Originally posted by Mark in MD
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DAP: We have a "floating cadaver" at our pool. She is a bit ample in girth and uses a snorkel, mask and huge flippers to do her thing. We call her "The Barge" because we thought about playing ring toss on her snorkel. She doesn't like sharing lanes and haven't seen her in a while. Perhaps she got tired of us sharing her lane, passing her doing an IM, fly or whatever.
There's a much older guy than I am whom I see every Saturday morning when I am at the pool to teach kids' lessons. He literally stands in the steam room and shadow boxes buck nekked. Once he's pretty steamed up good and red, he continues outside of the steam room, adjacent to the showers. We're waiting for him to have a coronary or stroke.
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You owe me a new flat screen monitor as I just spit Diet Snapple all over mine.
Hysterical! I literally have tears running down my cheeks from laughing so hard!
Steph
I've met a lot of swimmers in my day, but "Slow Freestyler" tops everyone.
This guy has a "private trainer" (same guy who's in the work study program at the University Pool*) who desperately tries to teach this guy proper freestyle technique. Instead, "Slow Freestyler" does this Doggie-Paddle/Freestyle hybrid with his head entirely above the water.
This guy is SO SLOW that I can beat him with my breaststroke, yes... BREASTSTROKE!!
I timed this guy twice: Once when I was wearing my Aqua Sphere full body suit (I came in one length of the pool at 48 seconds with the breaststroke and he came in at 1:52, doing his Doggie-Paddle/Freestyle hybrid.)
The second time, I timed him when I was wearing my speedo (I came in at 50 seconds with the breaststroke and he trailed along at 1:57, doing his Doggie-Paddle/Freestyle hybrid. Again one length of the pool. Y'don't want to know what my freestyle result was compared to his! :lol: )
Of course, I did this without fins. It's so sad, but funny (for all the wrong reasons) to see this guy desperately trying to swim.
This thread seems to be taking on a Seinfeldian quality .. "What's the deal with lousy swimmers and creepy shower guys?"
... But I digress.
Has anyone ever been tempted to ask a person like the one in CCSR79's pool, "What are you doing? Did you put any thought into this routine of yours?"
It might be rude, but sometimes when I see people who have a bizarre swmming style, I just want to ask them, "What's your story?" Not in a mean or critical way, but just to find out. I'm not talking about people with bad form or who swim slowly, but the ones who swim, for lack of a better word, inexplicably.
My apologies for the prolific use of adverbs in that last sentence.
Adam
LOL!! Maybe you can call him "FINbar, The Paddle Boy". As for "Slow-Freestyler", I rarely see him when I swim at the university, so giving the poor guy pointers on his stroke wouldn't be easy to do.
However, since our lovely little pet peeves thread has become somewhat of a Labeling Game, I have names for the POOLS i've swam in, here in town.
The Socorro Aquatic Center - School District Owned aquatics center: a.k.a. "The Funky Teenage STANK-atorium", a.k.a. "El Comino (Spanish for Cumin, not to be confused with Camino, Spanish for Road) Aquatic Center." The men's locker rooms smell SO bad in there, you'd swear someone prepared Mexican Cuisine, with TONS of Cumin added. Pyoo!
The UTEP (University of Texas, El Paso) Swimming and Fitness Center - University Pool and Gym: a.k.a. "University Pool", a.k.a "Adult Swim Aquatic Center", since the majority who swim there are adults.
and lastly, the Fort Bliss Replica Aquatic Center (this is in a military base) a.k.a "THE Olympic Pool" a.k.a "Patriot's Long Course" a.k.a. "Master's Delight".
We've meantioned names for pool goers, what about the pools we swim in? I know most of you have names for the YMCA pools!
"Piece of Work" (just got this from a pool goer at the University, who used to swim at the Y long ago, Yesterday)
Originally posted by Kae1
Y'know, I don't know of any swimmer that wouldn't be more than happy to give you some pointers (provided you didn't interrupt them in the middle of something or anything), if you start with "wow, your technique is really good, can you give me any tips?" Again, if you catch them at the beginning or end of their workout, they'd probably be more than willing (I know I would be flattered and more than happy to help, even if it meant setting up another time to meet and go over technique).
Kae
Please, if you (generic) do this, ONLY catch the person before s/he starts or after s/he is finished. Don't try to chat when they stop between sets. They're likely watching the clock at these times frantically trying to catch their breath in the 15 seconds before the next send-off. Perhaps counting heartbeats as well.
Otherwise, the person you interrut may come here and express a peeve about "Chatterbox Person" at their pool! :) :)
There is a saying (maybe I should put it in the t-shirt thread): "If you can talk during your workout, you're not working hard enough."
Originally posted by swimmer_steph
You owe me a new flat screen monitor as I just spit Diet Snapple all over mine.
Hysterical! I literally have tears running down my cheeks from laughing so hard!
Steph Steph ... what I said is true! I guess I will have to give up the flat screen monitor I got for Christmas to replace yours. :( Doesn't yours have a guarantee against Snapple flooding?
Sonic ... maybe you could start a Tex-Mex food stand at El Comino. Maybe some foods like " 'Fly Fajitas," etc. Nothing like having a small business to supplement your swimming needs.
I'm thinking that sounds like a good idea! :p
"Breaststroke Bean Burrito" :lol: Gotta love that alliteration!
...or a bowl of "Freestyle Frijoles Charros"?
:p :p :p :p :p
Tonight at the pool, I saw one of the regular odd characters. He has a strange freestyle where he keeps his elbow constantly straight, never bent, throughout the whole stroke. Must be rough on the shoulders. That style makes a lot of noise and a lot of splash. While I'm swimming, I laugh because without even seeing him, I can hear the rhythmic sound of straight arms smacking the water.
This happened to me yesterday:
I had a GREAT swim... everything was fine, until... ACK!! Right in the shower room, I get the 12 hour stomach flu, which came unannounced and unwelcome like a "TV Mother-in-law" during a Christmas special!
Arrgh! The ride home was terrible, I had motion sickness during the entire trip, and to top it off, I take the bus to the pool...
Not much was done yesterday, since I was in bed, trying to keep my soup and tea in. (I won't go into detail here!)
Luckily, by Eight O'Clock last night, I started feeling better.
Now, I'm just weak from yesterday's episode and hope to regain my strength for tomorrow.
Talk about something swimmers wouldn't want to experience! :p
Originally posted by Sonic Swimmer78
I had a GREAT swim... everything was fine, until... ACK!! Right in the shower room, I get the 12 hour stomach flu, which came unannounced and unwelcome like a "TV Mother-in-law" during a Christmas special! I think that a stomach flu would be terrible anywhere. I sometimes wonder what one would do on an airplane if there was a sudden onset of a stomach flu, particularly when they have the fasten seat belt sign on. There's a good probability that it has happened to someone sometime.
On the pet peeve subject... Today I was at the pool, and there was a guy waiting for a lane. I offered to share my lane, which he accepted. He did a few circle swimming laps with me, and when I wasn't looking, he got out and was replaced with a water walker who just hopped in unannounced. So I spent a number of laps dodging the water walker until another lane opened and I moved over. You can't circle swim with a water walker, so you have to keep an eye out for where the walker is.
