Today I happened to swim in a different pool (25 yards) due to the repair of the one I go to on a regular basis.Well, nothing seemed to be any different that usually(except of course fewer strokes per length and other related things when you switch from 25 m to 25 y.) until when I started swimming breaststroke I noticed that somehow I was swimming smoother going one way, but when going to the other end of the pool it did not feel the same.I was very confused, so I decided to time myself on one length of the pool going one way and the other.Well, i was shocked to discover that the difference in time bettween the smooth direction and the "not so smooth one"(going back) was 2 seconds!!!And I timed myself 5 times there and back to make sure i was not seeing things or something, I was swimming the same way there and back, too, by the end I even tried to swim better back, but the times still differed by around 2 seconds.
That is one of the weirdest things that ever happened to me.What do you think the reason is for that?
Also note: I took the same exact breaks between the lengths.
P.S.I am not going back to that pool again...
Poorly designed filtration systems can induce a current in pools that will cause you to swim faster in one direction than the other. That's probably what you experienced.
The only other explanation I can think of is you were using pace clocks to get your time and they weren't synched between the two ends of the pool, but I assume you would have figured that out right away.
Or the pool could have been constructed at an angle, so you were swimming slightly uphill going one direction and downhill the other. The downhill swim always seem much smoother;)
Did at any time the voice of Rod Sterling seem to also come out of nowhere while your were swimming in this strange pandoras box of a swimming pool?.....I would hate for you to end up trapped for eternity in some bizzarre temporal anomaly of some kind!
newmastersswimmer
Never fear, my local pool has the same types of current that is only aggravated when the water slide is turned on. Even when I am 30 meters from the slide at the far lane I can notice a current holding me back in one direction.
Originally posted by EyeoreSAM
The pool at the Lifetime fitness by my house is slanted towards lane one.
Haven't you heard the expression "water seeks its own level?" The pool can be slanted, the water level cannot. If the pool is slanted the water level would just be higher up the wall of the pool on one side versus the other.
There is a spot in my pool that seems to push me to one side. For the longest time I thought it was me not swimming straight then I started noticing that I got 'off course' at the same spot every time. This didn't happen when summer rolled around and we started swimming outside in a different pool.
The pool at the Lifetime fitness by my house is slanted towards lane one. I can always tell the most when I have to swim in lane one and do breaststroke (of course really slow) and get pulled toward the wall. It is so noticeable that you can see all the water draining into the gutters around lane one and two. Needless to say, I hate that pool!!
