Like a mantra, every stroke, my lap count...or else I loose count.

32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, etc. (flip turn), 33, 33, 33, 33, 33, 33, 33, etc. (flip turn), 34, 34, 34, Oooo that babe in lane 5 is HOT, 34, 34, 34, Wait! Isn't this lap 35?

Dan

I listen to my swimp3. Each song lends itself to a different focus. Sometimes it's lengthening my body in the water. Sometimes it's keeping my hips rolling in a rhythym. By the end of a ocean swim or when swimming against a current the song just keeps me from thinking of the difficulty.

Well, J, IDEALLY you'd be thinking about swimming. If you are a competitive swimmer, practice is the place for thinking, that way when it comes to race day your body just runs on autopilot. I tell my kids that they need to be students of the sport in order to be successful, constantly aware of their bodies and their movements. Its funny though, when I'm on deck looking down at them I can definately tell which ones are aware and which ones are singing Britney...

On recreational swims, its definately disney songs that play in my head, especially Little Mermaid!

I only recently learned to count down laps rather than up. My lanemate says it motivates her as the number diminishes. It also mitigates the Dumb Jock Syndrome, the increasing difficulty of basic cognitive tasks as the blood flow is shunted away from non-essential systems (e.g. digestive system) to more demanding ones (muscles).

I used to do the Sesame street song for each number: "1, 2, 3, 4, ... 5! 5! 5! 5! Let's sing a song of 5! How many is 5?" (state 5 things 4 times, eg "5 ossified Republicans, 5 amorous Rottweilers") and then "5 (insert flavor here eg Kahlua Boston cream) pies!"

This is an interesting question. When I was training for running a marathon, I read somewhere not to listen to music because if you're training for an endurance event you have to prepare the mind and listening to music will only last so long. So, if you are needing to train for something that is going to last 4 hours + what's the best way to train your mind? Right now I've been swimming in a pool, and I count my laps in sets of 10. Last Sunday I did a long swim of 200 laps, so 20 sets just focusing on the next 10 instead of getting wrapped up in the fact that I was only on set 4 or something. I am training for an open water swim, and I think I have to do something different to count my laps. Because, at the moment I'm training my brain to focus on counting. When I'm in open water there will be no counting, so it's counter productive to preparing my mind for open water swimming. I do think about my form a lot, and trying to improve it. It's interesting to read what other people have responded to this question. It seems that most people have some kind of focal point they come back to, a stay in the moment thing. I think endurance sports are in some ways an act in mind control than the physical piece, I like to think of them as a "meditation of the will." There are people who swim in the pool with me frequently that are much better swimmers, stronger, better form yet they couldn't swim 200 laps. What I've been working on is the mind control piece and that gives me an endurance advantage.

I would like to bump this product that I mentioned earlier in this thread. It has done wonders for lap counts and it is very easy to use.

Lap Counter