I remember the noodler thread of a long time ago, and I just kinda laughed at the idea of how annoyed some swimmers were with the "noodling". Today, I had a particularly ugly encounter with some noodlers.
I haven't swam since my unfortunate exit, after the 200 IM, at Nationals. Tuesday and Wednesday I had really bad food poisoning that had me laid out the entire time (when I wasn't yakking my guts out!), and on top of it all, I'm one month pregnant with number 4. (Happy about pregnancy, not so much about the other things).
So, my first day back swimming was today at the gym, on this beautiful, sunny 75 degree day. Ahhh. There's a 5 lane 25m pool. Albeit too warm because of the charming noodlers!
I got in, swam an easy 1000, and then the noodler class started. I was in lane 2 as lane 1 is really narrow. I knew that the noodlers get lanes 3-5. I went to push off the wall and a noodler was about 7 meters out right in front of me. Good thing I looked, or she would have had some owies. I stopped and looked at her (she couldn't see the glare in my eyes because I had my goggles on). She just stood there looking at me. A "friend" of hers said, "Do you want to move over?" She asked. I said, "No. I don't." To which she replied, "We get three lanes." I said, "You HAVE three lanes." Apparently, when a lane line isn't in, that counts as one! Long and short of it is I moved over.
It gets better. The "lady" (blue suit) who told me about how many lanes they get started chipping on me as I was swimming/kicking. I held my tongue for awhile and then suggested that she "grow up."
I finished 2,000m which was just right for me, now, and was sitting on the deck, while a guy who was obviously waiting for our ONE lane, got in. I was watching the noodlers noticing that of the 25 of them or so, they were all much older ladies or younger, MUCH heavier "ladies". I'm guessing over 300 pounds, which might account for their ill temper. Blue suit was probably pushing 350. As I was sitting their I saw her turn around, look right at me, and clear as day, say to her friend, "The b!t@h got out!" I couldn't believe my ears, was she kidding me?!
I walked over to her and from the side said, "Do you have a problem with me?" She said, "No. Why?" And I said, "I have a problem being called a b!t#h for no good reason." She didn't answer again, but her friend said, "She didn't say that." I told her that I clearly heard her. She said, "She doesn't even use words like that. She said, 'You got out.' " (Oh, they sound so similar! Plus it doesn't even make sense, she wasn't talking to me! Anyway...)
I said again, "If you have a problem I think you should talk to me." She still didn't answer. Her friend said, "If you have a problem, maybe you should go to the front desk." I said, "I'd rather work it out with you." So, I hadn't thought of going to the front desk, but it sounded good.
The manager came over and I pointed them out and he said he'd give me a call... we'll see.
I couldn't believe the rudeness. I'm sure not all noodlers are that rude, but she was over the top.
I've had my own experience with
--kids tossing pool toys into the lap lanes (grrr... stopped swimming during the period they had kdis sharing the pool w/ lap swimmers)
--people telling me I was "splashing" them. Hmmm... water=wet. How do you stay dry there?
--people with heavy perfume coming into the pool (um... you need directions to the cocktail lounge?)
But I also talked to a woman while sitting in the sauna who told me she'd lost over a hundred pounds. She was swimming earlier in the wall lane, very, very slowly, and it would be easy to dismiss her efforts, but as we chatted, I realized just what it took for her simply to be in the pool and do her slow swimming. I remembered her then from a year earlier... very worn suit almost to see-through. And I recognized that a lot of people who come into water exercise (swimming, "noodling") as adults have brought their land issues with them, including their fears of water, fears about their weight, etc. The woman told me that at first she couldn't swim the whole length of the pool without stopping to hold on to the side. For her, simply swimming as she was represented progress. She knew that it would take a lot of work to get from being afraid of water to being able to make it through a single lap. Her joints could not take a lot of exercise on land so it was water exercise or no exercise. She said now that she'd shed the weight, she was going to start walking.
I remember coming back into the locker room after a workout where I was getting discouraged about inability to do flip turns, and thinking "I'm not a real swimmer," and then hearing some women talk about their adult swim class and fear of putting their face in the water. And then I realized I'd been given a lot in terms of having had a chance to learn to swim as a kid and had gotten past a lot of my fears (not all.. I'm still afraid of flip turns), which these women had not.
Sometimes this is expressed in arrogant behavior, and while that doesn't excuse the behavior, it can help to consider its source. The kids invading the lanes... sometimes I think the ppl managing these things need to work on at least scheduling compatible activities if they're going to split the pool in half for any reason. Maybe what they need to do is to have some sort of forum for those involved to voiice their concerns (online or in a meeting), then do the scheduling, tho I suppose it's a challenge to accommodate everyone.
I've had my own experience with
--kids tossing pool toys into the lap lanes (grrr... stopped swimming during the period they had kdis sharing the pool w/ lap swimmers)
--people telling me I was "splashing" them. Hmmm... water=wet. How do you stay dry there?
--people with heavy perfume coming into the pool (um... you need directions to the cocktail lounge?)
But I also talked to a woman while sitting in the sauna who told me she'd lost over a hundred pounds. She was swimming earlier in the wall lane, very, very slowly, and it would be easy to dismiss her efforts, but as we chatted, I realized just what it took for her simply to be in the pool and do her slow swimming. I remembered her then from a year earlier... very worn suit almost to see-through. And I recognized that a lot of people who come into water exercise (swimming, "noodling") as adults have brought their land issues with them, including their fears of water, fears about their weight, etc. The woman told me that at first she couldn't swim the whole length of the pool without stopping to hold on to the side. For her, simply swimming as she was represented progress. She knew that it would take a lot of work to get from being afraid of water to being able to make it through a single lap. Her joints could not take a lot of exercise on land so it was water exercise or no exercise. She said now that she'd shed the weight, she was going to start walking.
I remember coming back into the locker room after a workout where I was getting discouraged about inability to do flip turns, and thinking "I'm not a real swimmer," and then hearing some women talk about their adult swim class and fear of putting their face in the water. And then I realized I'd been given a lot in terms of having had a chance to learn to swim as a kid and had gotten past a lot of my fears (not all.. I'm still afraid of flip turns), which these women had not.
Sometimes this is expressed in arrogant behavior, and while that doesn't excuse the behavior, it can help to consider its source. The kids invading the lanes... sometimes I think the ppl managing these things need to work on at least scheduling compatible activities if they're going to split the pool in half for any reason. Maybe what they need to do is to have some sort of forum for those involved to voiice their concerns (online or in a meeting), then do the scheduling, tho I suppose it's a challenge to accommodate everyone.
