After watching my new state of the art fitness center being built for over a year....closest pool otherwise is 50 minutes a way.....big day arrives....14 days pool is open 12 of them I am in it....get there Sat morning....84 degrees!! Said the theraphy pool at 88 is tool warm for water aerobics...but 80 too cold (what the lap pool was...which is still too warm for me) so they compromised with 83 or 84 degrees....I say "some compromise" more like cave in....exact words from pool person..."I swim laps all the time, and 83 feels good to me".......:(
Former Member
Our "Y" pool feels good getting in, but after a warm up , transition set and then sprints it gets to warm. With the shallow end at 3 ft. I stand up to cool down, sometimes I have to rest longer just to cool down to finish my sprints.
I've been swimming at our High School, the water is great!! I can keep up with the 12yrs old, LOL and when I feel my face is flushed red, I can go under the water to cool off.
So I'm doing 2 days a week at the HS hard work outs, and at the "Y "2 days a week easy to hard work outs, depending on how I feel.
You have to do what you can do, no matter what the conditions. I realized at least at the "Y" the water temp is like the weather in West Texas. If you don't like it, wait a minute it will change.
After watching my new state of the art fitness center being built for over a year....closest pool otherwise is 50 minutes a way.....big day arrives....14 days pool is open 12 of them I am in it....get there Sat morning....84 degrees!! Said the theraphy pool at 88 is tool warm for water aerobics...but 80 too cold (what the lap pool was...which is still too warm for me) so they compromised with 83 or 84 degrees....I say "some compromise" more like cave in....exact words from pool person..."I swim laps all the time, and 83 feels good to me".......:(
When our pool was built we arrived at 82. 78 being the recommended pool temp for swimming from USA Swimming and 86 being the recommended temp from the water aerobics association. Split the difference and we got 82.
That works well for both of us.
84 degrees was the compromise between the old people that walk and noodle and the kids' swim team. The old people and others still are constantly complaining about it being too cold. I am one of only a half dozen or so adult competitive swimmers here in the boonies so I just have to deal with it. I take a water bottle full of ice water with me and most of it gets dumped on my head between sets.
This is a topic that continues to baffle me. If noodling is supposedly strenuous exercise, as strenuous as real swimming, why does the water temp have to be 8-10 degrees hotter than for lap swimming? That makes no sense to me. Sure, it's no fun to jump into 78 degrees at 5:30 am but in about 3-5 minutes it's fine. I suspect if I just sat on a floaty and did nothing I'd find it cold. This whole matter really chafes me. I know plenty of older active adults who don't whimper a bit about 78 but it's the ones that use water exercise as a social outing who seem to have the biggest voice.
Talk about temperature extremes, here is Savannah we have it all. Too cold sometimes during the winter. 72 was the lowest and we broke out the wet suits. But now that it is heating up outside, by the end of May we should be up to mid to high 80's. Currently 80 feels comfortable but I prefer 78.
Not looking forward to this summer though since we will have to move outdoors while they take another crack at replacing the roof. Getting rid of the bubble is supposed to fix all the problems with both the pool temperature fluctuations and the air temperature which last spring got up over 105 degrees on deck.
When we were outdoors last summer we were ok until late July then it was 88 all the way. Coach would have the hose out spraying us down between sets so that we could cool off. I am not looking forward to that again, but when that is all you have available....
Donna
No, trust me, this is only option....the local high school pool only has lap swim on Monday, Open Swim Wed nites....My other option is totally awesome, go to Notre Dame (45 miles away) where Mr. Saylors keeps it a very refreshing ~78...this is only a four lane lap pool, no swim teams or meets being held here.....but if you guys can tough it out, so can I, will make those Sunday swims with my Masters Club (GO IA!) that much more enjoyable...... I am going to look up the costs associated with the higher temps. because If I remember right, it uses more chemicals as well.... This is just such a great facility, guess you cant have it all.
Thanks all,
Because of limited facilities in this thriving metropolis I live in I swim in the base pool at the gym.....was originally supposed to be a 6 lane 25 yard indoor adventure....due to budget constraints all they could afford a few years ago was 3 lanes x 25 yards. It feels like a dungeon when you walk in. Anyway, because the pool is shared by water aerobics and lap swim they compromised at 86!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The other day I got in and somebody had messed with the temp it was 88.....I had a nice discussion with the lifeguard afterwards, 86 is bad enough but 88? :argue: :frustrated: :blah: :blah: :blah:
But on the other hand, I am just grateful that there is a pool within a couple of minutes from where I work!!!!!
My team also practices in less than ideal conditions. Pool is usually 83+ degrees. It is an aquatic/fitness facility that also has a PT business. PT is busy and there is a "therapy" pool as well as a large hot tub. The therapy pool is VERY warm, but suited to its purpose. To me this says that they understand that a lap pool & therapy pool cannot be joined; however, they keep the lap pool too warm saying that the PT people use the deep lands for water walking and the water aerobics people alsways complain that the pool is too cold at 83! Lap swimmers also complain regularly.
I think the real problem is that lap swimming, noodling, water aerobics, etc is NOT competitive swimming. (Ok, duh, but give me a minute.) Aside from those of us who actually work out to keep in competitve swimming shape, most people who use the pool are not moving enough to be "warm" in the water. They are not doing intervals, no sprints, no serious yardage is logged. They are simply swimming, which is fine.
The managers of these facilities also have no idea what stresses a real swim workout (read competitive swim workout) puts of the body. If they actually swim at all (other than leisure swimming) it is not at the level that we forumites practice. If said managers were to get in to our workouts and try to keep up, my guess is most would not make it past the warm-up. They would be fatigued from general lack of ability/endurance and would never feel the fatigue that swimming in hot water brings about. They are there to keep members happy, and sadly, the majority of members at the community pool are not swimmers like us.
Save building an aqautics facility that caters specifically to the "serious" swimmer--teams, triathelets, water polo, etc.--we masters suffer at the whims of the noodler.
Dana
(BTW, when I win the Power Ball, I am building said facility where the water temp will always be perfect for practice & the chemicals always in perfect proportion. Lap swimmers may use the facility, but sign will be posted prohibiting complaits about cool water or being splashed by the person doing butterfly in the next lane. There will also always be one dedicated sprint lane available for Masters wanting to practice starts.)
Sorry, no sympathies. I detest water below 80 degrees. My last pool LCM was a chilly 82 degrees.
I'm now stuck in a 78 degree SCY pool.:frustrated:
I would love a LCM pool that was a nice 84 degrees. I don't think I ever gone swimming (for fun) in water colder than 80 degrees. Than again, I grew up in Paradise...Clearwater FL!
The one thing that was nice about the pool I swam at in Qatar was the "chillers" under the pool that help to keep the temp down in summer. Quite a feat considering the temps get to 110-120 during the summer.
Qatar is certainly full of amazing things... they've got an indoor ski slope. :groovy:
