Swim Distance and Lengths Log

Who this is for

Count lengths, get distance. Write the lengths you swam and the sheet multiplies them by your pool's length, or takes an open-water distance as it is, and adds up each week's swims.

Recreational swimmers who count lengths at the local pool, swim somewhere different on holiday or head to a lake or the sea in summer.

What this helps you track

• Each swim with where it was, the pool length and the lengths swum
• Distance for each swim, from lengths times pool length or an open-water figure
• Time in the water and the mix of strokes
• Weekly distance, time and number of swims
• The longest swim and the total distance over the period

How to use it

1. Write your name, your usual pool, its length and the period the sheet covers.
2. For each swim, enter the date, the week number and where you swam.
3. Count your lengths and enter them; leave the pool length column blank at your usual pool and it uses the header figure.
4. For open water, leave lengths blank and enter the distance in the open-water column instead.
5. Distance per swim is worked out in the browser and the workbook; copy each week's totals into the weekly table.
6. Read the period totals and longest swim from the summary.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What if I swim at a different pool?

Write that pool's length in the pool length column for that swim. The distance uses it instead of the header figure, so a holiday in a shorter or longer pool still adds up correctly.

Metres or yards?

Whichever your pool is measured in. Distance comes out in the same unit as the pool length. If you swim in pools of both kinds, convert one yourself before entering it so the totals stay like with like.

How do I record open-water swims?

Enter the distance from your watch, a marked course or a map in the open-water column and leave lengths blank. The distance column then takes that figure as it is.

Does a width count as a length?

No. Count widths separately in the stroke mix column, or add them up and enter the equivalent distance as an open-water figure, noting that it came from widths.