i swim in the medium to slower lanes at a very competitive masters team workouts in san diego, and am usually asked to slide down to slower lanes when the equal ability swimmers (vs triathletes) show up.
the funny thing is most of these swimmers use a pull bouy or fins for the WHOLE workout. i think it's a ego thing in la-la land.
i would like to swim with people who can push me harder, instead of down in the last slowest lane. should i just chalk it up to normal swimmers protocal? or find another team? :confused:
I get annoyed when we're doing non-free sets, the coach gives an appropriate interval for the set, but there's 1-2 swimmers who decide to do free and adjust the intervals on their own. My choices are usually--
* move to a slower lane that is usually way too slow, that I'm nearly lapping those swimmers
* stay in my current lane, and struggle with the shorter intervals
* stay in my current lane, and do the intervals assigned...which will cause problems eventually
Now I don't mind if someone wants to do free instead of stroke, but move to an appropriate lane for it. I'm not a fast swimmer; I can do sets of 200 SCY free on 3 min easily, with 30 sec rest. Change that to stroke, and I'm struggling. Which is why the coach will usually give us 3:30 for a non-free set.
We've had cases where some feel that since they're the first in the lane for the day that others should move, not them. We've had cases where people go in 'their' lane regardless of how many others are already in that lane. A lane could have 6 people, while those on either side have 2-3. We have some people who know they'll be doing the sprint set (on one side of the pool), yet get in the fastest lane for warm-up anyway, and have to cross over 4 lanes once warm-up is complete. We have some people who used to be fast, but haven't worked out for a few months, come back and get in the same lane they used to swim in.
As someone else said, I swim mostly to reduce stress in my life, not create more from it. I'll usually go with the flow. If others are doing free for a 200, I may do a combination of 100 fr/100 non so I can still make their intervals, or make other adjustments to make things work. If I've been away or am feeling rusty, I'll move to a slower lane. Occasionally, I'll move to a faster lane, especially if few fast folks show up one day. Of course when doing longer swims (500+), we'll have lapping. A few weeks ago we had 5-6 people in a lane for a timed mile...I think I lapped one gal every 250, but she was excellent with pulling to the side at a wall when I got remotely close.
Overall, the benefits of swimming with the team outweigh the negatives.
I get annoyed when we're doing non-free sets, the coach gives an appropriate interval for the set, but there's 1-2 swimmers who decide to do free and adjust the intervals on their own. My choices are usually--
* move to a slower lane that is usually way too slow, that I'm nearly lapping those swimmers
* stay in my current lane, and struggle with the shorter intervals
* stay in my current lane, and do the intervals assigned...which will cause problems eventually
Now I don't mind if someone wants to do free instead of stroke, but move to an appropriate lane for it. I'm not a fast swimmer; I can do sets of 200 SCY free on 3 min easily, with 30 sec rest. Change that to stroke, and I'm struggling. Which is why the coach will usually give us 3:30 for a non-free set.
We've had cases where some feel that since they're the first in the lane for the day that others should move, not them. We've had cases where people go in 'their' lane regardless of how many others are already in that lane. A lane could have 6 people, while those on either side have 2-3. We have some people who know they'll be doing the sprint set (on one side of the pool), yet get in the fastest lane for warm-up anyway, and have to cross over 4 lanes once warm-up is complete. We have some people who used to be fast, but haven't worked out for a few months, come back and get in the same lane they used to swim in.
As someone else said, I swim mostly to reduce stress in my life, not create more from it. I'll usually go with the flow. If others are doing free for a 200, I may do a combination of 100 fr/100 non so I can still make their intervals, or make other adjustments to make things work. If I've been away or am feeling rusty, I'll move to a slower lane. Occasionally, I'll move to a faster lane, especially if few fast folks show up one day. Of course when doing longer swims (500+), we'll have lapping. A few weeks ago we had 5-6 people in a lane for a timed mile...I think I lapped one gal every 250, but she was excellent with pulling to the side at a wall when I got remotely close.
Overall, the benefits of swimming with the team outweigh the negatives.
