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.
- Team Practices: I don't know why, but if I'm not part of the team practice that's in the pool, I don't want to be there. Maybe I just feel lazy next to them.
- Thinking about food: Food (particularly donuts for some reason) makes me feel sick while swimming. I've thrown up in my mouth on several occasions due to thinking about food while swimming. I love food, I love thinking about food, but not while swimming.
- Little kid swim lessons: The last time i swam next to this I got smacked in the face with an oar to an inflatable boat.
- The creepy middle aged guy that hangs out at the end of my lane to stretch when there are 7 open lanes. Wearing briefs, giant goggles, and covered in hair. Doing odd exercises like thrusting the ground or stretching hs hip flexors widely on the diving blocks. :bolt:
- Broken pace clocks
I stopped the day a guy had a seizure on the side of the pool, fell in, and had to be rescued by the lifeguard. Other people kept swimming and I took it upon myself to stop everyone in the other lanes so that the lifeguard could focus and we would be available to get additional help if needed. The ambulance came, the man was taken to the hospital, and while some folks started swimming again, I just couldn't get there. Somehow, it felt disrespectful.
We did find out later that he was fine, thankfully.
Back when I was a lifeguard, I was told if there was an emergency that required the use of the lifeguards (1 or more), the pool was to be cleared because now no one is watching the water. Good for you for getting the other people out of the water. Glad to hear the guy is ok.
I had a small kid have a seizure in the pool once. Scariest moment of my life. I know seizures are "common" (relatively speaking) in children and that they aren't known to cause direct damage (usually the result of instantly using consciousness causes the problems- traumatic injuries, drowning, etc). Being a kid its concerning, and knowing there is nothing you can really do except wait sucks.
Back to the subject: Away meets at pools with gross locker rooms. I feel like dirty locker rooms equates to dirty pools. If they can't take care of the lock room, how can they take care of the pool. I once had a meet at an inner city school. The pool tasted like sweat and was like 99 degrees. The locker room looked like something out of the SAW movies. There was blood on the floor and walls in one area. Everything was rusted or tarnished. Garbage everywhere. I heard the girls locker room was even worse with used tampons and pads all over the place.
Finding a carrot in the pool killed my swim once. I finished my set, pulled my goggles up to rest and get a drink. Next to me floating in the water is a carrot. I'm not sure if someone was eating in the natatorium or if someone vomited it up. I got out of the pool immediately suspecting the worst.
I'll get plastered for this but I have nothing to lose - H2O temperature 'm not much of a noodler either, contrary to what I've seen otherwise, they like it cool where I'm from, like below 80˚:worms:
I don't know why, maybe lack of insulation, thermoregulation malfunction, or perhaps lack of CNS excitation (I'm lazy):D?
This post is so perfect for me after the week I had working out!!!
First of all, I am newly back in the pool and thanks to an irratic work schedule and a young child, I am forced to work out at a gym within the confines of daycare hours, so that is really my only hindrance.... However, some notable mentions:
1) Water walkers! I get it, it is good exercise, but please, you are only using up 2 square feet of space. Please group yourselves into one lane only. It is sad to see all the swimmers in one lane and water walkers taking up the other two! And if you ask to share with them, well, I have never had another swimmer be that rude!
2) The eternal lane pausers/loungers. Just last week I had a guy get into my lane (it's fine, I can share). However, he swam one lap and then proceeded to just stand in the shallow end of my lane. I swam on and finally he decided to move to the deeper end. And then he just stood there! Blocking my wall! I waited and waited and finally something clued him in that the tatted up lady whose swim cap just ripped, the one with dang near smoke coming out of her nostrils, would like you, sir, to get out of the lane unless you want plan on actually swimming.
3) Cutesy couples frolicking in the pool also get me...
I should probably get out of the gym here pretty soon....
There is a swimming instructor (who is never seen swimming ;)) at our pool who, heaven knows why, from time to time would show up with outrageously strong perfume--no exaggeration. The smell gets all over the pool and deck. He only stands on the deck, never gets in water. The perfume was strong enough to disturb our swims since we couldn't cover our noses. But when he's standing on the deck right above you at the pool end, it was simply suffocating, truly suffocating. Why would a swim instructor wear such strong pungent perfume at a class session?
Why would a swim instructor wear such strong pungent perfume at a class session?
To impress the Ladies? Guys? Anyone within nose-shot? :D
I've encountered numerous items listed above, so it's good (or bad) to know this happens to others as well. Really haven't had anything outside of physical problems ruin my swim. Recently the pool thermostat has been on the mend, so they've been adjusting the temp manually. When it was 78° it was great, although chilly if you weren't moving. When they cranked it up to 88° two days later, I got in, swam about 1000yds, and couldn't do much more than that.
I've found the following in the pool when swimming: scorpions, brown grass spiders, band-aids, hair, pieces of toilet? paper, rocks, ear plugs, and possibly some other stuff that I can't remember currently. Please understand, these items have been found on random occasions, and for the most part our pool is clean and pretty much uncrowded. On the other hand, we have a local outdoor 50m pool that doubles as a lap pool in the mornings, and a rec pool in the afternoons. One summer while swimming laps, I observed a tampon at the bottom of the lane I was swimming in. That was enough to get me out.
:p
Lets see? Besides the usual rant stuff-sharing lanes or yucky floaters?
I don't mind feeling sore,but intense pain would def. be a reason.I also usually am able to zone out during a workout,almost like meditating, and when I loose focus, sometimes it is just better to call it a day.At that point it just feels like I am fighting the water and my technique goes to crap and I know I will be in more pain then neccessary the next day.
The loosing focus part usually happens when there are extremely strong odors(BO,perfume,deck cleaner or food)or someone gets in the lane who is just a spaz.So I guess I'm back to the ranting....dang.:bitching:
