It's been a tough summer for me. I have not been getting in my laps as I have in the past.
I live in Forest Hills, Queens, NY. I work 45+ hours a week. My swimming options are limited. Here's why I have been missing workouts in the pool, while opting for dryland workouts:
YMHA(Young Men's Hebrew Association)
This is the closest pool to my house. Costs $400 a year. It's closed from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. The pool is clean and the staff is professional. But like most pools, the lap section is dominated by crusty old men and women who float or do doggy paddle, making laps impossible.
Queensboro Community College
Gotta take the LIE or Grand Central, so I'm facing traffic delays just to get to the pool. Very limited hours and it's closed three months out of the year. Sometimes the elderly take over the lap lanes for doggy paddle and floating.
Queens College
Nights only. Closed Friday.
Aspalt Green
The best pool in New York City area. Lots of lanes. Clean. Serious environment. It's 1:10 mins from home. It's so expensive. $875 is the cheapest rate. But I have to admit, swimming here is just awesome.
Wanted to let everyone know that I was asked to stop swimming at a lake in Pennsylvania on Thursday. I happened at Beltzville Lake Park. There are three sections. The center is where kids and families play. If it gets crowded, they open the side sections.
Before I hit the water, I told the lifeguard that I'd be swimming in the empty section to avoid colliding with everyone. After about 30 minutes, another lifeguard told me that I have to swim in the center section with everyone else.
I exploded!!!!!!
This was the straw the broke the camel's back. I told the lifeguard that this is wrong. You have this big lake, with kids splashing and pissing in the water, adults on speed boats and jet skies, but a man can't actually SWIM in the water.
So I've come to the conclusion that if I'm going to maintain a fit lifestyle, I'm only going to be able to swim once a week. I'll have to hit the gym the rest of the week, where I'm guaranteed to get a complete, uninterrupted workout.
It's a shame, but most pools emphasize horseplay by kids or attract elderly people who just take up space. You'd never see this in the weight room or on the cardio equipment. I wish I could say the same about the pool.
Former Member
In fairness to CourteousSwimmer, NYC covers a very big area. Most of the NYC Masters teams are based in Manhattan; Forest Hills is a fairly long distance away (about an hour by subway; driving not recommended).
There may be Masters programs at both the Flushing Y and St. John's University (there were in the past, I don't know their current status, because both were part of bigger clubs). Both are in adjacent areas of Queens (SJU is about five minutes from Forest Hills). Otherwise, the most convenient Masters team to Forest Hills would probably be the YWCA at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan (the E train from Continental Avenue to Lexington Ave.).
I noticed that Courteous Swimmer mentioned he works 45+ hours per week. If he's like me, his schedule just doesn't fit with the regularly scheduled workouts available.
I have looked at the various swimming schedules for the masters teams in my area, and I may be able to make one or two practices a week at most. Other times I'm working straight through the times they would be practicing, or I'm out of town. Plus, it changes from week to week.
That regularly scheduled workout must be nice for those of you with regularly scheduled jobs and regularly scheduled lives. Mine ain't like that, and I suspect CS's isn't either.
Originally posted by Courteous Swimmer
Men can't swim at the YWCA on 53rd.
Where did you hear that? There are many men on the YW Masters team. (I'm a member of a different club, but I know the YW team very well.) I suggest you contact Conrad Johnson, the coach, at CJohnson@ywcanyc.org (212-735-9812) for more information, if you're interested.
But, many of the Manhattan based teams have workout schedules that accommodate swimmers who can only make one practice per week (That's my situation, as well, but I swim on my own at Asphalt Green every night.)
Since you're going to Asphalt Green once a week anyway, have you considered talking to one of the Masters coaches about joining one of their workout groups? They have workouts every night and, I believe, Saturday and Sunday morning.
My team (Red Tide) has practices on Saturday and Sunday mornings at Baruch College (24th and Lexington) and Sunday afternoons at John Jay College (58th St and Tenth Ave.), as well as a special membership plan for swimmers who can only come once per week (we also have workouts weekday mornings and evenings). The only catch here is that we're very competition oriented and we expect members to come to at least two meets per year (we don't care how you do -- win or lose -- just show up).
You should also check out the Metropolitan LMSC website at www.metroswim.org
Nice work everyone. This is the kind of useful discussions we ought to be having.
Shakey: thanks for your temperately worded response to my tartly worded suggestion. I appreciate your restraint in not turning this into a urinating contest. BTW, that was a superb post you put up the other day on the weight loss thread. I genuinely look forward to hearing your thoughts; I'd simply like to steer the conversation away from the travails of lap swimming with non-swimmers. Heard your point. Got it. No need to flog that horse any more. I am a bit surprised to hear that people don't tend to get out of your way. Maybe it's a New York thing. Your 10x 100 IM on 2:00 tell me that you are not a schlub, in fact we are pretty close in ability. Yet, I have generally found that when I go to open lap swim, most of the other folks are not at all eager to jump in front of me (and I am a very average 69" tall, so I don't have any Ray Lewis size kind of thing going for me). Maybe it's the old water polo player's instinct to dominate my personal space in the water?
Matt
I think the reason people don't get out of the way is that they are clueless. It may be a Washington thing, because although I have encountered the attitude in other places, I've never encountered it in the unusual volume in which it exists in my pool. In spite of the interesting collection of brilliant minds here, Washington does seem to be one of the more generally clueless places I've lived.
Let me clarify the situation a little. Elsewhere I have described at great length the people who cause trouble, but not everyone is clueless. Sometimes someone will get into the fast lane and try to swim a couple of laps, then realize that he's outmatched and move to a slower lane. Some will stay because the other lanes are too crowded, but will make a great effort to stay out of the way by keeping track of where the faster swimmers are and resting at the end of the pool long enough to allow them to go past (that's what I do when I'm outmatched). I really don't mind swimming with those people. It's the ones who continually get in the way, have no control over where they go or generally ignore pool etiquette that bug me.
Maybe it's just that this Y advertises its pool as one of its major benefits and cultivates an "everyone can swim" attitude, using the pool to attract dollars without consideration for the quality of the experience. I just don't have the time, money or luck with my schedule to go anywhere else, and one scheduled workout per week with a masters team not only doesn't solve the problem, but also just wouldn't be worth the expense or effort to make it work.
In other words, I'm screwed until I can move somewhere more accommodating. I'm learning to accept that, even if I do whine about it too much.
Men can't swim at the YWCA on 53rd. I'm going to look into St.John's University. That's close to home. So is Queens College.
In light of my current fitness goals(get back to 34 inch waist), and work schedule, I've decided that the following will be my workout for the next year:
Workout three days a week-
Workout one- Swim for one hour
Workout two- Jog for 30 minutes
Workout three- Lift weights for 40 minutes/Jog 30 minutes
Even though I live in Queens, I'll make the trip to Asphalt Green once a week for a serious, uninterrupted swim. Let's hope I shed 20 pounds in six months.
