swimming help please

babymaddux

ok. i used to swim a heck of a lot when i was younger. synchronised swimming for 12 years to a pretty high standard and competitive live saving for several years. as a result of this, i can't judge my exertion by how hard a breathe, i don't breathe hard no matter what i do. there isn't a working clock at the pool i go to to judge my heart rate or my recovery time, so how i do decide if i was working hard or not?
i swam tonight for the first time in about 6 months. i did a mile in under 45 mins. for roughly half of it, i was either using only arms or only legs, using a vertical kick board for extra resistance with my legs. i wasn't ever breathing hard, but i could feel my muscles. and for the other half i was mixing strokes.

so my question is, without the expense of a waterproof heart rate monitor, how do i log this. was it vigorous or not? my judgement is off because of what i used to do as a kid...

rmspear

I bought a swim watch called the Garmin Swim (about $150). It takes into account my weight the number of laps I swim, and how fast I go. I've been doing a mile in about 40 minutes and at it reports that I burned 392 calories for that amount of swimming. This is fairly consistent with the guidelines that I saw on the Mayo Clinic website.

Hope that helps.
Rick

cmriverside

A cheap waterproof watch has the ability to time you, and you can buy one for $25 that will give you a "pulse" option if you really want to time your heartbeat, but a couple fingers to the neck will work, too, along with the cheap watch.

Or, just guess...pick one of the categories and use it consistently. If you aren't getting result, adjust accordingly.

Evn a heart rate monitor is a best-estimate device. Totally not necessary.