You have to press down or up on the scroll buttons to get off of the drill mode screen.

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"Just don’t abandon everything you’ve ever learned because of something someone said on the internet." - Eric McGinnis

Even when I do that it doesn't seem like it is back to normal.

From drill mode push down and you will go to your rest screen then hit lap to start another interval.

Out of curiosity, what do you actually DO with all the data those things collect?

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I can't speak for the OP, but for me, as a late adult onset swimmer, the data gives a nice history of my actual performance over time. I find my memory isn't that reliable as to my actual performance at different stages of my swimming progress, when I look at the data I can see where I actually was making progress and where I stalled out. I can experiment with my technique and have an objective record to review afterwards of what worked and what didn't. I also always breathe to the same side of the pool so that I'm working my strong and weak side equally, and I always review my time on the lengths to see if I'm closing the gap between my weak side and strong side.

One of the big attractions initially for me was not losing count of my laps and counting my yardage, but I will say as I've gotten more experienced with my swimming, structuring workouts, and watching the pace clock I find I rarely lose track of what I'm doing any more.

For me the watch is generally pretty accurate as to my yardage but I do see some occasional glitches on individual lengths where the watch didn't quite get the timing of the turn right.

I would think the data would be pretty useful for a coach dealing with a remote athlete.

I know the fishes think these watches are for dorks, and well, maybe I'm a dork but so what. If I was a longtime fish with mature technique, a stable level of fitness, and a great feel for varying timed intervals with the pace clock, I doubt I'd bother with the watch.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I swim at a pool in the summer that has no pace clock and the watch is nice to have in that context.

Yeah, I guess I don't review anything after the fact. I know what intervals I need to hit, and I care about it right then. Later is too late. In fact, I probably wouldn't get any value out of it in post-analysis, as I wouldn't be able to sync what I was feeling at the time to the time for that repeat.

I can see how it would be useful without a pace clock, but even then, I'd probably just use a regular old Timex as a mini-pace clock and leave it on the end of the lane. In fact, that's exactly what I used to do at pools where the pace clock was broken.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

For us horrible swimmers it is nice to have laps recorded so you can see how you are improving on your times. It acts as a motivator to get faster. Just the same as running you start out at a 10 minute pace and then get to see your pace drop as your training progresses. It is also nice to see if you are doing a fast 50 how your times compare for the first 25 to the last 25 so you can maybe slow down a bit the first part. It is also hard for me to keep track of laps. So if I want to swim 1000 it is nice to just look down for a second to see how far I've gone.

I find it really useful if I implement something my coaching has suggested or try something I've read about or seen in a video. Sometimes, for me at least, the reminder that you can actually improve your times by changing old habits is a strong motivator.

I'm also useless at remembering to count laps....

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For one, my coach looks at it and can tell how consistent I am. IE - during my set of 500s, I go out harder than I probably should and slow down over the course of the interval. Something he saw in the data and mentioned to me. It also tells him other things which I guess I am not experienced enough swimming to really understand.

Secondly, it is just convenient that I don't have to write down my total yardage or anything, and it just uploads to Training Peaks.

Also - really, its just helpful to have a complete picture of all training logged in Training Peaks, both for my own satisfaction and for my coach to have something to look at when deciding how hard I need to go from one week to another or when more rest is called for, etc.

I am also having an issue when I pause at the end of a lap. It is very hard to get back to the workout screen to see my pace. Anyone else have this issue? Also how to you get the rest timer to work? Thanks for the help!

You can set up multiple pages of "rest" data. When I start my workout I push the start button, and don't push that button again until my workout is over. When I finish an interval, I hit the lap button. That brings me to the rest screen (which is black background with white text). It shows total time, total yardage, last interval pace and current rest time. I also have another screen set up with other information (such as last interval distance, last interval time) that I can get to if I need it by pushing the "down" button. These are screens I set up myself in the "Activity Settings" menu for the pool swim activity.

While resting, if you keep pushing down you eventually get to the drill mode screen. If you have a kick set, you use drill mode, push lap at the start and it records the time. When you push lap again when you are finished it asks you how many yards you did (and gives you a prediction based on how many times it felt you push off the wall). To get back out of drill mode, push the down button one more time and it should bring you to the regular rest screen. Then hit lap again to start the next regular interval.

Exactly what I needed. Thank you!

That seems really complicated to me.... I guess this is why I don't have one, I'm not smart enough to remember how to use it.

A far as your other post goes, if you are having trouble with pacing - Tempo Trainer.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Honestly unless you have a kick set in there, it's one button at the end of every interval, and one button when you start again. It is really quite simple.

Swim. Button at the wall. Rest. Button on go...

That's it.

Like I said.... too complicated :-)

With the pace clock I get splits within about a half second.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I guess I feel like I should add that you are a known fish - thus you probably have a WAY better feel for what work you are doing in the water than a typical triathlete.

