Does it make difference which direction of pool you swim?
Former Member
If the two ends of the pool have different depth, does it make difference to you whether you are swimming from the shallow end to deep end, or from deep to shallow? It makes difference to me. Sometimes I'm good one way, sometimes the other way. Even plain flutter kicking feels different, one way feels easier than the other.
Evanston Masters swims long course outside at Wilmette's Centennial Park pool in the summer. I don't think it really matters which lane you were in. There is a definite difference between the two directions. I generally swam in a middle lane (4,5,6, with the fastest swimmers always in lane 8). I imagine the currents ran the other way in the outer lanes. The middle was definitely not still water.
Evanston used to host a meet at Centennial. I found results online from 2008. I thought they'd run that meet more recently, but I guess not. The meet results show 50s. If I recall correctly (it's been awhile since I swam there), the 50s would have been run in the "fast" direction, at least w.r.t. the middle lanes. I wonder if USMS has any rules regarding currents. If not, it might be a consideration if USMS ever decides to add 25s to the event roster, since SCY meets are so common.
Evanston Masters swims long course outside at Wilmette's Centennial Park pool in the summer. I don't think it really matters which lane you were in. There is a definite difference between the two directions. I generally swam in a middle lane (4,5,6, with the fastest swimmers always in lane 8). I imagine the currents ran the other way in the outer lanes. The middle was definitely not still water.
Evanston used to host a meet at Centennial. I found results online from 2008. I thought they'd run that meet more recently, but I guess not. The meet results show 50s. If I recall correctly (it's been awhile since I swam there), the 50s would have been run in the "fast" direction, at least w.r.t. the middle lanes. I wonder if USMS has any rules regarding currents. If not, it might be a consideration if USMS ever decides to add 25s to the event roster, since SCY meets are so common.
