I try to break mine into 100 m sets on each stroke. 4 strokes per set. Once in a while I'll lose track of which SET I'm on, but the lap number for that stroke in the set I can at least keep in my head. The days I have trouble are the ones where I push flat endurance - 8 double laps per stroke. I usually loose track around lap 5 because I accidentally count when I'm at the START of the lap, not the turn over of the double lap. Those days I wish I had remembered my phone.

Put the phone in a baggie, and set it the stop watch with a lap function. Tap out each time I hit the starting point. But, I have to get a new baggie because the one I've been using has been showing signs of water inside recently, and I don't want to risk ruining the phone.

FYI - in swim language one "lap" is generally 50 yards (or meters). Most pools in the U.S. are general 25 yards long so one "Lap" would be 2 "lengths" (i.e. down and back) of the pool.

Internationally it is more common for the pools to be 25 meters in length so one lap (down and back) would be 50 meters.

On an Olympic pool the distance is 50 meters in length so the "lap" would only be one "length" on those "Long Course" configured pools.



In most cases here in the USA (ie. YMCA, municipal pool, gym pool, etc) it is most likely that the pool size is 25 yards long so the full (2 length) lap would be 50 yards total.

In that case, a 1 mile swim would be equal a total of:

A) 1760 yards

35.2 Laps (down AND back of 50 yards each lap)

C) 70.4 Lengths (1 direction only w/o turning of 25 yards each direction)


Hope that helps clear things up.

I bought a tally counter which is much cheaper (costs like £2 /$3 ) and does the same job as the ones specifically designed for swimming.

Since we went on the hijack topic: I love my lap counter. I bought the one that keeps track of every split and I love it. The nice part is that when I was learning to use it, I could go back and see if I missed a click or double clicked by looking at the split times. I figured out that for me, it was best to just record lengths so I didn't have to remember to click at one flip and not the other; I just divide by two when I'm done. I tried laps for over a week and it just wasn't working, but when I switched to lengths I had it down in two swims.

The one thing I discovered is that my 'mile' time went up a couple of minutes. I wasn't telling anyone my times, so it wasn't like I was trying to inflate my speed to show off, I honestly would lose count once I was in my 30's of laps.

I did discover though that it only keeps the first 100 splits. After that it only keeps time and length/lap count.

Growing up swimming in the '70's, a lap & length were always the same thing - runners wound up back at the same point they started upon completion of a lap but us swimmers didn't. People ask me how much I swim, I tell them how many laps - if they ask "just down or down & back" I just answer them, it's not a big deal.

For counting, I've always counted by yards (25 per lap no matter the length of the pool because the math is easy) because I just find that easier to keep track of & remember than counting the # of laps.....

Good tip on the cramps.

I had a LOT of problems with that in the first year of lap swimming. *KNOCK ON WOOD* I have not had problems in quite a while, but if I do I'll try that.