Swim Rant

...Morning swim, no space (is it possible these noodlers are reproducing--I thought at their age, all their eggs were rotten), breakfast at Mimi's cafe (where the noodler's eat), and then dragged to Joanne's (where the noodler's do their crafts and customize their flotation waist belts with sequins and such--"it's on the way home, Kurt")--I try to get out..but they just keep pulling me back in (Capt. Kirk?Wrath of Kahn).:frustrated:

My bad...you got something for my presenile dementia?:bliss:

It isn't just noodlers. My team practices in a pool at a school, but there is no gym or anything, and we can't practice outside of team hours. So, I swim on my own on the other days to do my own workouts at the pool at my gym. The pool is kind of crappy, i.e., it isn't for competitive swimming, or really even lap swimming. There are no gutters, it's really shallow, and there is only one "lane" that is marked off with a rope through a bunch of noodles. The "lane" is also where the stairs are, so not only can you only do flip turns at one end of the pool, but everytime someone wants to get in and out, they have to go through your lane to do it. Anyway, people at the gym will use the lane to do "laps" where they do sidestroke or doggie paddle extremely slow for half a lap, and then walk all the way back to the stairs, wait a minute, and then do it all over again. And, they'll do this for a good hour. Also, they don't know how to circle swim, which would probably be impossible since they aren't really swimming. Also, there are people who make floating seats out of the noodles and just meander around the pool, including the laps "lane". It drives me nuts, but since they're all old (and I mean like 75+) and I'm not (24), if I say anything they will think I'm just a rude and obnoxious youngin'. Serenity now!

I am old - 75 I run into problems with young noodlers. Isn't it awful poor older people are being lumped in to the noodler conversation. I doubt all noodlers are oldsters.

Of all the noodlers in all the world, most of them are probably not old; however, the vast majority at my gym are, as I go several times a week at varying times and have never seen one under the age of 75. You might be 75, but you're not "old" in the way I mean. I mean they go to the gym so they can tell their doctors they're trying to stay active, but they put more energy into playing bridge than they do floating around the pool. The older people who go to the gym and actually put some effort into it are cool in my book.

...Morning swim, no space (is it possible these noodlers are reproducing--I thought at their age, all their eggs were rotten), breakfast at Mimi's cafe (where the noodler's eat), and then dragged to Joanne's (where the noodler's do their crafts and customize their flotation waist belts with sequins and such--"it's on the way home, Kurt")--I try to get out..but they just keep pulling me back in... Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in. Michael Corleone, Godfather III

Today will be the last day I can swim in our outdoor pool until it re-opens next spring. Now I will have to contend with the "floating islands" that populate the indoor pool. :cry:

I just got back from a week on the WA coast.Where we stayed they had a small(about 50ftX3lanes)heated pool with no lane lines.At about 9:30 AM some noodlers would show up,but since the pool opened at 8:00 AM my wife and I just got there early to swim(though I'd have preferred to not need to get up early at the beach.)The last day was cold and rainy and I figured we'd certainly have the pool to ourselves.We got there at 8:03 and there was already a woman getting in the"center" lane.My wife asked if she would rather swim next to the wall and she said"I like the middle."I thought"OK,my wife and I do different workouts(she likes distance and BK,I like sprints especially BR),there are 3 lanes,and this woman was there first,we'll do fine."She then proceeded to swim elementary backstroke in what would be best described as a zigzag pattern. How she kept from knocking herself out on the wall or at least smashing her hand I have no idea as she didn't seem to have any clue where she was in the pool.Doing sprints in a short pool with an obstacle course is interesting.:mad:

I shared a narrow lane with a zigzag backfloater like that. She ran into me a couple times. We both happened to be resting at the same end of the pool so she initiated conversation by asking "Sucks, doesn't it?" I didn't take the bait.

I encountered someone like that last winter. The pool was sectioned into three parts, with swim classes going on in two of them and lane swim in the remaining third. A guy was doing a very wide double-arm frog-kick back stroke (reverse *** stroke?) straight up the middle, taking up most of the section. I pointed out the circling sign (up both sides towards the deep end, both sides converge and go down the middle) to him and suggested it might reduce collisions as there were so many of us trying to share this section. Blank stare in response, then he proceeds to weave his way up the center again, against the traffic, forcing people to scurry out of the way. So, I went up one of the sides, passed him, and basically just swam right over whichever of his limbs were in the way. Strangely, he left shortly afterwards... Good for you!!:bump: