Swim Rant

From the depths of page 19, my rants: 1. People who see the pool as a "fun" place and don't respect that lap swimmers are in the midst of a serious workout. They see a lap pool as the winter equivalent of the town wading pool, you can almost smell the suntan lotion. People would never go play catch on a track if someone is running laps, but these guys generally have no qualms about swimming through my lane, throwing a ball into my lane, etc. 2. Aqua aerobics. The whole thing. The music, people who think that bouncing up and down in water will make them lose weight, the irritating instructors, the inevitable spillover into my lane, the (seemingly) deliberate scheduling to coincide with lap practice, etc. It's almost never a real workout and it just takes up space. 3. The recreational swimmer who "races" me for one lap while I'm in the middle of a set of 10X200. They do one lap, furiously slapping the water and then rest up for fifteen minutes. 4. The middle age swimmer with waaaay too much equipment. $100 speedo racing jammer, fancy kickboard, fancy fins, custom-shaped buoy. Then they do 1200 yards and call it a day. Keep it simple, gearboy: ratty old Speedos strategically stacked to hide holes, five year old goggles pulled out of a pile at the bottom of your swim bag, public boards and buoys and NO FINS. ...sorry, that sounded really judgmental... I feel your pain. No simultaneous aqua aerobics classes during my lap swim or masters' workout times, and I can't say I really notice other people's equipment, but I've had kids diving under my lane, chasing balls into my lane, etc. etc. And when I said to one child "would you please keep your ball out of the lane?" his mother blocked my way the next time I came into the shallow section and said, "If you have a problem with my kids, come to me. Don't yell at them!" The people racing me... doesn't happen often, but once a guy was obviously killing himself trying to stay with me, and I was doing an easy paced swim at the time. And I'm a fairly slow swimmer! He reached the wall about the same time as I did, and leaned against it out of breath. I just smiled at him and kept on swimming. :)

From the depths of page 19, my rants: 1. People who see the pool as a "fun" place and don't respect that lap swimmers are in the midst of a serious workout. They see a lap pool as the winter equivalent of the town wading pool, you can almost smell the suntan lotion. People would never go play catch on a track if someone is running laps, but these guys generally have no qualms about swimming through my lane, throwing a ball into my lane, etc. 2. Aqua aerobics. The whole thing. The music, people who think that bouncing up and down in water will make them lose weight, the irritating instructors, the inevitable spillover into my lane, the (seemingly) deliberate scheduling to coincide with lap practice, etc. It's almost never a real workout and it just takes up space. 3. The recreational swimmer who "races" me for one lap while I'm in the middle of a set of 10X200. They do one lap, furiously slapping the water and then rest up for fifteen minutes. 4. The middle age swimmer with waaaay too much equipment. $100 speedo racing jammer, fancy kickboard, fancy fins, custom-shaped buoy. Then they do 1200 yards and call it a day. Keep it simple, gearboy: ratty old Speedos strategically stacked to hide holes, five year old goggles pulled out of a pile at the bottom of your swim bag, public boards and buoys and NO FINS. ...sorry, that sounded really judgmental... I feel your pain. No simultaneous aqua aerobics classes during my lap swim or masters' workout times, and I can't say I really notice other people's equipment, but I've had kids diving under my lane, chasing balls into my lane, etc. etc. And when I said to one child "would you please keep your ball out of the lane?" his mother blocked my way the next time I came into the shallow section and said, "If you have a problem with my kids, come to me. Don't yell at them!" The people racing me... doesn't happen often, but once a guy was obviously killing himself trying to stay with me, and I was doing an easy paced swim at the time. And I'm a fairly slow swimmer! He reached the wall about the same time as I did, and leaned against it out of breath. I just smiled at him and kept on swimming. :)