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 think it depends where you are. If you are at a structured masters practice, then yes, circling is the answer. Swimmers should enter lanes with others that are comparable speeds to themselves. If at the local gym pool, circling is often not the answer. Many gym swimmers have their own idea of a good workout. Some like to swim back and forth for eternity and an excruciating slow pace. Others can only complete on length at a time. Splitting is much more advisable. What I would ultimately prefer to see, is the "walkers" all sharing a lane, because they can without peril. And I'm not sorry if I splash and get your hair wet if we have to share.
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.
All swimmers should be on the same set or doing the same workout if you're on a club, which is how Michael explained his situation. If a swimmer wants to do his own workout, he should be finding open lap swim at another time and place. If a swimmer is getting late to practice, he should join in on the set that the team is on. Coaches should only run varying sets/intervals to the extent that there is enough lane space.
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.
Are you referring to organized workouts where this occurs or lap swim? I've never had anyone run into me at club practice when I was circle swimming. That is the accepted default for swimming club. If there are only 1-2 swimmers in a lane, the next swimmer should notify them they are getting in, unless it's clear they're already circle swimming.
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.
Bringing it back to my earlier comment (because my problems are the only ones which matter ;)), if my YMCA had several/all lanes marked for circle swimming and graded them slow to fast, Edward would probably get his own lane because everybody else would either be scared to get in the same lane with him, or put off by him always passing them or tapping their feet to get them to stop at the next wall. :)
This is all pretty simple:
If you don't know how to share nicely and play well with others, build your own pool.
For open lap swimming, as soon as you enter a pool with more than one swimmer in a lane, recognize that whatever designs you had on doing your workout on your intervals will need to be adapted. Learn how to adapt. If you're too caught up in yourself to be able to do this, see point #1.
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.
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.
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 don't find most of these reasons compelling. In fact, I find #5 (and the related #7) to be significant disadvantages of circle swimming, not advantages. And the ability to different intervals means swimming sides is more versatile since, after all, you don't HAVE to swim on different intervals.
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. In a club environment it is no big deal to switch from sides to circle and no one feels awkward about asking (at least, not in my training group).
That said, on my club the only time swimming sides really becomes common is during kick sets. Mostly that's because people want to talk while kicking, though partly it is because there is a greater variation in kicking speed than swimming speed and some people will go further (on a given interval) than others.
This is all pretty simple:
If you don't know how to share nicely and play well with others, build your own pool.
Didn't you build your own pool? Are you trying to tell us something...? :-)
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.
Collisions caused by the alternating circles? I thought the idea of the alternation was that you swam in the same direction as the person just on the other side of the lane line, reducing the chance of collisions, or at least crashing arms. Were people forgetting which direction to circle?
Didn't you build your own pool? Are you trying to tell us something...? :-)Yes, I did and it's exceptional for ensuring you have your own lane, but I did it mainly because my work schedule doesn't often permit me to swim at standard times.
With that said, I still travel a lot for work and find myself usually dropping in with Masters workouts or, most often, in open lap swimming. In places I go to a lot (Ventura County, San Francisco), I've learned which pools at which lap swimming times are likely to offer the optimal environment for doing a real workout, but I don't always get to those and then find myself in situations ranging from having my own lane to being in a near mosh-pit. I've learned to adapt and appreciate just being in the water and letting go of my personal desires for a great workout when in those crowded situations.
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.
