First of all, I'm a new "masters" browser here and I enjoy reading all your humorous and informative posts. I recently started swimming low speed laps by myself and enjoy the nonimpact fitness I'm slowly attaining (started with the near death 1 lap swim, now a 500 free + broken up 200 IM + under water laps).
I'd like to know what kind of conditons other people swim in? Do you consider your pool setup to be good, fair, poor? My pool situation is as follows: I live in a gated community which has a 25 yard L-shaped pool. It's about 1/4mi away from my house. There are 2 lanes with lane lines open at all times to one side of the pool. Pool is about 9 months old with no starting blocks or flags. Rules are no diving allowed, no lifeguard on duty, no shampoo in the outdoor shower (what?). I usually drive my golf cart over to check for open lanes pretty much any time of day from 8am to 8pm. Open lane bliss can usually be found around 6pm each evening. The noodles floating around at this time often get smacked around by big lap waves since I'm rather tall. I've never had to share a lane with another lap swimmer (which is probably a good thing cause I think I would fail play nice with the other lap swimmers). The temperature of our pool is warm. Weather is warm for 9 months and dips to the 50s in winter. Lightning closes our pool daily in summer. An occasional car or lawn mower will blow in to the pool area sometimes making it impossible to swim, but nothing too bad overall. I think I'm fairly if not extremely fortunate to have such a set up as this, although I'm curious what others have to endure or relish at other pools. What are some of the pools like that you swim/train at?
Depending on the time of year, I utilize two different pools for training. During the winter months I'm in the preferred pool at my old high school. Its a brand new 25 yard, 8 lane pool kept at 80 degrees (which to me is a perfect workout temp). It's L-shaped with the diving well in the bottom of the L. It's 7 feet deep at the shallowest and has about 25 foot ceilings. Airflow is excellent. It's about 5 miles from my house. In the summer months, I'm at the local Y. It's about 15 miles from the house and is an older standard 6 lane, 25 yard pool. The water temp is usually about 85. All the lap swimmers constantly plead for lower temps but we never get anywhere. The air temp is usually worse. Overall, its a nice facility but is definitely gauged more for the recreational swimmers and/or aquatic walkers. I count myself as being lucky to have these 2 pools within 20 mins. of the house.
Depending on the time of year, I utilize two different pools for training. During the winter months I'm in the preferred pool at my old high school. Its a brand new 25 yard, 8 lane pool kept at 80 degrees (which to me is a perfect workout temp). It's L-shaped with the diving well in the bottom of the L. It's 7 feet deep at the shallowest and has about 25 foot ceilings. Airflow is excellent. It's about 5 miles from my house. In the summer months, I'm at the local Y. It's about 15 miles from the house and is an older standard 6 lane, 25 yard pool. The water temp is usually about 85. All the lap swimmers constantly plead for lower temps but we never get anywhere. The air temp is usually worse. Overall, its a nice facility but is definitely gauged more for the recreational swimmers and/or aquatic walkers. I count myself as being lucky to have these 2 pools within 20 mins. of the house.
