The Bamboo Room (Forum) > Black line boredom - pool swimming makes me cry.
There's a gadget that is like a people counter. slips over your finger and you hit it every time you make a lap. That can help you keep count.
Otherwise, music is the only thing that makes swimming interesting for me. Thank God for waterproof music players. If Phelps is using one, it's fine in my book.
Coach Brett
ah HA! these bad boys: http://www.sportcount.com/productsNew.php?category=SportCount
hmm I think I still might need to take a good hard look at the swimp3.
mchristian
I also have been mixing it up, doing a reverse tri. 15 minute run followed by 15 minute spin bike followed by 15 minute swim so you feel like you are in a mini mental race. see how far you go total and then track it. I get mucho bored swimming and go with the music audio as well with an h2o audio ( I give it a B+)
drewhbend
Drew, if you had a SWIMP3 instead you'd be rockin the pool like Dokken.
Coach Brett
yeah...now I know, the bone conduction makes more sense
drewhbend
Cool new gadget for automatic lap counting. check out www.swimovate.com
I'm using one and its OK, although now I don't have to count I find my self counting band aids on the pool floor.
Dave in the High Peak
Since I don't have a swim mp3 player (yet!), I try to dedicate a lap to thinking of something significant in my life that relates to the number of lap that I am on. For instance, I dedicate lap 3 to my family since we are a family of 3 people and I get to spend that time reflecting on what's good with the family today, I dedicate laps 7 and 13 to my son because he is 7 years old and born on the 13th, lap 11 (part of my address) I contemplate my house and try to find something grateful to relate to that (it can be a challenge as it's kind of a money pit). Anyway, this is sometimes a challenge to find something significant in my life related to every number, but I've found it very meditative and calming. PLUS, my rule to myself is that every thought has to be positive, so even if it's not been the most positive day, this allows me to refocus on what's important in my life.
Another tip I was once given was to use the lane line bouy's and move one every lap. I know for some people I swim with this works, but not so much for me. I've found they get moved around too much by the water and other swimmers, plus I tend to lose count of if I remembered to move the bouy last time or not.
KP
Hi,
I wonder how much lap counting your are doing? I know that for most of the sessions I do, that rarely do I do more than 500m-1000m in a single swim. The only exception is close to an Ironman or even half-Ironman, I like to swim the complete distance in the lead up, more as confidence booster than anything else (I'm not a super swimmer). Even listening to Brett in his Podcast, he seems to favour 10x100m with set rest. That sort of workout shouldn't be too hard to track. I like to use my Polar heart-rate monitor as well (I know, many don't like to use them in the water, but I've had good success, and it helps me track my training load, and help prevent burnout). When you time your laps, most watches have a lap counter. But, all of that aside, I wonder if you are doing a very long swim (say 2000m) and having the mind wander there? I see a parallel to running where sometimes, instead of inward focusing (on your form, your breathing, etc) you focus outward (on the conditions, the flowers & trees). I've been reading recently the "Chi Running" book by Danny Dreyer, and part of the Chi Running philosophy is to stay inwardly focused he says - "But who wants to focus that much?" you might ask. "I just run to relax & rest my mind". Like a meditation practice, the training of the mind & body in ChiRunning is more relaxing than letting the mind wander...." I have tried this in the swim as well, and it seems to work. Many people I talk to about what they think about when swimming, is they (like me) are constantly concentrating on perfecting the stroke, checking body postion, roll, hand entry, elbows high, breathing, etc. I wonder if more structure is helpful to focus the workout. I have been using the "Start to Finish - Ironman training" by Paul Huddle & Rocj Frey, where I have copied out the swim workouts, and laminated them, and take them to the pool. I like the structure of 3 swims a week with seperate technique, aerobic and speed workouts. Anyway some food for thought.
Tom Vandenbelt
Join a swim team maybe a masters group. They will change it up, and spice it enough for you
Sergio
True. Swim teams make it interesting. For really long pool swims, I'll just set a crazy tight interval so that I have to keep swimming, but it keeps me from going too fast. I use my Suunto T6c for that.
Coach Brett
Aside from a wickedly awesome SwimP3 - Any tips on keeping your brain in check during a long pool swim?
I usually stay focused on keeping count. I can't seem to drift anywhere beyond just holding my lap count. If I drift into math problems, solving world hunger, or figuring out my afternoon, I end up losing count then I lose my rhythm..