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.
In pools where there are routinely more than two to a lane, I'm all for circle swimming, though it goes much better if there is a system to encourage people to choose lanes based on swimming speed. I do this routinely when I travel to Chicago or DC.
But the pools where I swim the most, rarely is there ever more than two swimmers per lane in the pool. With only two to a lane I'll choose splitting every time. And, yes, courtesy plays a roll. It means if I'm swimming in a lane by myself, a swimmer of any speed can feel free to join me without the risk of passing hassles, and neither of us need adjust our workouts (though I may use one-arm fly or adjust to no fly if I feel I'd swamp the other swimmer).
In pools where there are routinely more than two to a lane, I'm all for circle swimming, though it goes much better if there is a system to encourage people to choose lanes based on swimming speed. I do this routinely when I travel to Chicago or DC.
But the pools where I swim the most, rarely is there ever more than two swimmers per lane in the pool. With only two to a lane I'll choose splitting every time. And, yes, courtesy plays a roll. It means if I'm swimming in a lane by myself, a swimmer of any speed can feel free to join me without the risk of passing hassles, and neither of us need adjust our workouts (though I may use one-arm fly or adjust to no fly if I feel I'd swamp the other swimmer).
