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I occasionally hear complaints from swimmers who are new to stroke counting while swimming. Like bi-lateral breathing, counting is just a basic mindful skill we need to put in the effort to acquire and then it is there for use like an easy habit. Once it is learned the swimmer can turn it on or off as needed.
Over the years I have developed some ways to reduce the mental complexity for myself. For various reasons I like to use up to 300-stroke intervals in open water, but this is a high number to count to, and honestly I would often lose count going that high when there are so many other things competing for attention.
First, I see how the brain has something like two ‘channels’ which can send/receive signals simultaneously, possibly related to the fact that we have two halves of the brain controlling different functions at the same time. The way I describe it, the right side of my brain can monitor the focal point, while the left side of the brain does the stroke counting. And this is the explanation I use for what is happening in my head while I swim, and it encourages me to believe you can do it too.
If I want to go that high I don’t count 300-strokes anymore, I count 150… twice. I count left arm ONE, right arm ONE, left arm TWO, right arm TWO, and so on. That greatly reinforces the count so I don’t forget and I don’t have to count as high. It also balances out my arm action because I found, if I only count one arm, I sometimes tend to accentuate something on only that side of the body and I did not like this imbalance. So, I count both arm, but use the same number for both arms, so each get the emphasis of the count moment. This is similar to the effect a Tempo Trainer can have if you set it to skip strokes (explained in Weaning Of The Tempo Trainer).
So, you may pick stroke count interval that fits your current attention span (like 20, 50, 100, etc) and start experimenting with different ways to count so that you settle on one or two that will feel nice to your brain.
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