Swimming Terminology - Time

If you missed part 1 - distance a few weeks ago, you can find it here.

We are now talking about time!  If your workout says to do one of these, don't panic! And of course, feel free to "That's what she said" on these first two :)

on the top - Starting when the standard clock (not digital) reaches "60" at the top of the clock.

on the bottom - Starting when the standard clock (not digital) reaches "30" at the bottom of the clock.

set - the "set" would be the number of times you are doing a distance in a specific manner.  Ex:  " 5 x 100 free" would mean you are doing 100 yards of freestyle 5 times, stopping after each 100.

on x minutes - the amount of time you have to do a certain distance.  Ex: "100 yards freestyle on 2 minutes".  Whether you complete 100 yards in 1:30 or 1:59, you will start your next 100 yards 2 minutes after the first.  The amount of rest you get is determined by how fast you complete the distance.

with x seconds rest in between - the amount of time you are required to rest in between distances.  Ex:  "5 x 100 free w/30 r".  You will swim 100 at the pace of your (or your coach's) choosing, taking 30 seconds to rest in between each one.  r = rest

touch pad- the device that is used to signal when swimmers finish their race.  It is placed over the ledge at the end of the pool and when you touch the wall at the end, you are really hitting the touch pad, which sends a signal to the computer that you have finished and your time will show up on the scoreboard.  During a race, it will show your splits for a small amount of time on the scoreboard before reverting back to the race clock. It is like a vertical timing mat, that starts at the beginning of the race, but you have to hit it to signal your completion. 

In a swim meet, the official results will, most of the time, be when the swimmer hit the touch pad and a signal is sent to the computer that they were done swimming.  Each event is programmed in, so that the computer will know when they are done (ex:  if someone swims 50 yards in the time it takes someone else to swim 100 yards, it will not say that the 50 yard finisher has beaten the 100 yard finisher.)  Sometimes a swimmer will not hit the touch pad hard enough, causing the clock to keep going.  In this case, the two "timers" of the lane will have hit stopwatches at the start and stop of the individual's race and will record the times they collected to serve as the official time for that individual.  Kind of confusing, but the majority of good swimmers will come into the wall fast at the end and it will not be a problem!

if you have questions or words I can include, please let me know!  Email me:  i*am*faster*in*water@*gmail.com (Just take out the *s!).