Although I am a reasonable swimmer and come out of the water in the upper 25% of the pack, I am not a natural fish, so having these data is useful to my coach and to me.

You're not using the watch properly if you're having these issues. Swimming is all about "Intervals/Laps" so you need to make use of that button not the "Start/Stop" button. Start and stop button should be used only to start and end the sessions. The majority of the other functions should involve the Up/Down or Lap/Back button.

Here is an example: I'm swimming a 4x100 with a 20 sec rest followed by a 2x100m catch up drill.

1. Hit Start when I jump into the pool and begin the first "Active Interval". When complete I hit the BACK/LAP button to complete that active interval.
2. This triggers the "Rest Interval" which will then begin. After my 20 seconds I then set off again for my next 100M "Active Interval" by hitting the BACK/LAP button.
3. Once I've completed the 4x100M efforts to move onto the catch up drill I hit up/down button while in the "Rest Interval". There will be a dedicated "Drills" screen
4. I begin my drill by hitting BACK/LAP will again start that "Drill Interval" until complete which I then hit BACK/LAP and select the completed distance for my drill.
5. I will now be in a "Rest Interval" waiting for the next drill or hitting up or down places me back at the data screen.
6. Once I am done the entire workout I would then hit Start/Stop/Enter to save and complete the workout for Transfer to Garmin Connect etc

Hope this helps you get a grasp of the way to use a 920 in the pool!

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Good info. Can you tell me how to do intervals on some time? Let's say I'm doing 100 repeats on 1:35, how do I do that with my 920xt? Also, will the watch give me total distance swum, if say, my workout consists of 100s and 50s and 75s?

Thanks again for any help you can provide.

The rest screen has a "repeat on" field that includes your last interval plus rest.

I have told so many people that the number one tool that has improved my swim is a tempo trainer, yet no one ever buys one. I use it for pacing long sets and stroke rate work.

I had no interest in the swim function but got a 920 mainly because I just wanted a new toy. I decided to give the swim mode a try and I really like it. It's not that complicated once you use it a bit, and the pace clock at my pool, which is actually a crappy digital clock, is really hard to read.

Having this watch actually pushes me a bit in the pool. There's something about having my data recorded that makes me feel more accountable. As soon as I hit the lap button, the rest timer is ticking. Overall time shows too, which I never really paid attention to. The other day I had a set that I figured would take an hour. I was done at 52 minutes. I figured since I had set aside an hour to swim, I might as well swim a bit more. It also calculates average pace, which pushes me a bit, and I can see exactly how much total rest time I had and that pushes me. On the days I do distance sets, it becomes a game to see how many yards I can get done in an hour. These aren't straight swims so I try to keep rest to a minimum and keep things moving.

I absolutely love the pool swim functionality of the 920xt. I am an average swimmer getting better with more yardage and love seeing my paces and rest intervals real time on easy to read and understand screens. It motivates me and makes it easier to correlate effort to pace and rest.

For those saying it is complicated I worry about your success in doing regular tasks in life....it is literally "start"-->swim-->"back/lap" (to start rest interval)-->"back/lap" (to start next interval)-->Swim-->Repeat until last interval-->"stop" at the end of last interval. You now have data on every single interval you've done and how much rest you took between intervals.

Now, adding in the drill function adds a slight twist but it's the same concept only difference is at the end of your drill you select how many yards/meters you went. Then use up down to get back to your favorite swim screen.

I'm clearly a technological idiot (as I type this on my iPad)

It's "too complicated" for me, because as I explained above, I don't care about all that data. I will never need to know what every split was in practice. It requires that you hit a button as you leave the wall and as you touch the wall to get accurate splits, which is useless for a swimmer. That's teaching bad habits. A pace clock works better.

I also don't really need anything to count laps for me (I know what my meters for the day are going to be before I get in the water).

I'm not knocking those who want to use it. Fill yer boots, although I will always think that they look ridiculous. But for me, it adds needless complexity to things that are simple, but work effectively.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Like others have said, I can't count so it's nice to have a reasonably accurate picture of how many yards I swam. As an adult onset swimmer it's also nice to look back and objectively see how much I've improved from month to month. I'm sure this will slow down at some point and progress will come more gradually, but as things stand now it's incredibly encouraging to look at my 100 times from a month ago and see that I've taken 10-15 seconds off of that. Did I mention my memory is crap? That goes hand in hand with not being able to count. There's no way I would know what I swam 4 weeks ago if I didn't have it in my Garmin.

I'm also a dad of 12 and 9 year old kids, so being a dork doesn't bother me at all! I've even grown to take a certain pride in it :)

I got a Tempo Trainer for Christmas. I just can't figure out where to begin. It's the Finis Tempo Trainer Pro.

By the way, thanks for the 920xt help. I just got home from swimming and I love that function. Awesome.

Can you give me any tips for how to keep the watch accurate with respect to distance? It lost 25 yards somewhere in my opening warmup set (i.e. I swam 400 warm up and it counted it as 375).