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
Parents
Former Member
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.
I started this thread to find out what the "norms" are for swimming 2 or 2+ per lane, not to vilify the my lanemate. I wanted to find out how to handle this situation, and through all your replies, I have some ideas on what's ok to do and what's not and what's a coin toss.
In hindsight, I could have done a couple of things differently. For one, even though he was in the slow lane, I saw that he was a fast swimmer, so when he requested that we circle, I should have waited until I could either have split with another swimmer (where speed doesn't matter) or waited for a lane to slow up enough that we all could circle comfortably. I would never intentionally insert myself into a fast circle. Last week, I got invited to circle with two solid swimmers who were starting their cool-down (they had seen me swim previously): I swam a little quicker than usual, they swam a little slower. It worked out great. I also should have exited the situation quicker once I realized that he and I were not meant to share a lane, rather than wearing myself out and getting frustrated.
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.
I started this thread to find out what the "norms" are for swimming 2 or 2+ per lane, not to vilify the my lanemate. I wanted to find out how to handle this situation, and through all your replies, I have some ideas on what's ok to do and what's not and what's a coin toss.
In hindsight, I could have done a couple of things differently. For one, even though he was in the slow lane, I saw that he was a fast swimmer, so when he requested that we circle, I should have waited until I could either have split with another swimmer (where speed doesn't matter) or waited for a lane to slow up enough that we all could circle comfortably. I would never intentionally insert myself into a fast circle. Last week, I got invited to circle with two solid swimmers who were starting their cool-down (they had seen me swim previously): I swam a little quicker than usual, they swam a little slower. It worked out great. I also should have exited the situation quicker once I realized that he and I were not meant to share a lane, rather than wearing myself out and getting frustrated.
