I'm a newbie and just had my first practice yesterday sharing the lane with other swimmers. There were five of us, and it was horrible. I could barely get across one length of the pool and I actually panicked because I've never swum with others in the lane, certainly not four or five other people, and I was afraid of hitting or being hit. I stayed close to the rope, so much that I hit it a few times. Now I'm thinking, should I have joined this program? Am I one of those people who just prefers to swim alone? It was pretty scary.
I know those of you who do this all the time probably think, pffffft. No biggie. But I've never been so tense in the pool and when I swim on my own, I'm fine, do lots of laps for about an hour with very few breaks, so I know it's not my skill level. But I don't even know if I want to go back to a practice. I got bumped a few times, bumped into someone else, and basically made a fool of myself.
I also noticed that certain people displace the water an awful lot, and that was a new sensation.
Hi Denise,
I want to share some good news with you:
1) Human beings can adjust to any thing causing discomfort.
Most of the pools in my country are crowded. If you share a lane only with 2-3 person - you are lucky. If you are alone on the lane - that's a kind of miracle.
2) I liked Amy's post - it's true after a while you become more skilled swimmer. Bumping each other is pretty common thing in swimming and after years I don't even don't pay attention if I get bumped because I'm concentrated on the task I do - usually it is limited in time and the only thing you think about is stopwatch.
If you have any occasion to participate in the swimming meet, when you plan to do your warm up you should be prepared to something like this - www.youtube.com/watch. Once during warmup I counted 30 swimmers on the lane and I literally couldn't find a hole to jump in :censor:. Nevertheless after such experience you don't care anymore about 5 swimmers on the lane in the your home pool and if you swim every day after a while you'll become good friends. :)
Hi Denise,
I want to share some good news with you:
1) Human beings can adjust to any thing causing discomfort.
Most of the pools in my country are crowded. If you share a lane only with 2-3 person - you are lucky. If you are alone on the lane - that's a kind of miracle.
2) I liked Amy's post - it's true after a while you become more skilled swimmer. Bumping each other is pretty common thing in swimming and after years I don't even don't pay attention if I get bumped because I'm concentrated on the task I do - usually it is limited in time and the only thing you think about is stopwatch.
If you have any occasion to participate in the swimming meet, when you plan to do your warm up you should be prepared to something like this - www.youtube.com/watch. Once during warmup I counted 30 swimmers on the lane and I literally couldn't find a hole to jump in :censor:. Nevertheless after such experience you don't care anymore about 5 swimmers on the lane in the your home pool and if you swim every day after a while you'll become good friends. :)
