Umm, yeah, the title pretty much sums up my first-world problem here. Since about the middle of the summer of this year the gym pool I swim at has been running at 89-90° without fail. I've been told that the problem will be fixed as soon as they budget for the piece that's causing the problem (something needs to be replaced with the thermostat I believe). Might happen this month, maybe by the end of the year, who knows. My swimming has decreased to primarily drill-work with the occasional sprint set thrown in, resulting in roughly 1000-2000yds per session, 2-3 sessions per week. I can do distances from 25-125 ok enough, but anything longer is really draining. And even though I'm a lazy sprinter, I do like to swim longer distances occasionally to combat boredom.
I guess my question is, has anyone had to deal with 'training' in such warm water, and what sorts of sets did you do? Suggestions, other than 'find a different pool,' would be appreciated. I've got access to a cooler pool (78-80°) on three days of the week for approx 1 hr, which I'll be doing, but the cooler pool is 23yds as opposed to 25, and I'd also like to swim more than 3x a week.
Now if you'll excuse me, my world's coming to an end because my cell phone won't hold a charge as long as I think it should…
:bliss:
There's also the added heat stress. Might increase the chance of a heat-related health problem (heat exhaustion, etc). Not saying it's going to happen, but if such an issue were to occur and their insurance company found out they had a correctable problem, said insurance company would likely be none too happy.
If you showed them how much they were paying a month extra to heat the pool to 90 they might fix it quickly. They are probably paying at least double to keep it that warm.
I would hazard a guess that most of us over 50 trained in hot pools when we grew up. The answer (in Houston) back in the 1970's? We swam very early in the morning, and then 12 hours later if we did doubles. So, if you are able to swim at 5:00 in the morning, that will be your answer - the water naturally cools off over night.
That being said, it seems like the older I get, the more perfect the conditions have to be for a good workout - if its over 86F, I can barely get in 2000. Best wishes.
Elaine is correct remember Fran Crippen.
I worked out a few days earlier this year in a 90 pool. It completely drained me.
There was an age group swim club who did their practices in the pool. They must have been used to the temperature as it did not seem to bother them. I kinda felt sorry for them because any meet they would go to the pools would be freezing for them.
Just repeating what everyone has said. Take it easy and hydrate yourself. If you get tired stop and rest.
