What makes your pool home?
I like the depth at my regular pool and there's access to starting blocks. It's dark and deep which kinda freaked me out at first but now I miss it when forced to train elsewhere.
I like hearing about pools people get to train in. UT has music underwater and nice big windows and it sounds really cool.
There's really nothing special about the pool I train it, but it's a university facility so the masters team tends to attract young, fast swimmers. When fast swimmers show up it tends to attract other fast swimmers, so there's alway someone to train with.
The other great feature is the locker room and showers. I hate pools where you have to cram all your stuff into a tiny locker or bring it out on deck. A nice full-sized locker seems like a minor detail, but it makes a difference. Same thing goes for good showers.
Since I have now joined the age group team in Jackson, I think the swimmers I get to train with is the biggest plus (good fast young wippersnappers that seem to swim endlessly without tiring much). I also really like my usual Masters training buddies as well.....Especially my traithelete friend Jeff who has such a strong committment to training hard and improving....his solid work ethic is always an inspiration to me when we have to get up so early in the morning to train. I also like the "tribe" of lap swimmers that also swim with us in the mornings even though they are not officially part of our small (and currently still unofficial) masters swimming team....There is a very nice lady in her 80's who swims next to me and Jeff every MWF morning...she is one of the friendliest people you could ever hope to meet. ...then there's our current master's coach Heather (and Lauren too) ....also great folk.....Throw in the other lap swimmers that may not come as often (but often enough) and you get a real nice feeling of belonging to something special....Heather came up with the term "workout tribe"......The fact that the YMCA pool we train at is only a mile from my house makes location just the extra icing on the cake....I am very fortunate to have the two teams I train with and the nice facility right there practically in my back yard....(and it also has nice locker rooms with big lockers, nice clean showers, a wirlpool, sauna, and steamroom)....I certainly could have a much worse situation that's for sure!
Newmastersswimmer
Originally posted by etrain
Ares are not swimmers, well most of them aren't. And they don't have to be there until 6:30 at night... The eariest they have to be at the pool is 11:00 or 11:30 a.m. throughout the week.
etrain
In that case they should stay awake......you can trash them all you want.;)
The staff at my local pool are not bad, in fact most are quite friendly. I guess I did not choose staff as the best feature because even if the staff were a bunch of jerks I would probably still swim there because of the lane availability.
So far no votes for staff... Hmm.
Unfortunately, because of my schedule, I don't get to train with other people. My time is spent around water exercisers, children, and a hoard of lifeguards. Everyone's a bit aloof.
KNelson:
The tiny locker vs. deck thing is really annoying so after the lockers ate my quarters I finally opted to take my stuff on deck. Have you tried Allstar Fitness downtown? Nice pool and big lockers.
Ballys pool is about 1 mile from my work and 7-8 miles from my house. No one to workout with, however I usually can get a lane to myself when I arrive. I hear it gets crowded in the winter though. Location Location Location-- ideally it would be the staff, swimmers and pool.
Originally posted by Seagurl51
Side note: seeing as I work at a pool...why has no one voted for staff? What'd we do wrong?
I believe the deciding factor of a reason somebdy picks a pool is the convenience of the pool location because of the busy lives we live. I don't believe that many peole are turned away because of staff.
Originally posted by PeirsolFan
Have you tried Allstar Fitness downtown? Nice pool and big lockers.
No, I always swim at the U of Washington except in the summer when I get down to Colman pool for some long course training. I did move recently and there's a city pool within walking distance so I'm sure I'll try that one out eventually.
