I need some help here folks.
Those of you who "know" me know that I am a beginning "serious" swimmer. I've been slowly but steadily working my way up to swimming a mile as my first goal I'm pleased with the progress I've made, feel stronger, dropped some pounds, added some muscle - all good stuff.
Because I am a slower swimmer, I've tried to be careful not to get in the way of stronger swimmers' workouts. I try to enter lanes where I can match the pace and let people pass me if I get overtaken.
Usually, if I share with just one other person, we split the lane down the middle rather than circle swim. This works out great. If we add another swimmer, we circle. I thought this was the norm for two people.
This evening, though, I asked to share a wall lane with a man who was a faster swimmer. All the other lanes had 2 people. No one was circling. I suggested we split the lane, and he said, no - circle swim only. I warned him that I swim slowly, but no dice. Circle swim only.
So we circle swam - no, he circle swam, and I got out of his way every 50-75 yards. I'm mad at myself because I messed my own workout up as I was pushing myself to swim faster and exhausted myself far short of my goal.
So, please help me out here: is it wrong to split a lane with just 2 people? What is the "right" way to handle this situation? As I develop into a stronger swimmer, I feel I have a place at the pool. I'm just not just where that is.
Many thanks - Barb
While reading through this thread, the whole thing I was thinking is that we know one side of the story....what about the guy's version?? Maybe he was planning to do some fly and didn't want to be hitting the lane lines--or you? Maybe he was expecting some other folks to join, or they had just left? The possibilities are nearly limitless on why he preferred to circle.
This is one--of many--nice things I like about swimming with a team. 95% (or more) of the time, we have 3+ swimmers per lane, and we circle, no questions. But, the past few weeks we've had a light crowd, due to the holidays and more recently unusually cool weather (we swim outside). Before we begin a set with just 2 per lane, I'll discuss with my lanemate if we're going side-by-side or circling. If the other lanes only have 1-2 swimmers, then side-by-side is OK. But if they have 2+, then I'd rather circle from the beginning, just in case someone else joins, rather than screw up my workout to switch. Even if we're side-by-side, I'll sometimes go 5 sec back, especially if any stroke work is involved...not just arms flapping for fly, but I don't swim back especially straight either.
Someone had mentioned that they have a hard time NOT circling in meets. I'm still that way...I have to really think to swim down the middle.
But as I began with, I think it is a bit premature to pass judgement on this unknown swimmer since we don't know how he perceived the situation.
While reading through this thread, the whole thing I was thinking is that we know one side of the story....what about the guy's version?? Maybe he was planning to do some fly and didn't want to be hitting the lane lines--or you? Maybe he was expecting some other folks to join, or they had just left? The possibilities are nearly limitless on why he preferred to circle.
This is one--of many--nice things I like about swimming with a team. 95% (or more) of the time, we have 3+ swimmers per lane, and we circle, no questions. But, the past few weeks we've had a light crowd, due to the holidays and more recently unusually cool weather (we swim outside). Before we begin a set with just 2 per lane, I'll discuss with my lanemate if we're going side-by-side or circling. If the other lanes only have 1-2 swimmers, then side-by-side is OK. But if they have 2+, then I'd rather circle from the beginning, just in case someone else joins, rather than screw up my workout to switch. Even if we're side-by-side, I'll sometimes go 5 sec back, especially if any stroke work is involved...not just arms flapping for fly, but I don't swim back especially straight either.
Someone had mentioned that they have a hard time NOT circling in meets. I'm still that way...I have to really think to swim down the middle.
But as I began with, I think it is a bit premature to pass judgement on this unknown swimmer since we don't know how he perceived the situation.
