What can make a potentially great pool and swim meet (78-80 degree deep water, wide lanes, great gutter system, good starting blocks, great lighting, large scoreboard, excellent officials, etc.) into a mediocre one? The lane lines.
We recently swam our championships in a new state-of-the-art pool. The only problem was the slack lane lines. The water was very choppy and continued that way throughout the whole race. They served no more purpose than the old “floaties” we used 45 years ago. They were so loose they visibly rose and fell with the waves and had so many horizontal waves they looked like serpents at the surface. The lane lines did not cut the waves but rather rode them. When there was a race with an open lane, the waves pushed the lane lines well into the free lane. Predictably overall times were not as fast as they could have been.
It is not necessary to have the lane lines are tight as a piano wire in order for them to be effective, but tightening them up for a meet is an area that is most often neglected. We work too hard at our craft not to be given every opportunity to swim as fast as the pool allows.
Parents
Former Member
Steve,
We've recently become a bit more conscious of measuring pools to ensure that they are regulation distances. (I know this because I am on the SLAM BOD and we recently hosted a SCY meet.) A real concern is that if your pool uses a bulkhead, or anything that might flex, that tightening the lanes lines too tight might cause it to bow in the middle to a non-regulation distance.
So...maybe those multiple lanes lines all tightened to a guitar string tension contributed to fast times by some means other than reduced turbulence. Just a thought...:p
Shakey: I had one thought re your post. Is your workout style suited to the conditions as you find them? I know that back when I worshipped low rest intervals, swim every lap on the edge of puking my guts out, ANY distranction in my lane was an irritant. If you are following a similar prescription, maybe you can reduce the friction (and improve your swimming) by doing some lower speed drill work when the aqua-crowd is at its densest. I know that if I am not trying to hold an interval, I am a whole lot more tolerant of rec swimmers and their toys bouncing in front of me if I am doing hand lead TI drills. If I know another big group is about to share the water, I try to schedule my workout to do stuff like that there when they are in the pool. Just a thought; I could be, and frequently am completely wrong (just ask my wife :D ).
One boring sea story, then I'll go. Back when I was an age grouper (when dinosaurs walked the earth) our team was practicing in the municipal pool, which was enourmous--25 yard wide, very long. We used the central third; the rest of the pool was open to rec swimmers. We were swimming a set of haul a__, max sprint 25's fly, from the dive. I was the first swimmer in my lane, and this little ole' rec swimmer meandered into the swim team area (probably wondering why no one was using all that empty water). Well, needless to say, he didn't see us, and (with my head down) neither I nor any of the life guards saw him, and WACKO!! I speared the guy right in the back with the top of my head at full speed (think greek trireme ramming a persian galley at the battle of Salamis). Fortunately, both of us were stunned, but unhurt. We continued with out workout, and I'd bet the rec swimmer was a little more aware of where the swim team was working out from that point on.
Matt
Steve,
We've recently become a bit more conscious of measuring pools to ensure that they are regulation distances. (I know this because I am on the SLAM BOD and we recently hosted a SCY meet.) A real concern is that if your pool uses a bulkhead, or anything that might flex, that tightening the lanes lines too tight might cause it to bow in the middle to a non-regulation distance.
So...maybe those multiple lanes lines all tightened to a guitar string tension contributed to fast times by some means other than reduced turbulence. Just a thought...:p
Shakey: I had one thought re your post. Is your workout style suited to the conditions as you find them? I know that back when I worshipped low rest intervals, swim every lap on the edge of puking my guts out, ANY distranction in my lane was an irritant. If you are following a similar prescription, maybe you can reduce the friction (and improve your swimming) by doing some lower speed drill work when the aqua-crowd is at its densest. I know that if I am not trying to hold an interval, I am a whole lot more tolerant of rec swimmers and their toys bouncing in front of me if I am doing hand lead TI drills. If I know another big group is about to share the water, I try to schedule my workout to do stuff like that there when they are in the pool. Just a thought; I could be, and frequently am completely wrong (just ask my wife :D ).
One boring sea story, then I'll go. Back when I was an age grouper (when dinosaurs walked the earth) our team was practicing in the municipal pool, which was enourmous--25 yard wide, very long. We used the central third; the rest of the pool was open to rec swimmers. We were swimming a set of haul a__, max sprint 25's fly, from the dive. I was the first swimmer in my lane, and this little ole' rec swimmer meandered into the swim team area (probably wondering why no one was using all that empty water). Well, needless to say, he didn't see us, and (with my head down) neither I nor any of the life guards saw him, and WACKO!! I speared the guy right in the back with the top of my head at full speed (think greek trireme ramming a persian galley at the battle of Salamis). Fortunately, both of us were stunned, but unhurt. We continued with out workout, and I'd bet the rec swimmer was a little more aware of where the swim team was working out from that point on.
Matt
