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).
And circle swimming makes you learn to come out of your turns on an angle which works against you when doing a meet.
Not a result of circle swimming, just a result of poor technique, or coach inattentiveness. The angle is going into the turn (if done properly) in circle swimming, not coming out.
Thanks to all who have responded, in either camp.
One more feature of my training pool is that the lanes are VERY narrow. Maybe 6 feet, perhaps less. Plus there are the lane lines. I usually have nothing bad to say about Kiefer products, but these lane lines have the horrible issue of puncturing or tearing up hands even if they do not have broken anti-wave fins.
Not a result of circle swimming, just a result of poor technique, or coach inattentiveness. The angle is going into the turn (if done properly) in circle swimming, not coming out.
Circle swimming can definitely contribute to poor turn technique if you get lazy. On my team all warmups (other than at meets, obviously) are swum clockwise. It felt really strange at first, but now it's natural.
Next time you are at a meet, watch the heats of races for circle swimming. Even in fast USA-S meets I'd wager that 50+% of the swimmers circle swim their races even though there is only one person in the lane.
In terms of whether it affects your turn, try circle swimming in the opposite direction and see if it doesn't feel a little weird. If you are going 5 sec apart it is very hard to do a turn straight in and out because the people in front and behind are too close, especially if you get any kind of significant underwater distance after your turn.
x-I like circle swimming when I am doing the same workout as the other people in the lane, and they are as fast as me. But during lap swim I need to split. I am a fast swimmer, and during a lap swim everyone else is considerably slower. I do not want someone else holding up my workout.
Am OK with circles IF: it's a team workout, everyone is doing the same workout, and the swimmers in each lane are swimming the same, or close to the same, pace. However, my comments below relate to times when I am there to work out on my own and when I will happily wait for a lane, or a lane to split, because:
x1 - You didn't pay for half of the lane, only the space in which you are swimming. Be observant and share. >>> I paid for access to the facility in order to get a great workout. If I have to wait for a split lane, I'm happy to, often do, and expect others to do so as well. Nothing more intrusive than having somebody jump in a lane two of us have already split, and are deep into our respective workouts, expecting us to switch to circles. See #2, below.
x2 - Circle swimming forces everyone to be not only on the same set, but almost the same interval. >>> Am there to do my workout on my intervals. Impossible to circle when I'm on 10x50s on a 0:45 when another guy is swimming his 500 warmup and another guy is doing a kick set.
x3 - circling makes you aware of all of the other swimmers in your lane >>> No more so than when splitting.
x4 - circling forces people to know how to pass or be passed with civility >>> Not really. Circling just forces people to pass which is either accomplished civilly, or not, depending on the passer and passee. Have seen plenty of civil, not so civil, and total obliviousness/ignorance.
x5 - circling allows you to drag on the leader or be a tow truck, pulling everyone else in the lane. >>> No thank you.
x6 - unless in a really crowded lane, circling keeps collisions to a minimum. >>> No potential for collisions when (properly) splitting. See #2 for circling.
x7 - circle swimming can be symbiotic, making everyone in the lane faster through teamwork. >>> Perhaps so if everyone has agreed to do the same set/workout and is of comparable ability. However, this has never been my experience.
Very happy to split a lane with another swimmer regardless of our relative abilities. Almost impossible, again outside of an organized team workout, to circle with other swimmers and accomplish the workout I've planned. Extremely frustrating for everyone.
