Well, due to my schedule this week, I couldn't make my regular morning workouts for a few days, and decided to get in a workout at a nearby city pool. I had no idea what I was in for... I had called ahead, and they assured me that they always have 'at least 2 lanes' available for lap swimming.
When I arrived, there were 2 lanes setup for lap swimming. However, 1 lane had 2 guys swimming side-by-side, the other (along the edge) had a group of kids going back and forth while holding onto the wall. Despite repeated requests from the lifeguards after they saw me waiting, the kids didn't get out of the way (perhaps a language problem).
Anyway, the best way to get rid of stragglers in the lane turned out to just getting in and swimming!! I think after they saw me, especially doing a few flip turns, everyone quickly moved out of the way. Actually, I got in a nice workout (hard to think up things on my own when I'm used to a coach), and had few interruptions.
Not bad for the $1.50 admission I paid to get in. And who said it was expensive to swim here.... Plus a few people approached to ask me about swimming.
Tim
Interesting to hear other tales of swimming in city pools. I did have fins with me, but they stayed on the deck. I did use paddles for a 500 though...maybe that helped keep stragglers away.
For a public pool, this one isn't bad. It is next to a high school, and the school swim team uses it in season. During breaks (summers, weekends, and some mornings), it is open to the public. It has a small river-type vortex and 2 water slides too. I had been there before a few years ago with someone from my team, and we tried out the slides--not bad. It is a nice pool, but again, certainly not one of my favorites.
Tim
Most of us who have swum during “open swimming” have had encounters with other users of the pool (calling many of them swimmers is a real stretch). Like the times my fins, paddles, and other equipment somehow ended up lanes away, attached to a group of kids. Or the 10 year old who likes to stand on a kickboard and shoot it at you as you pass…
And while these tend to raise my blood pressure, I try to remind myself that my $2.00 does not rent 75 feet by 8 feet of real estate for the duration of my workout. Hence the term public pool. Now if this were a truly private pool where I could rent a lane for my personal use, then it would be a different matter.
The six little girls who swim under the ropes right in front of me to get wherever little girls go, aren’t deliberately trying to disrupt my workout, or at least I hope they aren’t. And those who circle swim slower than me have every right to share this public lane with me. Intimidation and bullying tactics do not demonstrate much of a sporting behavior and don’t speak well for Masters Swimming.
And as Bob mentioned keep working with the lifeguards. Remember to thanks them and let you know how much you appreciate it when they can open up a lane and keep it clear for your swimming.
Alas, this situation occurs altogether too often (even in my own pool despite my constant efforts to the contrary). Keep working on those lifeguards. Thanks for taking charge of your own situation, and thanks for not whining about it.
In my experience, fist swimming drills also usually have a salutatory effect on lane clearance.
Isn't it amazing that people in public pools find the need to cross in front of you while throwing a ball, chasing their friend, etc?! Even with lane lines up and me swimming in a perfectly straight line lap after lap, the general public seems to be blind and scampers right in front of me. I compare it to someone going to the high school or college track and doing cartwheels across all the lanes while people are jogging around the track. Clueless!
One of the more interesting city pools around is Colman Pool in Seattle. It's an outdoor, 50 meter pool right on Puget Sound. They actually pump salt water from the sound to fill the pool. There are good lap swim times where all 8 lanes are available, and even Masters workouts. Any Masters swimmer who visits Seattle between Memorial Day and Labor Day should check it out!
This seems more appropriate to the "favorite pool" thread, but I can't really say it's my favorite pool. It's definitely unique, and has one of the best views of any pool anywhere, but it isn't exactly fast. The pool was built in 1941.
www.cityofseattle.net/.../2004.pdf
I have also found that kids will move for you if you treat them with courtesy and tell them you are working out. Most cases, not all, they will stay out of your way.
Kids will be kids, and that impulsiveness to cross the lane can sometimes overcome them. That is the challenge of public swim time!:)
My pool tends to keep non swimmers out of the lanes, but on the rare occasion when there are some I find big splashy flip turns, and if they are 'swimming laps' really splashy body dolphin drills (I know body dolphin drills are suppose to be quiet) both with fins works wonders.
One time when I had to swim at a city pool....
There were 3 lanes for lap swimming. It was pretty crowded - about 10 people in each lane. But I figured I'd give it a try anyhow. About 200-300 yds. into warm up (after passing everyone in my lane at least twice) I had a lane all to myself. With about 15 people in the other two lanes :lol:
I am so relieved to read these posts! What has been expressed is how I too have felt in the public pool environment! I thought all this frustration was of my own making --and some of it was, but feeling annoyed when kids are bouncing around in the lane while I was trying to get a few laps in, I was, well, feeling angered. After that, I felt bad to say the least!
I try to remember that swimming etiquette is learned through others in the swimming community. Kids don't realize or know the rules of circle swimming, staying out of lane lines, or not standing on kick boards, using other's training items like paddles or pull buoys etc. because they are not part of our swimming culture. Granted basic respect for other people's belongings should be universal, and for the most part, my "training stuff" is looked after when I am doing laps by the life guards or other lap swimmers in the lanes. It's a public pool. This is part of the experience.
