Counting to Seven

Last week's swim workout had us complete 1700 meters. Many thanks to our coach for making us go beyond the distances that we have to complete for our event. We should be well prepared for the triathlon in June!

The workout plan was a warm up followed by ladders. To complete the ladders we swam 1 lap followed by a 1 minute rest. Then we swam 2 laps followed by another 1 minute rest. Next came 3 laps followed by a 1 minute rest and so on up until 7 laps. 

Now I've been enjoying swimming very much now that I kind of have the hang of it - or at least can get from one end of the pool and back pretty easily regardless of how ugly the form may be. But it's still incredibly boring. There's no iPod. There's no one to talk to. There's no TV to watch. It's pretty mind numbing actually. And to keep count of laps is nearly impossible because my mind just wanders all over the place. I get to about 3 or 4 laps and I've already lost count. 

I talked to Gabe prior to our swim and he suggested making up a story with numbers in it. That got me thinking so what I did instead was think of songs with numbers in the titles and lyrics. So the first lap I thought of the songs "One is the Loneliest Number" and "One Fine Day." The second lap I sang in my head "Love Me Two Times." It started to get difficult very quickly, so I moved on to songs with words that rhymed with the numbers. Instead of two it was shoes or lose. The third lap I thought about "Knock Three Times" and words like be and see. 

This technique was just the ticket. I never once lost count even all the way up to 7 laps! 

So, I am taking suggestions for songs that I can sing in my head while swimming. Five is particularly challenging since alive is about the only word I could come up with. I can only think of ELO's song "I'm Alive" for so long...

Thanks for your help!  : )

-- JAM