Have you felt the frustration of not getting the full workout recorded when using a Garmin to record your swim if you include drills? It used to really bug me. To rectify this, I would log into Training Peaks and manually change the distance to record the distance that I had actually swum.
The reason for this is that the accelerometers within the watch record the circular movement of your wrist whilst you are swimming to detect that you are swimming, so if the drill you do is only using the arm that the watch isn’t on (such as single arm swimming), or involves no arm turn over (such as kick sets) it will often not detect that you are moving.
Rather than having to rectify this each time you swim, in some of the more modern models, Fenix 5, Forerunner 935, 920XT and 735 you can set it to utilise the Drill Log mode. Prior to commencing your drill set, use the up or down buttons to scroll through to the Drill Log and press the Back button to start recording the drill lengths. At the end of the drill you press the Back button again. The watch will then give you the option of manually entering how far you swum for that rep. Use the up and down buttons to select the distance that you swum (ensure you have set the pool length correctly) and then press the Start-Stop button to Enter that distance. You are now ready to go for your next rep.
I use this feature regardless of what drill I’m actually doing, check out my video below
If you would like to upgrade to a Garmin Forerunner 935, touch base with the team at Kiwi Multisport.
https://www.kiwimultisport.co.nz/store.cfm/product/garmin-forerunner-935
If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.
I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.
I specialise in assisting first timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729. Make sure you sign up to my informative newsletter.
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Coach Ray is the author of the successful 12 Weeks to an Ironman Swim PB – Swim Faster with Smart Training eBook.