I swim with a small club in a small HS pool. As a result of low attendance, we often get only one or two people per lane at practice. The typical response to an addition is, "let's split the lane!" which is universally accepted. I have never been a supporter of this style of training or lane sharing, because it automatically makes a third person wait for someone to accept his/her appearance at the end of the lane. This is only the first of a myriad of reasons not to split lanes.
The one and only time swimming straight away is correct is during competition.
If you want to enumerate the good things about splitting lanes, please precede the number with "x" so we can keep track of the different lists.
Circle swimming is immensely better and automatically adding people to the group is a no-brain activity.
I will enumerate some reasons why splitting lanes is just bad all around, please feel free to agree and add your own observations. If you disagree, use reason to make your argument. Simply saying that you like it is not acceptable. Recreation swimmers are fearsome champions of splitting lanes and not acknowledging people waiting to enter the pool. For that reason, they get:
#1 - You didn't pay for half of the lane, only the space in which you are swimming. Be observant and share.
2 - Circle swimming forces everyone to be not only on the same set, but almost the same interval.
3 - circling makes you aware of all of the other swimmers in your lane
4 - circling forces people to know how to pass or be passed with civility
5 - circling allows you to drag on the leader or be a tow truck, pulling everyone else in the lane.
6 - unless in a really crowded lane, circling keeps collisions to a minimum.
7 - circle swimming can be symbiotic, making everyone in the lane faster through teamwork.
I swim with a small club in a small HS pool. ...
#1 - You didn't pay for half of the lane, only the space in which you are swimming. Be observant and share.
2 - Circle swimming forces everyone to be not only on the same set, but almost the same interval.
3 - circling makes you aware of all of the other swimmers in your lane
4 - circling forces people to know how to pass or be passed with civility
5 - circling allows you to drag on the leader or be a tow truck, pulling everyone else in the lane.
6 - unless in a really crowded lane, circling keeps collisions to a minimum.
7 - circle swimming can be symbiotic, making everyone in the lane faster through teamwork.
Swimming with a club is totally different then swimming in a gym or other place. If I'm with a team then yes circle swimming does work best, usually. But if I'm at the gym I'm 2-4 times faster then the other people there generally and splitting the lane is FAR easier then trying to circle swim where I'll catch up to them every 50 or so.
As for your other points:
2. You'd have to be on the same interval while circle swimming, otherwise you're going to be constantly having to readjust.
4. I'd hope that if you swim long enough with the same people there should be no reason to be passing anyone.
5. I don't know how well dragging really works, I don't like to do it as if I'm too close I feel nothing but bubbles. I also don't feel it's that safe to have someone right on my heels as I'm trying to turn. I've been kicked in the head from people being right on my toes at the turn. I've even had people who have swam over top of me at the wall, which isn't very safe either. So unless people know not to get right on you circle swimming can have it's problems.
6. Unless someone is right on me when I'm turning I've never had a problem hitting anyone except the occasional hand.
7. Only if everyone agrees to the interval and the workout. Some of us like to do stroke workouts and if no one else wants to then I have to either swim their free interval or not do stroke.
I do agree that circle swimming is the way to go, but only if everyone can pretty much agree on what's going on, which isn't a whole lot of the time.
I swim with a small club in a small HS pool. ...
#1 - You didn't pay for half of the lane, only the space in which you are swimming. Be observant and share.
2 - Circle swimming forces everyone to be not only on the same set, but almost the same interval.
3 - circling makes you aware of all of the other swimmers in your lane
4 - circling forces people to know how to pass or be passed with civility
5 - circling allows you to drag on the leader or be a tow truck, pulling everyone else in the lane.
6 - unless in a really crowded lane, circling keeps collisions to a minimum.
7 - circle swimming can be symbiotic, making everyone in the lane faster through teamwork.
Swimming with a club is totally different then swimming in a gym or other place. If I'm with a team then yes circle swimming does work best, usually. But if I'm at the gym I'm 2-4 times faster then the other people there generally and splitting the lane is FAR easier then trying to circle swim where I'll catch up to them every 50 or so.
As for your other points:
2. You'd have to be on the same interval while circle swimming, otherwise you're going to be constantly having to readjust.
4. I'd hope that if you swim long enough with the same people there should be no reason to be passing anyone.
5. I don't know how well dragging really works, I don't like to do it as if I'm too close I feel nothing but bubbles. I also don't feel it's that safe to have someone right on my heels as I'm trying to turn. I've been kicked in the head from people being right on my toes at the turn. I've even had people who have swam over top of me at the wall, which isn't very safe either. So unless people know not to get right on you circle swimming can have it's problems.
6. Unless someone is right on me when I'm turning I've never had a problem hitting anyone except the occasional hand.
7. Only if everyone agrees to the interval and the workout. Some of us like to do stroke workouts and if no one else wants to then I have to either swim their free interval or not do stroke.
I do agree that circle swimming is the way to go, but only if everyone can pretty much agree on what's going on, which isn't a whole lot of the time.
