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I often assign or encourage counting strokes. And, sometimes I hear a complaint that it is so hard to do. I realize years of practice have made this second nature for me, but I am also aware that counting, like so many things we are learning to do in TI, is a skill that may first need to be practiced as a discipline in order for it to be available as a tool when we could really benefit from it. It is no meant to burden you but to enhance your training experience. But you’ve got to install the tool into your brain, so you can use it.
Here are some thoughts on it to help you improve your understanding and motivation for doing it.
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In my personal training and in our TI training events we use stroke counting extensively. In the pool it might mean monitoring how many strokes are taken on each lap. It might be used to restrain a drill activity to 4 to 6 strokes. In open water it might mean breaking up the next 15 minutes of a swim into smaller mental pieces.
Why Count Strokes?
We use it to create some boundary or limit to the sense of distance. A long swim is broken into smaller pieces our attention and motivation can work more easily within. A 2000 meter swim becomes 4 rounds of 5x 100-stroke pieces I need to accomplish.
We use it to draw attention to this stroke moment NOW rather than let the mind consider how much longer we have to go.
We use it to break a big, complex training task down into more manageable neurological pieces, dividing the time between the ones we have chosen to work on in this practice. The swimmer can give her attention to just that one thing for a moment, then move on to the next. Each detail gets attention for XX number of strokes.
We have to put those things begging for attention into some sort of order so each receives proper care.
We use it to ‘fill the attention channels’ of the mind to make time disappear, to make the practice experience more enjoyable. A wandering mind is an unhappy mind (a scientifically supported insight).
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Stroke Counting Is A Tool, Not A Rule
But if we are aiming for this ideal occupation of the attention channels – one can also over-shoot that target. Counting can also push one out of the moment as well as pull him toward it.
So, then, if counting is so useful, yet it can also be detrimental to my focus on the moment, how do I know if I should use it or not??
Here is what I would advise: If you cannot use stroke counting at all because it always feels like a distraction or overload then you don’t have the skill available to at any time. You need to develop the skill before dismissing it. You may start counting simply as a discipline you need to work at for a while until your brain gets used to it enough that it can be a useful tool to use when you need it.
Once you can count as needed then turn it on when it helps draw you into this stroke moment NOW, to enhance your focus and your experience in the swim. If it doesn’t do that in a particular moment, then consider whether it needs more practice or just needs to be turned off for a while.
Practice the different ways of using it so you get familiar with how they help, then apply a form of counting appropriate to the training task.
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