Does anyone else ever mentally hum a tune during swim practices and/or races? My personal favorite, when I am trying to summon energy from my exhausted body, is the 1812 Overture--I try to time it so the cannons start firing towards the latter part of the race.
I'd be interested to hear what goes through other peoples' minds as they swim, musical or otherwise.
Former Member
The relevant part of the article Rob posted was:
Avoid taking showers and using plumbing facilities (including indoor and outdoor pools)
Presumably the idea is that electrical current from the lightening could flow through the plumbing and the water it contains. That said, we get a fair bit of afternoon and evening lightening here and I have never had the pool closed while I was in it. Perhaps the danger depends on the pool construction and lightening protection features of the building.
Former Member
Originally posted by LindsayNB
Presumably the idea is that electrical current from the lightening could flow through the plumbing and the water it contains. That said, we get a fair bit of afternoon and evening lightening here and I have never had the pool closed while I was in it. Perhaps the danger depends on the pool construction and lightening protection features of the building.
Well, if you look at some of the "risks" the article talks about, they are pretty far fetched.
How many people hang up the telephone every time there's a thunderstorm? If they don't, they're living dangerously, according to the article! For every year they don't hang up the phone during thunderstorms, there's 1 chance in 300,000,000 that they'll be killed!
The article, unfortunately, doesn't provide any figures on the risks of swimming in an indoor pool during a thunderstorm. And it appears to base its statements about indoor pool risks on a single reference. The numbers are essential, because we also need to consider such questions as:
Which risk is greater: Being electrocuted because you keep swimming in an indoor pool during thunderstorms? Or dying of a heart attack because you weren't able to exercise regularly as a result of your indoor pool closing every time there's a thunderstorm? I'd be surprised if the second risk isn't greater!
All of this reminds me of an article I read a number of years ago on keeping yourself from being struck by lightening. First, it noted that you shouldn't stand under a tree. But then it noted that you also shouldn't stand out in an open field. Its final recommendation was that you lie down in a ditch, and if you are wearing a raincoat, take it off and put it under you for insulation. I think (hope?) the author was being facetious.
