Swim Rant

I have heard of equalizer triathlons where each sport is theoretically supposed to take a participant roughly the same amount of time. For me that would mean a 5K swim, a 20 mile bike and a 200 yard run. Too Funny! My recent rant: got a free pass to Bally's fitness club and the water was 91 degrees. Swam 6x25s, drank a full bottle of water, got dizzy and got out. I gave them back my 2 week free pass cause if I went there again, I'd need my AARP card to enter the hospital due to heat exhaustion. The search is on for more health club pools for the month I am here. At least I have the lake swimming group 3xweek; it's cool there. Why do some health clubs keep the water temperature as hot as most medical physical rehab centers use for injured people? Are they trying to hurt us?

Donna - I got rid of my membership to Bally's. Pool maint wasn't up to par both with chemicals and also temps. I have a LA Fitness membership if you are in FtW - 25 yards, about 84F, pool a little more consistent. Temps are a little warm but at least no surprises since January. You should also be able to get a 1 or 2-week guest pass. Ditto here in West Atlanta except the temp is 78-80 with the occasional bone chilling mid-70s. Usually, I have the pool to myself.

I found a pool and the temp is 80 degrees; thank goodness. And I have a lane to myself every day if I go around 2pm. So yesterday I did a straight 3 mile swim and never got overheated. Yay! Downside: it costs me $20 every time I swim there. But I really don't mind that much because I am training for a reason and spending $20 on a pool is better than spending $20 in a bar! Bally Fitness is a poor facility at least here in the DFW area. PS: it feels great not swimming in full sun for a change and no saltwater; my lips and throat don't swell up now!!

Bill, I'm not sure exactly where you live/work in west Atlanta...But have you tried the Mountain View Aquatic Center at the intersection of Sandy Plains and Shallowford Drive in Marietta? I used it for the first time on Labor Day. Very nice facility. It's a 25 yard by 50 meter pool with a bulkhead with 21 lanes for swimming at about 80 degrees. It also has another 5 lane, 25 yard warmer pool for rehab and lessons. If it's convenient, give it a try. Mark Ditto here in West Atlanta except the temp is 78-80 with the occasional bone chilling mid-70s. Usually, I have the pool to myself.

Glider: I live off Nickajack (Mableton) and work at Ft Mac. so Mountain View is too far the wrong way and puts me dead in rush hour traffic. :notworking: No matter since I'm an early riser, I'll be dead soon.:lmao:

Originally Posted by 3strokes forums.usms.org/.../viewpost.gif In the thread about outdoors pools closing and frustrations on the East Coast (my memory's not that good) and when I promised not to post my rant on the rant thread, it was suggested that I should. So, here goes. Lucky you! Ours (outdoors pool) closed on Monday (last day was Sunday Aug 26, last day of a lousy week, weather-wise, cloudy, very few sunny breaks, while I was at work, with the cloud coverage coming in right as I left the office.) Then the whole week of Aug 26 right up to the long weekend was gorgeous and no outdoors pool. To add insult to misery, my usual indoors pool is closed for three weeks of maintenance and the other one I use as an alternate was not too crowded last Friday but I felt like a ton of bricks. I stopped swimming after 20 minutes. Yesterday (Saturday), I went there again and I knew from the first two lengths that I would (should) have a great day of swimming; long easy strokes, moving seemingly without effort, one of those days when you feel you could do a PB. Then half the population of the City showed up (the lower IQ and SA (swimming ability) half). There were about 40 swimmers per lane (of six) in a 25m long pool. Life-guards' (collective) IQ even lower. No desire whatsoever to ask extremely slow swimmers to move down, even just one lane from the fast lane to the second fastest. No desire to ask dead slow swimmers to try and swim (swim? Ha Ha!) to the side of the lane to give others a chance to overtake them. Every time I waited for a sufficient gap, allowing a swimmer(?) to push off and trying to push off when he/she reached a point some 10 to 12 meters away so I wouldn't have to hit my hands on their feet (or worse, between their widely scissoring, and 62 degrees sinking, legs) at the other end, someone, standing by me would push off and cancel the gap. And if I swam my usual, thinking, "OK. I'll just overtake him/her within 5 to 7 meters of the push-off", I'd run into two (land) turtles racing (overtaking) each other coming the other way (at a speed (OK, not speed, but "rate") where they would need an 80m long pool to overtake one another), leaving enough space on my side of the lane for an anorexic eel. About 30 minutes into the swim, I decided that my blood pressure had risen enough and that I did NOT need to have to change my Forum name to 4Strokes. Don't worry, Forumites; I'm not going to repeat this post in the .....rant thread. Strike that last sentence from the Record.

Current rants: 1. "tepid" hot water in the locker room showers. 2. Stingy pool managers that only schedule lap swimming for 1hr an evening. 3. Water aerobics taking over half the pool during the 1hr that lap swimming is scheduled. (seriously this water aerobics craze has got to stop. Bouncing up and down in 5 ft of water is not exercise.)

Current rants: (seriously this water aerobics craze has got to stop. Bouncing up and down in 5 ft of water is not exercise.) It is if the alternative is sitting on the sofa, watching TV and eating Cheetos. But, I do agree with the sentiment.

...Bouncing up and down in 5 ft of water is not exercise. ...well that kinda depends...:bolt:

I am a masters swimmer from Peru visiting the US and had ordered via Internet a Speedo racing suit to be delivered at the Omni Interlocken hotel. I just got a note from the Smiming Outlet stating they were out of stock on my item. No time for new email order so I need to find a swimming store in the area which would carry Speedo racing suits. I tried Swim 'n' Things but they only have jammers/legskins and not hinecks nor bodysuits. Will appreciate greatly any pointers to swimming stores. R. Balbuena