I'm curious as to your preference, so I decided to start a poll. I've been swimming outdoors all summer. It's been brutally hot, with high humidity most of the summer, which I notice, causes more fatigue and cramping, despite my intake of bananas, lots of water, etc. I also have allergies. There are the usual outdoor pool issues, but aside from that, if you had a choice to swim in a 25 yard pool or swim indoors in a more temperature controlled environment, what would you prefer and why?
I actually have this choice everyday since the Lifetime Gym I go to has a 25 M outdoor pool and a 25 M indoor pool. Most of the summer I have chosen the outdoor pool, but the past two days I've been inside purely because the indoor pool is at 78 and the outdoor pool is in the mid eighties and I wanted to do some test sets to determine where I'm at in training.
This summer I had a super nice season of swimming. Normally I mix up my indoors and outdoors quite a bit in the summer because I easily have both options. This summer I chose to swim indoors most of the time these reasons:
1. The water was always a comfortable 78 degrees.
2. The practices were NEVER crowded and I got lots of quality time from the coaches.
3. I didn't have to apply nasty, sticky sunscreen to myself and end up with it smeared all over the pretty black interior of my car.
4. I scored a Go Pro taping session with Glen Mills and have been receiving helpful hints from him all summer long via e-mail. He was on a tour and visited Carmel Swim Club for taping and team time. Lucky for me he likes to help master's too!!
Strangely enough I felt like my performance at Nationals was as good as it would have been if I'd trained long course. Right now and until Sept. 14th I'm stuck training outdoors long course yards. We've had a heat wave this week and I find swimming miserable. I'm sick of the hot water, crowded pool deck, crowded lanes, and mobs of kids in the locker rooms. I guess I'm just a non-conformist.
Indoor, because I have heat intolerance issues, and I would like to save my skin! Having said that, there is nothing I love more than a good, long open water swim when I can get to an ocean or a lake. :bliss:
I'd go outdoor 25, indoor 25, outdoor 20 given those three choices.
I agree with KNelson.
Please note swimming indoors is not always a good choice. Its difficult to find indoor pools with good air circulation and/or ventilation. This can be an issue for persons with respiratory issues.
Outside whenever possible. Indoor season in Chicagpland is winter so there you go.
Plus, Oz, you swim with the Naperville Waves, right? Don't you folks get to swim in a quarry during the summer? Evanston Masters used to practice outside in the summer (long course) and NASA Masters (Northwestern) used to swim in the lake once a week in the summer.
Hey, bobinator, I am with you -- we've had a continuous heat wave for 3 months on the East Coast. The outdoor pool water temp has been almost 90 on some days, with almost no shady, cloudy skies. Brutal on my skin, despite wearing waterproof sunblock, which IMO is useless since I'm in the pool at lest 1 1/2 hours working out. The indoor pool has been 82, crowded with people coming just to "cool off", camps, etc. I've been fortunate to get a lane almost to myself most of the time outside. The heat and high humidity and sun have definitely affected my times.
