A few days ago, I received an email from triathlon coach Karen Parnell of Chili Tri, who suggested a new feature for the running and swimming metronome tool. She explained that swimmers flick through various metronomes (with varying beats per minute), without being able to look at a display. The feature Karen suggested was to include an option which would add a short audio description at the start of the metronome MP3 stating the beats per minute (BPM).
Chili Tri coaching
As I find programming such features nice small side challenges, I got to it pretty soon after receiving the email and I used the opportunity to clean up some code at the same time. So, now the running and swimming metronome tool has an option to add an intro and outro to the MP3 file stating the BPM of the metronome. Simple as that. Swimmers can now select a metronome without needing a display in the water to look at file names.
The new intro/outro option in the running and swimming metronome tool
I have asked Karen whether she would be willing to write a small text describing what she uses the metronome tool and the resulting MP3 files for. She was kind enough to do so, so here we go.
I've found that using an audio metronome can be incredibly effective for swimmers, as it provides real-time rhythmic cues to help maintain a consistent stroke rate and improve pacing efficiency in the water. Creating audio files with your target stroke rate gives you something simple to follow during your swim and helps keep your rhythm on track. This can be especially useful during longer open water sessions – listening for a minute or so to reset your rhythm, then turning it off to swim naturally. I personally use the Reuneker metronome web tool to create simple audio files for both my runners and swimmers.
Karen also wrote two blog posts which discuss using metronomes for triathlon training: Rayofi SwimComm Pro vs SwimComm and Master Your Stride.
Check out the new option at https://reuneker.nl/files/metronome and generate some MP3's to see whether it is useful to you too. Happy swimming, running and cycling!
