How to count lengths when swimming

Tired of numbers? Maybe you can try letters!

The concept is as follows: Instead of continuously repeating the number of lengths or laps in your head, it involves associating a letter with each 100 metres or 50 metres.

In more concrete terms, your first 100 metres will be under the letter "A", so repeat in your head a word beginning with "A”. The second 100 metres will be under the letter "B" and so on…

Our brains like associations. Linking a word to a quantitative value will make it much easier to avoid getting mixed up during your workout!

This second solution requires a bit of thinking beforehand.

It involves measuring your time over 100 metres at a training pace. This time will have to be rounded up to get a final result of x minutes exactly or x minutes 30 seconds. For example, if the time is 1 minute 35 seconds then the result will be 2 minutes. If the time is 1 minute 15 seconds, the result will be 1 minute 30 seconds.

Once this is done, you will easily be able to figure out your time, whether via a standard clock or using the "needle" that can be found in almost all swimming pools.

If you tend to lose track, make a habit of looking at the pace clock or standard clock when you start and do not hesitate to use it to deduce the distance you have swum.

Do you swim 100 metres in about 1 minute 30 seconds? If you started 10 minutes ago that means that you have swum 600 metres and you will soon be reaching 700!

Diversifying your workout has many benefits: physical (working on all muscles), psychological (breaks up the routine) but also organisational.

By dividing up your training session into several small parts you will find it much easier to know where you are.

First, the workout must include three distinct main parts: warm-up, sets and recovery.

In these parts, do not hesitate to split your distances into several chunks or even add training equipment to mix things up.

Example: instead of doing 1,000 metres in one go, instead try: 10 x 100 metres: 1 using just your legs with a kickboard / 1 with a pull buoy

Rest periods need not be very long, but they will allow you, in addition to you not losing track, to have a drink between every 100 metres and set yourself time goals, for better progress.

One of the best ways to avoid losing track during a training session is to organise it thoroughly.

In addition to being extremely effective in improving swimming, the typical organisation of a pyramid workout is fairly easy to remember and therefore to complete without losing track.

The idea is as follows:

To swim 2,500 metres, the workout will be broken down in this way:

100m + 200m + 300m + 400m + 500m + 400m +300m + 200m + 100m = 2,500m

or

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 25 laps = 2,500m

You will therefore only need to count a maximum (in a 50-metre pool) of 5 laps, which avoids having to keep track of a silly amount of numbers and giving yourself a headache!

If you really want to play the easy card—and why shouldn't you—you can always write down your workout in black and white on paper by noting down the number of lengths equivalent to each part.

Simply insert it in a plastic sleeve and bring it with you, to the edge of the water, next to your water bottle. Take a quick look with every sip and voilà!


So what do you think is the best solution?

And how about you, how do you count your lengths?