What Kills Your Swim?

What makes you (or makes you want) to stop your swim workout, aside from being tired or feeling hurt? - Sharing Lanes: Sometimes when I go to share a lane with someone, I'll get in, they'll do another lap, and get out. I feel guilty. I have on a couple occasions gotten out when people want to split lanes with me, especially if they're annoying and touch me/swim into me. For me, it's gotta be this one...but lane sharing isn't a problem for me. It may be a problem for the other person who has to swim with me though!! :) The problem happens at my YMCA pool when 3 people end up having to swim in a lane, and the others don't have a clue what circle swimming is. And in general, the people don't know how to group themselves somewhat based on speed. That makes it rough when 3 or more try to swim circles in a lane. I just tell the others that I don't mind swimming with them, and not to bother stopping for me. I'll find my way around if I have to...even if that means taking a flip turn at the flags to pass two people at once who happen to be at or near the one end of the pool. :D With my "aggressive" (not mean spirited) swimming, most lap swimmers don't usually just hop right in with me anyway. It just sucks when you have an awesome workout planned, you're all alone, warming up, getting into the main set, and then all of a sudden you're bombarded by a couple of people that want to "do laps" in your lane. :bouncing: "Do you mind if we share with you?" I've always wanted to answer back with: "Hell yeah I mind!!" :bolt:

Small children warming up the already too warm pool through a variety of bodily functions out of either end. Even worse, when the guard doesn't care enough to clear the pool after such event.

The building managers deciding to refinish the gym floor upstairs (no notice given), and the air-conditioning system flushing the toxic vapors into the pool area. (I didn't swim for a week. And no, they didn't close the pool!)

A jolt of sharp chronic pain in the shoulder joint. @&*@ :bitching: #$% :bitching: &$#!! EXACTLY!! Love your avatar by the way. HUGE Moody Blues fan here, hence my user name!

The building managers deciding to refinish the gym floor upstairs... Which reminds me of the time a couple months ago they decided to replace the rubber pads on the blocks while the pool was in use and used WD-40 to dissolve the old glue. Lovely getting that sprayed in the water as you approach the wall...

Having to move lanes. I don't practice with a team these days, instead swimming at the local Y. They have a six-lane pool with the middle two lanes set up for circle swimming. The other four are split (two swimmers per lane). I used to always aim for the middle lanes because that's what I was used to when swimming with a team. Now I realize that's an invitation to disaster. Circle swimming is fine when everyone is doing the same thing and is approximately the same speed. Sometimes the four split lanes will be full, and the circle lanes will each have at least one noodle-speed swimmer. Adjusting your workout to not run them over can be (not) fun. You always have your eyes peeled for an empty half of a split lane (but not next to the wall because they have ladders and the handicapped elevator, and, well, it's the wall - who could ever swim backstroke next to the wall???). So, really, in the best of circumstances, there are two circle lanes and three split lanes. Then one of the kids teams gets in and takes four lanes, so you have to move. Now there's one circle lane, one split lane. If you're lucky you're the first person to notice one of the split lane swimmers get out. So you move again. I have moved as many as three times during a swim. Maybe you get in when one age group squad is taking three lanes, then another smaller squad arrives and takes two lanes. Move to the middle. Nothing but the circle lane. Actually, that situation isn't all that bad. Most other swimmers simply get out at that point and you have that center lane all to yourself. :D Then there's the coach who feels that the digital clock must be reset at the start of the team's practice. Which is right about two-thirds of the way through your workout, approximately 175 yards into a 400... S

For me, it's gotta be this one...but lane sharing isn't a problem for me. It may be a problem for the other person who has to swim with me though!! :) The problem happens at my YMCA pool when 3 people end up having to swim in a lane, and the others don't have a clue what circle swimming is. And in general, the people don't know how to group themselves somewhat based on speed. That makes it rough when 3 or more try to swim circles in a lane. I just tell the others that I don't mind swimming with them, and not to bother stopping for me. I'll find my way around if I have to...even if that means taking a flip turn at the flags to pass two people at once who happen to be at or near the one end of the pool. :D With my "aggressive" (not mean spirited) swimming, most lap swimmers don't usually just hop right in with me anyway. It just sucks when you have an awesome workout planned, you're all alone, warming up, getting into the main set, and then all of a sudden you're bombarded by a couple of people that want to "do laps" in your lane. :bouncing: "Do you mind if we share with you?" I've always wanted to answer back with: "Hell yeah I mind!!" :bolt: Errrm... I have no comments.... Couple months I had to swim in the evening and the situation in the pool sometimes looked like this www.sportsection.ru/.../feb07ed4c3a93374f57ea5e61013eb54.jpg I got used to that because there are only 2 options in the evening: 1) to swim in the crowded pool or 2) not to swim at all. So I had to accustom. The only thing I tried to avoid in such situation was backstroke because once I had an accident with one noodler swimming lazy breaststroke - when he went to a kind of streamline underwater I swam on top of him without seeing him and when he went for air I was there on top and he started to panic because he couldn't get to the surface. Happily he didn't get drawn. :afraid: Even now when I swim very early in the morning I have to share a lane with 1-2 people who swim slower than me I got so used to that that I don't even notice them and automatically take over. Still there is a thing I don't like and have to overcome myself - it's cold. When I get from shower to the pool space where both water and air are cold I have desire to escape back to the shower :bolt:so it takes an effort to make myself to jump to the water and warm up. After couple lengths I'm fine.

For me, just being alone. My brain goes through the process of "well no one else is training, so you don't need to because they're not doing anything that makes them faster" However, once every billion years when I'm alone I train hard to get ahead XD A jolt of sharp chronic pain in the shoulder joint. @&*@ :bitching: #$% :bitching: &$#!! Both of these. I swim with a team unless my husband is out of town for work. Then I'm on my own, later in the day. When I swim later I find myself wishing it were over and thinking a lot about going to the bathroom. And the shoulder pain doesn't help, with the team or alone. I swim with age groupers and some days we have our own "masters" lane. This week we added 2 new people to the lane. I'm 41, one is 18 and the other is 22 and so far it's totally thrown off my practice. We run in to each other, run over each other, etc. The original 3 of us work together well. Right now the lane is in chaos and I don't like it. Makes me want to swim on my own. :afraid:

Here's what killed my swim workout today: the ADORABLE, 11-month-old Rachel Roddin. What??? No pictures???

There was a dude who hocked a giant loogie into the pool water in the lane next to mine. I know there's all kinds of nasty stuff in the water at all times, but any visual reminder of that is enough for me to call it a day.