The Garmin Effect: Coaches ask for training lanes to be measured

Coaches around the country are asking for their training lanes to be measured after their members regularly report swimming as much as 15% further than the prepared squad session.

In what’s being described as ‘The Garmin Effect’, squads full of swimmers are following the squad session to the metre only to find their watches reporting much longer distances.

In one baffling case, Ova Stating, a triathlete from Mamil, uploaded his obligatory Insta selfie post-training with the caption “Punishing 4.2km session tonight, felt easier than I thought it would. #squadgoals #triathlete #makeitlookeasy”, while in the background the whiteboard had a session total of 3.5km.

In another, a new squad swimmer fresh out of learn to swim lessons was amazed at her speed after reporting average 100m splits of 1.09 and has already made enquires at the Australian Institute of Sport.

It seems the mystery may not be confined to the pool, with reports of open water swimmers covering miraculous distances in record times.

Smoo Thlegs, who coaches a tri-squad out of the Oceanville City Pool, has seen a big change in the way swimmers are approaching their session.

“No one pushes off the wall unless they know their watch is recording,” said Thlegs, “it’s got me thinking if it’s not on the Garmin, did the session actually happen?”

If it’s not on the Garmin, did the session actually happen?

In related news, the local medical association has reported a spike in swimmers presenting to physiotherapists with wrist injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, believed to be from the weight of sports watches, and to GP’s with suspected elevated heart rates in excess of 200bpm following light swim sessions.