JasoninHalifax wrote:
Mike Alexander wrote:
I have heard this before. Why do "real swimmers" not use a watch in the pool? Do they not find value in recording performance or sharing that data with a coach?There’s plenty of value in recording performance. The trick is making it accurate and that the performance is relevant. Watch is also distracting for many of us who grew up in a swim environment (and we take a certain pride in being able to read a wall clock to manage out splits)
Other than times, there's nothing of value a "swim watch" can give me (with current tech, anyway). And I haven't seen one that can record pool swims accurately enough to bother wearing.
I have a $25 finger stopwatch that I use to get my times on race pace repeats. For longer swims, I use the clock to count laps, so I'm acutely aware of my intermediate splits/pacing. The only data I'm generally interested in recording is total yardage, and, for the main set(s),
- what was the rep distance & interval
- what was the race pace target time (and correlating race)
- how many reps did I successfully complete at race pace before failing the 1st time, 2nd time, and 3rd time
"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"