Swim Rant

My rant for the day: When somebody who calls themselves a "Fan" of USMS comes on to the USMS forums with a post complaining about 50s in USMS meets. :bitching: :thhbbb: :shakeshead:

I believe when Michael Phelps needs his own lane, he gets it no matter how crowded his pool is. I have some sympathy for out-of-shape people who swim slow. Some of them are not very flexible and have poor technique so they "swim wide" and end up in collisions when they try to share a lane, either with the other swimmer(s) or with the lane lines/pool walls/ladders. Please don't disrespect them for being stiff, slow or out-of-shape; everything is relative and they are doing what they can. A health club I used to belong to had a "solution" to lane hogs. There was a sign posted in most lanes that it was for Lap Swimming Only and swim workouts were limited to 20 minutes. If somebody was waiting for a lane and did not want to share you had to vacate when they had waited 20 minutes. That is both a long wait and a poor excuse for a workout. Fortunately, most people at this health club were poor swimmers and were usually done after 200 yards (20 yard pool).

My only complaint is the lack of SCM 25s :bolt:

My rant for the day: When somebody who calls themselves a "Fan" of USMS comes on to the USMS forums with a post complaining about 50s in USMS meets. :bitching: :thhbbb: :shakeshead: I agree elaine. What is a fan? If you like USMS you should be a swimmer!!

I believe when Michael Phelps needs his own lane, he gets it no matter how crowded his pool is. I have some sympathy for out-of-shape people who swim slow. Some of them are not very flexible and have poor technique so they "swim wide" and end up in collisions when they try to share a lane, either with the other swimmer(s) or with the lane lines/pool walls/ladders. Please don't disrespect them for being stiff, slow or out-of-shape; everything is relative and they are doing what they can. I'm okay with people who are out of shape -- but if you only have 3 lanes, and 15 swimmers, we all need to share, is all I'm sayin' I've seen some pools that go so far as to post ideal swimming speeds for each lane, i.e. to swim in this lane you have to be able to keep 100's on a 1:20; and the next lane say's "....100's on the 1:30" etc. There could be lanes that are reserved for the less skilled swimmers, but they can't have the lane to themselves if people are waiting. If you only have "x" amount of time to swim, and people won't share their lane with you, you've just wasted your time (and $) showing up, and that's not fair. Just sayin'

I believe when Michael Phelps needs his own lane, he gets it no matter how crowded his pool is. I have some sympathy for out-of-shape people who swim slow. Some of them are not very flexible and have poor technique so they "swim wide" and end up in collisions when they try to share a lane, either with the other swimmer(s) or with the lane lines/pool walls/ladders. Please don't disrespect them for being stiff, slow or out-of-shape; everything is relative and they are doing what they can. I'm okay with people who are out of shape -- but if you only have 3 lanes, and 15 swimmers, we all need to share, is all I'm sayin' I've seen some pools that go so far as to post ideal swimming speeds for each lane, i.e. to swim in this lane you have to be able to keep 100's on a 1:20; and the next lane say's "....100's on the 1:30" etc. There could be lanes that are reserved for the less skilled swimmers, but they can't have the lane to themselves if people are waiting. If you only have "x" amount of time to swim, and people won't share their lane with you, you've just wasted your time (and $) showing up, and that's not fair. Just sayin' Too funny. I swam in a pool in Paris where they had strokes designated for each lane (which could help, really...) but I jumped in the freestyle lane and quickly ran into someone swimming breaststroke.... I'm all for sharing lanes - we have all of the pool in the morning and share the pool in the evening with other users. We have 1 lap swimmer female who insists on having her own lane and will yell at the coach when we try to clear her out of "our" space (4 lanes, designated by the pool). We call her the lane nazi....

- Getting my new-ish bottle of shampoo out of my swim bag and finding it nearly empty. - Rummaging around for something at the bottom of my swim bag and finding out why my shampoo bottle is nearly empty. :eeew: I don't get the "won't share a lane" thing. How is that possible in a public facility, or at least in a facility where everyone presumably pays the same fee?

I can't stand that so many kids don't learn lane etiquette. It's not soccer. It's swimming...we don't need to get all bunched up. Coaches need to enforce separation on the starts for younger kids. I see it all the time. They want to get in front, so they don't wait the 5 seconds they are told to. Next thing you have kids crawling over each other and tapping feet and passing the person who just passed them. How can you focus on your stroke? There's an upside to this. The first time I found myself in a violent triathlon start, I was surprised that I knew EXACTLY what to do because years of age group swimming had unwittingly taught me how to deal with idiots.

OK, I understand that there are folks who are participating in thier first meet or do not have a lot of meet experience but that does not excuse PUSHING OFF RIGHT AS SOMEONE IS COMING IN AND FLIPPING!!!!!! I nearly killed this older gentleman in warmups this past Saturday the first time he did it. I caught up with him at the next wall and mentioned in a calm manner that if he stops on the wall, he should take care to ensure that he doesn't push off as someone is obviously flipping to continue. He nodded his head and said 'OK'. Well about 5 minutes later, guess what? He did it again. I;m not talking about pushing off before I flip, I'm talking he pushed off right as I was pushing off from my flip. So I pulled up said some unpleasant things under my breath and moved to a different lane. So folks, in warmups (or in practice for that matter), things one should keep in mind: - if you stop at a wall, move over to the left side of the lane to allow others clear access to the wall to continue. And for the love of whatever particular Diety you worship do not stop and stand/hang right on the cross. - If you stop, then you give up the right away to swimmers who are conituing to swim, this is not optional.

- Getting my new-ish bottle of shampoo out of my swim bag and finding it nearly empty. - Rummaging around for something at the bottom of my swim bag and finding out why my shampoo bottle is nearly empty. :eeew: Oh, I hate it when that happens. Sorry. OK, I understand that there are folks who are participating in thier first meet or do not have a lot of meet experience but that does not excuse PUSHING OFF RIGHT AS SOMEONE IS COMING IN AND FLIPPING!!!!!! I nearly killed this older gentleman in warmups this past Saturday the first time he did it. I caught up with him at the next wall and mentioned in a calm manner that if he stops on the wall, he should take care to ensure that he doesn't push off as someone is obviously flipping to continue. He nodded his head and said 'OK'. Well about 5 minutes later, guess what? He did it again. I;m not talking about pushing off before I flip, I'm talking he pushed off right as I was pushing off from my flip. So I pulled up said some unpleasant things under my breath and moved to a different lane. So folks, in warmups (or in practice for that matter), things one should keep in mind: - if you stop at a wall, move over to the left side of the lane to allow others clear access to the wall to continue. And for the love of whatever particular Diety you worship do not stop and stand/hang right on the cross. - If you stop, then you give up the right away to swimmers who are conituing to swim, this is not optional. Paul that is a very valid point to make. I hope all heed it as it happens a lot, especially in warm-up/down pools that are shallow enough to stand in.