Pool Length

Lakewood HS I was a Lakewood Lancer and swam there 1977 - 1979. :banana:

7240 I passed on swimming at this pool behind our rented Sanibel Island cottage :afraid: in favor of a bit roomier 25 yard pool at the recreation center, instead :ohyeah:: 7241

I swim in a 20 yard pool at the Y in Park Slope, Brooklyn. If I am practicing my 50 sprints, I just turn them into 60s and then the 50s seem easier. The only downside is that too much of the swim is turning. A bit excessive, but it's not terrible. I am looking forward to them opening the new 25 yard pool in the fall.

There is a 50m outdoor pool with a removable bulkhead that I train at in the summer. When you put the bulkhead in you get a 25m and a 25y pool on each side. There are summer swimming scm meets held there. The blocks are on the bulkhead so it must be pretty tight with timers etc.

My regular SCM pool is 7.5 meters wide with 5 narrow lanes. The 1st lane is the one with a lane line. When I'm the only swimmer I do turn drills I created by swimming the width. I push off under the lane line, take three strokes, turn, then coast back and breathe when finished. It is the perfect length. If the turn was good I touch the finish with momentum in the tank at about 10 seconds. If I barely make it back or if it's 12+ seconds, I did something wrong and need to figure out what it was. My turns have improved with these.

Got a kick out of this thread for a couple of reasons. Swam in my first swim meet at Downey HS in 1956 as a 10 year old blazing slightly over 40 seconds in a long course 50yd free, won a gold medal and was the happiest kid in the world. A few years later I was riding my old style single speed balloon tire bike to Lakewood HS because they were the nearest pool with workouts in the winter. The coach never bothered with paperwork or admission fee --- I think he was impressed with my 25 mile cycling commute. Then as a 14 year old I swam 110 yards in less than 55 seconds!!! --- not quite as remarkable as it sounds since it was in our backyard pool that was 22 feet across, 15 widths = 110 yards with 14 flip turns and very few strokes. Ahhh, the memories.

i once swam in a 50yd pool. little known rules fact: you can set an american and/or national record in a 55yd pool! (because its a hair longer that 50m). Would that be in the 1500m or 1650yds? 30 lengths of a 55yd pool is 1650 yd = 1509 m. With all of the missing turns, I would expect the 1650 yd time to be slow, but with only 9 extra m, the 1500 m time might be competitive.

__steve__, nice drills. sounds like the hotel pool i had to use the 1st day in Riccione to train in because "water polo still using competition pool". after about 14 laps i was dizzy and walked to the sea and did a "lap" (2 lifeguard stations) in the double red flag waves. the pool at Balmohea TX state park is an interesting one. concrete walls but dirt bottom. perfectly clear down to 22 feet. spring fed. it is a big "L" shape. its a good 250m if you swim the outside wall and do the full L. odd pools are "fun" until they get to the point of being tedious.

In the early- to mid-20th century in the US, 100 feet was a pretty common pool length. A lot of WPA pools were 100 feet, for instance. (Some were much, much larger.) I swam in several old pools in England that were 100 feet, including the one in my avatar, where I performed in a Sondheim musical as shown. In the 50's and 60's lots of YMCA/YWCA pools were 20 yds., at least in OH There were several in our YMCA league in South Central PA, Reading, Coatesville, and maybe another that I can't remember. U of Maryland's old pool was also 20 yards, I believe, or there was at least one school in that area that Maryland swam against that had one.

Who was your coach? Carol (that's all I can remember of her name; it was better to forget...), and then Mr. G (that's what we called her; the rest I can't remember either...). (My memory is :cane: :afraid:) I do remember, however, that the lifeguard was really cute and a nice guy. :blush: