Swim Rant

I guess today was my day for nasty back and neck pain. My workout this morning lasted a whopping 8 minutes before it got to be too much to bear. I'm seeing a chiropractor but can't get in until next week. Hopefully things will go better tomorrow with a bunch of Motrin. Of course - if its really bad - we could always find a way to get you Valium! :D

Of course - if its really bad - we could always find a way to get you Valium! :D Hmmm...don't tempt me. lol Actually this morning I tried to do a little and had better success than yesterday. Granted, it was only about 1,500 yds of easy breaststroke, but it's better than nothing. It sucks being old and busted. :agree:

No kidding - I have some 6 to 8 year olds I coach who are bucking the national stats about childhood obesity. When their lips are turning purple from the cold..... gotta find a way to get them warmed up. As someone who has spent his 46 years occupying the bottom 5% in BMI, it is so nice to hear a coach that actually acknowledges that this is an issue and wants to help. The physics of the situation is that heat loss depends on surface area and the surface-area to volume ratio increases radically as aspect ratio goes up, so someone with low BMI loses heat MUCH faster than higher BMI individuals. It is really irritating to see coaches who think skinny kids aren't "tough". In fact, they are dealing with a much tougher temperature maintainence issue than the higher BMI kids. (By contrast, high BMI individuals probably suffer more in a hot pool. There are some good tips in another thread about how to stay cool in a hot pool. That's also been an issue this hot summer.) Here are some suggestions. I use many of them myself becuase I still fight to stay warm almost every workout: (But not so much this hot summer.) 1) If the pool is partially in the shade, give the skinny little ones the sunny lane. 2) Keep the kids as warm as possible before practice and whenever they are out of the pool. Have them stand in the sun and out of the wind. Encourage them to bring a couple of towels so they can wrap up when they are out of the pool and still have a dry towel for after practice. Do not have the kids standing around the deck dripping wet waiting to practice starts or something, especially on days when the air temperature is below about 80 or the wind is blowing. Have a scheme that gets them out of the water, immediatly onto the block and back swimming again. 3) Don't have the kids get into the pool until they are actually going to start swimming. Once they are in, keep them moving. Even one minute of inactivity can be almost unbearable in a cold pool. If they are old enough to follow a workout, have the entire workout available to them before they start so that they do not have to stand around between sets. If they are too young to follow a workout themselves, make sure someone is right there ready to explain the next set as soon as they finish one. If there is a slower swimmer in the lane, move him/her to make the speeds more evenly matched. If nothing more can be done to even the swimming speeds, instead of simply letting the fast kids wait for the slower swimmer to finish a swim or a set, have them do really eazy "active recovery" swims. (Gotta be a little careful here I suppose to make sure that the fast kids don't think they are being punished for being fast with more work.) If the pool is deep in the middle, 2-turn 50s will force them to tread water between swims, thereby keeping them moving. 4) Encourage them to eat before practice. I find some easily digestable starch like bread or a bananna about one hour before practice doesn't upset my stomach. I suspect kids handle pre-practice eating better than adults. My 8 yo seems to be able to eat up to 35-40 minutes before pracice with no ill effects. 5) Encourage them to try wearing a cap. 6) Encourage them to bring a hot drink to practice to sip on between sets. Small sips of hot coco seem to be ok. If that doesn't settle well, hot water should be an effective, albeit less tasty, alternative. Have them bring a warm drink or snack to warm up *immediately* after practice, and I mean as soon as they pull themselves out of the water. 7) After a really cold practice, acknowledge that you know how tough it was and thank them for sticking it out.

4 swimmers, 4 black lines ...... shouldn't be too hard to figure out...... :doh: So 3 people in 1 lane, one to their own lane, and a group of noodlers in the other two right?

So 3 people in 1 lane, one to their own lane, and a group of noodlers in the other two right? Ha! Or, in the case of our pool, 6-8 noodles get ALL 5 LANES TO THEMSELVES, from 9-10am, for their classes. And, two days ago, they unhooked the lane line a few minutes early, while I was swimming (and didn't see the lane line floating into my lane), so I became entangled in it. Once I became untangled, I threw the lane line down in the water in front of them and *reminded* them that swimmers are allowed in the pool UNTIL 9AM, not 8:55AM! :bitching: (Today was better, because there were no "noodlers"; only nice ladies participating in water aerobics class. So, I joined them after my workout for another 45 minutes of water time... :D )

So 3 people in 1 lane, one to their own lane, and a group of noodlers in the other two right? Not quite - the noodlers round here don't come out in the dark! 2 peeps 1 in each of the 2 single lanes...no problem In the four un-roped remaining lanes, I am swimming up and down the black line by the lanerope, another person swims up and down the black line by the wall, so 2 black lines free between us. Enter the husband & wife tri-athlete wannabes (they don't have the total triathlete look, but come with a lot of equipment). He gets the picture and swims up and down the black line one away from the wall. She, you would think, would swim up and down the remaining line between myself and her hubby. No - she decides to swim between my line and the adjacent one. Hello - pool not crowded, don't need you getting that close particularly as you can't swim in a straight line - hey try following that black line - it might help. A couple of lengths fly got her moving :afraid:

4 swimmers, 4 black lines ...... shouldn't be too hard to figure out...... :doh:

Previous Swim Rant: The too-warm water temp. at our pool. Before I pestered the HOA about the HVAC system not working properly, the water temp. had climbed to 88(!!!) degrees, the air temp. was anywhere from 85-95 and the humidity level was hitting 74%. These were dangerous conditions for anybody with health issues. For me, it was tough to train in, to say the least. Current Swim Rave: The HVAC was fixed! The air temp. was 80 degrees, this afternoon!! The humidity level was 60%!!! And, the water temp. was 82!!!! :banana: :bouncing: :wiggle: :applaud: :bliss: Extra Bonus: In the one week period the water temp. was dropping after the HVAC was repaired, I shaved 5 seconds off my 200 breaststroke! :bliss:

I'll go against the grain. I will occasionally change the sets up that I am given b/c they are are geared for distance swimmers. So we get sets like 4x300's or 8x200's....... so I cut 50-100 off and go 25 or 50 sprints with recovery 100's......and warn lane mates and then go out of my way to stay out of their way....then they complain or try to hit me on flip turns even though I am totally pressed out of the way for them to pass so I can recover. Also the people that give me crap for using fins, even when not instructed. Look, I have crappy shoulders, so using fins helps relieve that stress. Coaches that say "We'll be leaving on the top...." and the clock reads :56 I had one coach that would assign a set like 150's on the 2:15......then tell us to leave on the :23 or something crazy.

Previous Swim Rant: The too-warm water temp. at our pool. Before I pestered the HOA about the HVAC system not working properly, the water temp. had climbed to 88(!!!) degrees, the air temp. was anywhere from 85-95 and the humidity level was hitting 74%. These were dangerous conditions for anybody with health issues. For me, it was tough to train in, to say the least. Current Swim Rave: The HVAC was fixed! The air temp. was 80 degrees, this afternoon!! The humidity level was 60%!!! And, the water temp. was 82!!!! :banana: :bouncing: :wiggle: :applaud: :bliss: Extra Bonus: In the one week period the water temp. was dropping after the HVAC was repaired, I shaved 5 seconds off my 200 breaststroke! :bliss: Yay!! Glad to hear it!! And wow!! on the 5 second drop! Congrats!