Pick a colour and stick with it. It helps having the different colours when you have a bunch of swimmers in the same lane, 5 secs between swimmers.

When I swim, I always start a set on the blue top.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

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

It seems like most pools I've been to lately don't know where to put the clock. When I swam in high school and college, it was always along side the pool, so you could look at it as you took your first breath after a turn or your last breath after a turn.

Clubs seem to have them, if they have them at all, at the end of the pool, so you have to do an open turn to see it, or really crank your head around on a breath to see it.

Given those situations, I use my watch. I can take a peak at it under water just before I push off after a flip turn.

Victor

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When swimmers look at the clock, they are really just looking at the second hand. Most people will start a set "on the top" (at the 12 o clock position) or "on the bottom (at the 6 o clock position). Lets say you are going to do 10 x 100 on 1:30 (just to make things easy) If you leave on the top, swim your hundred in 1:20, you then rest on the wall and leave "on the bottom". This is obviously a very simple example, but you get the point. For more complicated sets, I simply calculate the time at which I will start the next interval in my head, but only thinking about the second hand. For instance, if the interval is 5 x 1:40 and I start the first interval "on the top", my departure times will be as follows: :40, :20, :00, :40, :20. Again, I only focus on the second hand as it is highly unlikely that you will swim an interval a minute short or long of your objective. The more you do this, the better at 'swim math' you will become. Our masters workouts can get pretty confusing at times. This morning, I definitely lost track of my time and I was leading the lane... (sorry to the guys who swam behind me as I am fairly sure I cut our rest time in half!)

The only time I will use my watch to swim is when I am doing a long time trial. I will leave the watch on the deck as I think it is uncomfortable to wear a watch in the water and I have had more leaky timex watches than I can count. I swam a 1000 meter time trial last night and calculated my with my running watch. I don't think it is wrong to wear a watch in the water (but not entirely necessary). I do think it is down right obnoxious when people wear HR monitors in the water. Besides the sneers you may get from swimmers, it is really best to keep those things out of the water.

Not sure why there are 4 hands on the clock or why they have different colors. All the clocks ive swam with have 2, one a min and the other sec.
For 200m repeats on a 3:50 interval, find the second hand and start your first 200 on the "Top" , which may be numbered as 60 or 12, either way, its at the top. Start your 2nd 200 when the sec hand reaches 50, 3rd 200 when the hand reaches 40..... Keep subtracting 10 sec... notice the pattern. BTW you will have completed six 200s when you leave again to the "Top".
For a 2:40 interval leave on the top, 40, and 20. For a 2:20 interval leave on the top, 20, and 40.
Did this help? or was your question more complex?
Good luck

I'm pretty sure it's called math. ;-)

This one has four hands at right angles, all rotating like an x-shaped second hand. I think the colours are red, blue, yellow and green (?). So since they're all second hands I should just pick one. Maybe its purpose is to have a group of swimmers start their intervals with 15s spacing. Aha!
Thanks for the tip.

When I really don't like myself, I do a set consisting of 100/200/300/400/500/400/300/200/100. On 1:25/100yd sendoff (that'd be 1:25, 4:15, 8:30,...). I probably lose :02/100 just trying to figure out when I left for the last interval...

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"Go yell at an M&M"

No, there was no hidden meaning to the question. The four hands threw me but now I know to pick a colour and start on top. Blue top sounds like a good start.
Thanks everyone!

That's OK, the clock at the pool where I swim has no hands...

Some swimmers (myself included) always want to start a set on the top as it makes it easier to calculate your interval. Having 4 second hands of different colours means you can start on a top every 15 seconds... I think it was an evil coach's idea as we used to always count on those 30 seconds or so of extra rest between sets when the coach would say "on next top...." that became "on the red top..."

I agree with the clock placement thing. On the side, near one end, at a slight angle so can see for 25s and 75s. I actually use the clock to double check where I am in a long repeat (ie. in a 400 if I turn and the second hand is at about 25-30 I have done a 200 and have a 200 to go.

Hardest set I do to calculate repeats is what we call elimination 100s. Start at 2:00, drop by 2 sec every 2 until you miss the pace. At some point you are bordering on anaerobic and trying to figure out when you need to leave if you left on the 14 and that repeat is on 16 (sounds easy now... but after 4 thousand...).

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"which is like watching one of your buddies announce that he's quitting booze and cigarettes, switching to a Vegan diet and training for triathalons ... but he's going to keep snorting heroin." Bill Simmons, ESPN

I just finished that set... :)

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"which is like watching one of your buddies announce that he's quitting booze and cigarettes, switching to a Vegan diet and training for triathalons ... but he's going to keep snorting heroin." Bill Simmons, ESPN

In order to keep us from, um, accidentally giving ourselves too much rest, my coaches would always write out and post the sendoff numbers for descending 100 sets beforehand. Even when pace clock math is otherwise automatic, we'd tend to screw those up in our favor.

Other reasons for pace clocks:

1. They've got nice big numbers and second hands, and the 60% of swimmers that consider themselves to be blind as bats often find that easier to see than squinting at a watch
2. Easier to keep all eight people in a short course lane synchronized on sendoff times. Try to do that with watches, and two seconds off on a watch here and there screws the whole lane up.
3. You don't break stroke as much trying to get a look at the clock as you do with your watch if you screw up and lose track of distance midway through a 400.
4. Coach can easily see exactly when you're coming in on every repetition

Keeps me from getting out of rhythm as I'm checking my time- looking @ a watch is disruptive. I never swam before tri, and use the pace clock. I also suck ass at swimming- here's to breaking down stereotypes!

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If I don't, who will? -Me
It's like being bipolar in opinion is a requirement around here. -TripleThreat

I think that your real questions have been answered so just a comment.

Four moving second hands? That is much, much too complicated for me. Plus, I'm blind as a bat without glasses and can just barely figure out if the second hand is on the top or the bottom from more than maybe two lanes away on the very small clock at our local YMCA.