. I went to a top business school, graduated with an accounting degree, passed the CPA exam, and worked some tough audit and finance jobs. Yet, despite all that, I am unable to count past three. Well, I take that back. I can count past three as long as I am dry. As soon as I hit the pool, my counting skills swim away.
As everyone knows, swimming laps in the pool is monotonous. After the first couple of laps, I totally loose count of what lap I’m on. I used to use the big clock at the end of the pool to keep track. It takes me just over a minute to swim 50 yards, so keeping track on the clock tells me how many laps I’ve done. After a while though, foggy goggles make the clock hard to see. Having to spot the clock as I’m trying to make a fairly quick turn is also a challenge sometimes.
This SportCount watch is pretty nifty, and I’ve been loving it since I got it for the holidays. As the picture shows (no, that is not my hand!), you wear it on your finger and hit the button with your thumb. This is so much better than wearing a wrist watch because you don’t have to cross your arm over to slap it. Since it’s made specifically for lap counting and timing only and not telling time of day, it’s very simple and easy to use. It counts your laps and displays your lap time. At the end, it gives you your average lap time, fastest lap, slowest lap, and you can review each individual lap.
Now, if I could just get a device that tells me how many laps are in a 800 yd set. After warming up and doing a couple of sets of 400 yds, I was supposed to do an 800 yd set. Somehow, I convinced myself that it was 32 laps. After 16, I decided to quit and felt terrible that I wimped out. When I came home and told Mike, he nicely informed me that 16 laps was 800 yards. I was feeling guilty for nothing!
{ 18 comments }
Love the protein bar story
…I can’t wait to watch The Spirit of the Marathon!
That is definitely a nifty little swimming gadget (for swimmers
).
I always lose count of my laps. I need one of those little things.
I can’t even count my laps on the track, I just get too into my workout and lose track. I didn’t realize you had older kids. Mine are older than yours but you look SO young. It must be all the running and good times, keep it up
!
What a cool gadget!
Don’t feel bad…I can’t count while I am running or swimming. The only way I can keep track on my laps in the pool is by doing a different style on every lap…(Lap 1: crawl; Lap 2: breast stroke; Lap 3: backstroke…and repeat). The SportCount watch looks neat…I need that!
A normal pool is 25 yards long. So your 800 should take you down and back 16 times (or a total of 32 lengths of the pool). Most often you will hear people talk in terms of yards; do 100 hard, then 50 easy, then 100 hard, then 50 easy…. This avoids any confusion over the term lap; some people think lap is one length, and some two.
Hi Beth,
You did such an awesome job on your new web page!! I am very impressed! Did it take you long? I am still trying to figur out the blog spot and still have alot to learn.
It looks like you have a cool little lap counter there:) I needed something like that when I was running the track at my club. I can’t count out of the water let alone in the water:) Not that I would ever be in the water because I am a horrible swimmer. I hope that you have a great week Beth!
I do the same thing! I do stats for work but basic addition escapes me.
You know, I use your old strategy — I take the time of my last lap and divide it into the time I have swam. I figure out my approximate distance and then stop or keep going.
I like your new lap counter better.
I feel like fatigue does a serious number on focus and math skills. As an engineer, I have above average math skills, but trying to calculate what pace I need during the last few miles of a race in order to hit a goal time becomes completely impossible!
And if I have to do more then six intervals, the counting becomes extremely challenging
I am very impressed with how far you can swim. I think the longest I have ever swam was a 1/4 mile. That would mean I need some training before I attempt to tackle the IronMan someday, huh. Great job in the workouts. Beautiful new website.
Hey, love the new site, I’ve updated my reader! Damn! I knew I forgot to look for something during my trip to Fl! I wanted to look for one of those ring counters after seeing one recently, I currently now have the watch, and the same aggravation you mentioned!
I have been there — except running laps on a track! And if you run a bunch (like 20) you really can’t estimate based on elapsed time, either. Running with a watch and Garmin solved that problem!
I believe that Natalie has one of those gadets too….I have to count in fours (for 100 yards) and also have to do the math before I get in the pool (“okay, 500 yards equals……500/100 = 5 x 4 (for 100) = 20…”) Pitiful… (love your new website though!)
What a great idea! I could have used that at the Dome last week when the weather was so awful!
That is cool… Maybe one could use it at Fan’s. After circling that lake for 23 hours…
YAYYYY! I have this gadget too! It is my savior. When I first bought it about two years ago, people laughed at me. I had gone to a few Masters Swims with a “swim coach” at the time who was one of those people who scoffed (I never went back to him after that-can you tell I am a little bitter?). I thought to myself, hey what does it matter? It keeps me accountable and keeps track of laps for me! I LOVE IT!!
I can’t even count laps at the track . . . too confusing! Thankfully I usually think I’ve run less than I actually have instead of more.
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