Swim Rant

...Not 10 minutes later they hit the damn ball into my lane again, this time hitting me in the head. So I stopped, took their ball and hit it across the pool. Awesome...my kinda gal. That's great...:applaud:

I tend to be a bit TI with my front crawl I can't see what's coming...I collided witha young guy doing backstroke. He was a good swimmer, sharing the lane well but just strayed off course. I was concerned I'd hurt him. Lifeguard offered to toss a kid out of the lane I was waiting on one night (it was adult lap) but he was swimming nicely. SO I told her to let him alone. If he was being a goof or such, then yeah I want my lane, but he was working sensibly and I had lots of time to spare. I am talking about the kids that are not swimming laps. Just swimming for fun across all the lanes, etc. The lifeguards at my Y are pretty worthless.

I am talking about the kids that are not swimming laps. Just swimming for fun across all the lanes, etc. The lifeguards at my Y are pretty worthless. I get those too. The best was the little girl who kept bobbing around on my lanerope and cutting across etc...all the while her father was diligently helping his son's swimmming techinique in the lane next to mine.

My turn! Slow Moving Objects - should be required to wear a giant Day-glo orange triangle on their behinds. Especially when they do not comprehend circle swimming as a concept. Head-on collisions ensue. Ow. Sharing a narrow lane - I can touch both lane lines when I reach out so how wide can that be - less than 6 feet - can be dicey, works out OK if you swim with friends 'cuz you sure gonna get to know each other! Can I add - explaining lane etiquette in a foreign language - how the h&ll do you say 'lap lane' in French anyway.

I do a 75 and take a rest, and she interrupts me with this... "Hi, do you mind doing me a really big favour; can you go swim in that lane?" She points to a lane two over where there is guy already swimming. Basically she wanted me to move so she could swim with her mother or friend. Or maybe she was worried one of your clothespins might come off. If it ended up floating in the lane and she inhaled it, bad things (e.g. choking; asphyxia; death) may have ensued. It is a good look, though.

Tell me that it's not me... I'm swimming, a girl comes up to the lane. Not wearing a real race suit or training gear. "Hi, I'm going to swim this side!" she tells me. I said "OK" a bit taken aback with the lack of asking and using please and thank you, but at least she didn't just jump in as I was heading for the turn. I do a 75 and take a rest, and she interrupts me with this... "Hi, do you mind doing me a really big favour; can you go swim in that lane?" She points to a lane two over where there is guy already swimming. Basically she wanted me to move so she could swim with her mother or friend. I Said, "Yeah I do mind actually!" and pushed off for my next 75. I thought it was the height of rudeness and arrogance to a think she can get me to move. A) I was doing interval work, and b) I was almost done (she'd not know that ). There was no way I was going to stop climb out walk over, wait to get this guy's attention and then start swimming again for 400 yards. Was I selfish, or justified in my response? I'd have said forget it too. She was the selfish one. I was swimming in lap lanes at an outdoor pool last weekend. I was splitting a lane with a perfectly nice lanemate. Then some lady jumped in our lane and asked if she could swim breaststroke down the middle. Huh? WTF? I said she could if she wanted to get run over. I was in a testy mood. Then, later, some kid just hopped in at the other end and started swimming one my side of the lane right at me. That pissed me off too. Then it happened again. Kids apparently think it's just fine to hop in an adult lap lane and swim over adults doing workouts or swimming laps. I couldn't believe the lifeguards didn't even say anything. I don't usually have any trouble lap swimming, but I won't go on a Saturday afternoon at a public pool again.

This is an anti-rant. There must be some Big meet in the Atlanta area. I arrived at the pool and there was one noodler. She left after a few minutes and I was alone. About 20 minutes later and good swimmer got, swam 10-15 minutes and left. Alone again. A few minutes later a noodler got in the lane next to me, but left when my Back Stroke was splashing too much. I can't believe HE was that worried about his hair. :shakeshead: I had the pool to myself for the next 30 minutes! :party2: After changing, I left the Gym. I could see the pool as I exited, my private pool was still empty. Never seen that before, but enjoyed it.:drink:

If somebody too slow consistently insists on going up front, I think The Rules allow you to swim right over them if they obstruct you from passing. Just grab the ankles and go over the top. Hey, I've done this before and I've even had to do it in a tri swim because 2 fellows would not let me pass to the left or right or go inbetween, so at the last buoy I just swam on top of them and voila, I was in front. They had kept me from passing for about 200 yds and I got tired of it; I even went way left and way right and they would cut in front. Not a normal occurrence though; that's the only time it happened to me in a competition. When I used to train in pools and someone who was first in the lane was too slow, I would make a U-turn right before they got to the wall to get in front of them. Desperate times=desperation actions (sometimes).

You can show no mercy with kids. I usually tell them once to stay out my lane, if they get in again I will just keep going and not care if I splash, kick or run them over. It works.

Tell me that it's not me... I'm swimming, a girl comes up to the lane. Not wearing a real race suit or training gear. "Hi, I'm going to swim this side!" she tells me. I said "OK" a bit taken aback with the lack of asking and using please and thank you, but at least she didn't just jump in as I was heading for the turn. I do a 75 and take a rest, and she interrupts me with this... "Hi, do you mind doing me a really big favour; can you go swim in that lane?" She points to a lane two over where there is guy already swimming. Basically she wanted me to move so she could swim with her mother or friend. I Said, "Yeah I do mind actually!" and pushed off for my next 75. I thought it was the height of rudeness and arrogance to a think she can get me to move. A) I was doing interval work, and b) I was almost done (she'd not know that ). There was no way I was going to stop climb out walk over, wait to get this guy's attention and then start swimming again for 400 yards. Was I selfish, or justified in my response? Does she not know that you are Swimstud?!? Seriously, you were justified and there is nothing wrong with not caving to her request. Whenever people like that try to invade on my workout, I yell at them (but only in my head) and I say "Hey! I'm a semi-professional here and this lane is for SERIOUS swimming only!!! You should NOT be trying this at home! Do I step onto your treadmill or elliptical machine and ask you to get off? Noooooooooooooo." And then I go into the old Steve Martin phrase , "well excuuuuuuussssssseeeee meeeeeeeee!" And I feel MUCH better. :lmao: If I'm REALLY steamed, I follow up the yelling in my head with a few really hard and splashy flip turns while the offender is resting in between laps, you know the really loud kind that cause no physical harm, but are extremely intimidating. They usually find another lane within a few minutes after that. Works every time!