Quick Question... fast pool

aha!.... well based on all of these assessments looks like i'm swimming in a slooooooooow pool lol! thanks for the explanation! you learn something new everyday! -or at least hope to :)

some pools are considered to be fast pools because of how they were designed and how they are maintained. Like the Texas swimming center in Austin is considered to be a FAST POOL Fast Pools tend to: + be Deep like 8 or 9 feet as opposed to 4 + have overflow gutters so waves just flow over the side instead of bouncing off the walls and creating more turbulence for swimmers + be well lit and airy + have grippy walls where swimmers turn as apposed to slippery walls + great water temps + clear water, + excellent wave killing lane ropes + host big meets, like olympic trials, NCAA's, nationals and such. + big score boards, + nice locker rooms, What else? the swim center main pool is 9 foot all the way across, has over flow gutters, is well lit, spacious, ... slow pools can be shallow, have bad gutters, slippery walls, water that's either too warm or too cold hazy opaque water Slow pools basically the opposite of fast pools. It's actually good to train in a slow pool then compete in a fast pool, you're likely to improve from racing in a better pool. You can swim faster faster when you race in a fast pool. Ande Originally posted by jswim I have noticed on a few different occasions where people have mentioned the apparent "speed" of the pool they swim in. anyone want to enlighten a clueless person as to what this means? ;)

Originally posted by jswim I have noticed on a few different occasions where people have mentioned the apparent "speed" of the pool they swim in. anyone want to enlighten a clueless person as to what this means? ;) If you trained in the Municipal Pool (now called the Jimmy Thompson Pool) in Hamilton Ontario You would know the difference. The waves produced by the flat walls were and still very large, it is like swimming in a wave pool. When you take a breath you can easily swallow water. George

Originally posted by geochuck If you trained in the Municipal Pool (now called the Jimmy Thompson Pool) in Hamilton Ontario You would know the difference. The waves produced by the flat walls were and still very large, it is like swimming in a wave pool. When you take a breath you can easily swallow water. George Same here!! The pool I swim in is terrible!!! Definate wave pool material, I should try some of this speculative bow wave sufing next time. The way I understand it, what makes a pool fast is the taughtness of the lane lines, how good the lane lines are at reducing wave sharing, and how good the drainage system is. Whatever can be done to make as less wake as possible so that it seems like you are always swimming in calm water. My favorite example of a good pool is the Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center. FABULOUS POOL!!!! ~Kyra

Depth also makes a difference. A shallow pool allows turbulence to boil back up from the bottom and negatively impact the swimmer. Recap so far: Lane lines (or even double lane lines). They should be tight, and big and have surfaces facing various directions so that waves in all directions are "eaten" (therefore, they should not just be balls-on-a-rope.) Sides of the pool that don't allow waves to "bounce" back to the swimmers. Depth. Also temperature. Too hot saps the swimmers' strength.

Drafting is a function of the water movement below the surface, not what's happening at the surface (like wakes and troughs.) In essence, drafting is sort of like swimming down stream. There is a flow of water created by the swimmer in front of you (and created by you as well, if someone is behind you to benefit from it.) The flow essentially follows the swimmer. If you catch that flow, you are pulled along in the current, and you swim "downstream" (if you are swimming in the same direction.) I suppose that if you were swimming in the opposite direction of a long line of swimmers, and if you moved close enough to the line of swimmers, it would probably be like swimming upstream. I suppose, therefore, that you might get this effect in a crowded circle-swim lane.

Try swimming IM sets with four people to a lane. Swimming fly into someone else's wake is so not fun. It's rough. Drafting is awesome. I love when I can draft off of someone. However, drafting does not a better swimmer make ...

It seems to me that there is a contradiction or something I don't understand. We talk about wanting a smooth surface ot swim on yet we also talk about drafting. I know that when I've drafted off of people, I can feel it. I also know that dwhen I'm drafting, I don't feel the catch very well. The beginning of my arm stroke can be very weak then. When the water is very calm, I feel my hand taking hold of the water & as I grab it, I push myself forward. This has always perplexed me!

Originally posted by ande + big score boards, + nice locker rooms, Although these two might be nice features in a pool, it's a stretch to say they make the pool "faster" :)

Originally posted by Bob McAdams Also, a question about grippy versus slippery walls: I've been to masters meets where they had touch pads on the lanes that were so slippery that it was almost impossible to plant your feet on the wall for a backstroke start. those are the evil, early generation colorado touch pads, affectionately called (at least in most places in PA) shower curtain pads. cause they're about as grippy as a shower curtain would be. sometimes, i think a shower curtain would have more grip than some of the touchpads i've started on! but unfortunately, there's far fewer of us backstrokers to inconvenience with slippery pads so many pools don't replace the pads until they stop working totally. it's good to hear that USMS nationals has (at least up to this point) had colorado aquagrip pads or even omega pads. with my luck, this'll be the year that something goes wrong and we end up with shower curtain pads, since i'm actually going to nationals this year.... :rolleyes: