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.
x1 - I didn't pay for half the lane, nor even the space I'm swimming in. I just paid to swim. However, the space I'm swimming in is constantly moving...and it may be moving significantly faster, or slower than your space is moving, and the space of a third swimmer in our lane. Maybe we're all of different speed and ability. That can be really frustrating to the faster swimmer. So, maybe one of us...the one who got there last...should get out and wait until space opens up while the two remaining swimmers SPLIT the lane.
x2 - Why do we have to be on the same set, or even doing the same workout? I may be doing repeat 500s freestyle while another swimmer is doing 50s ***, and yet another is trying to do IMs. That combo doesn't lend itself to circle swimming. Two swimmers splitting a lane don't have that issue.
x3 - Circle swimming only makes me aware of the other swimmers when they make their presence known to me. Too many times I've been swimming along when out of nowhere a swimmer gets in the water...unbeknownst to me...begins swimming...comes from the other direction and causes a head-on collision. This doesn't happen when splitting a lane.
x4 - No, circle swimming does not mean the other swimmers know how to pass. Maybe they're not passing at all because they're the slower swimmer. My experience is that the slower swimmers rest at the wall, and then inevitably begin their next interval just as I'm approaching the wall to turn. Consequently, I come off the wall at speed only to be right at the feet of a much slower swimmer...and potentially unable to pass because the third swimmer is too close for me to pass.
x5 - I don't care about dragging (drafting???) or towing. I just want to swim my workout.
x6 - Circle swimming causes more collisions. See x2, x3, and x4 above.
x7 - See x5 above. To be symbiotic everyone in the lane pretty much as to be of similar ability and at the same point in very similar workouts.
Dan
The only reason circle swimming doesn't work is that most people don't know how to do it.
If you grew up circle swimming, it is natural. It's like sharing the road while driving. I agree with most of what Michael said. When someone asks me to split the lane, I have a moment of panic every time I sense them approaching on the 'wrong' side. I feel like I screwed up.
Splitting does not fix any of the problems I have with sharing a lane -- wide fly so scared to smack the person, scared to swim backstroke, and breaststroke kick.
No one should have to wait around for a spot to open. Sharing lanes is actually pretty easy, once we know how.
Circle swimmers can do different sets, but we should understand what each other are doing, so we can properly start. We may not be able to use the exact interval we want, and we will have to pass and get passed sometimes, but that beats the heck out of sitting on the deck waiting for the noodlers to get tired and go home.
My age group team would have 6 or more per lane sometimes. Circling is the only way to do that.
Splitting sux.
On another note, I was swimming in Canada last weekend and the warmup lanes alternated circle swimming in clockwise and counter-clockwise. I've experienced this practically ever time I've swum in Canada, but they've got those big brains up there (www.theguardian.com/.../world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading) so they can master this complexity.
On another note, I was swimming in Canada last weekend and the warmup lanes alternated circle swimming in clockwise and counter-clockwise. I've never seen that done in the U.S. though I had some European teammates in college that used to mention that was normal. I saw a few collisions.
Oh yeah!!! A couple years ago I visited Austraila and got to swim in the pool at Sydney's Olympic Park and had to circle swim. Like their driving, they also swim on the left. So, it was clockwise. Stupid American (me) kept forgetting that he was down under and would come off the wall in the wrong half of the lane.
Dan
But I agree in a gym environment where everyone is on their own, circle swimming is far more friendly/inviting and that's a big plus since lap swimmers can be hostile sometimes to new people in a lane.
The pool I swim at put up signs recently telling lap swimmers to circle swim rather than splitting and I presume it was for exactly these reasons. I never really liked splitting because it's like putting up a big sign saying no one else is welcome in your lane.
The only reason circle swimming doesn't work is that most people don't know how to do it.
If you grew up circle swimming, it is natural. It's like sharing the road while driving. I agree with most of what Michael said. When someone asks me to split the lane, I have a moment of panic every time I sense them approaching on the 'wrong' side. I feel like I screwed up.
Splitting does not fix any of the problems I have with sharing a lane -- wide fly so scared to smack the person, scared to swim backstroke, and breaststroke kick.
No one should have to wait around for a spot to open. Sharing lanes is actually pretty easy, once we know how.
Circle swimmers can do different sets, but we should understand what each other are doing, so we can properly start. We may not be able to use the exact interval we want, and we will have to pass and get passed sometimes, but that beats the heck out of sitting on the deck waiting for the noodlers to get tired and go home.
My age group team would have 6 or more per lane sometimes. Circling is the only way to do that.
Splitting sux.
Jumbo -- I'm not saying that circle swimming can't work, or that I've never done it. I'm just pointing out some of the things from the OP that make it difficult or frustrating. If space is available I prefer to split rather than circle.
Dan
The YMCA I swim at has a six-lane pool (80°) and a four-lane pool (86-ish°). It's no big deal for me that in the warm pool, the lanes are split. The lane lines don't line up with the lines on the bottom anyway, and they don't set up backstroke flags. In the six-lane pool (where all the more serious lap swimming takes place), only the middle two lanes are ever set up to for circle swimming. This morning, I got there and found: one, two, one, one, two, one swimmers, lane-by-lane (bold for the circle swim). Nobody likes to swim next to the wall, so the two outside lanes frequently only attract one swimmer. In the one circle swim lane, the guy was doing, I don't know, a 3200 IM or something, and his fly wasn't pretty. I wasn't going to mess with him swimming fly, so I hopped into the other circle lane. I minded my own business and scooted off to the corner of the lane whenever the lady was about to pass me. (I warm up very slowly and carefully these days.) Half of lane 5 opened up at one point, so I moved over there. Eventually, 6am rolled around and the local master's squad showed up for their workout. That crossed off lanes 4, 5, and 6 from the available list, leaving only lane 3 for circling. I decided to give that a try, but by the time I bubbled over there, it was pretty much full, perhaps four people, maybe five. Still, lanes one and two only had a total of three swimmers. I hopped out and went over to the four-lane pool to "cool down," showered, and went to work.
By not setting up circle swimming for at least the four middle lanes, the pool is quite underutilized. Further, with just one or two lanes set up to circle, they pretty much lose the opportunity to rank the lanes by speed, which would perhaps mitigate some of Michael's point #2.
Although I have swam with a coached group on just two occasions in my life, I agree to all points, but this:
2 - Circle swimming forces everyone to be not only on the same set, but almost the same interval.
99+% of the other swimmers swim different intervals than me. I really don't have a fixed interval when training, which works best for me.
USRPT could be possible, but that would require the entire lane to be both on same interval, and interested in this method
