There is a swimmer in our pool whose appearance is "dreaded" by many of us. As soon as she enters your lane and starts her laps, the whole lane gets slowed down for a at least an hour, because, #1, she never stops and never give a chance to others when she's at the end of the pool and is going for another lap while another swimmer had been waiting to start; #2, whenever she encounters someone during the laps (whether in the same or opposite direction), she would continue as if others don't exist, as if it's her own lane and as if she's thinking "get out of my way please"; #3, and that's the most important point: she's slower than all the others in the lane. So everyone else has to slow down because the lane is not so wide, and from time to time you see people try everything they could to get around her, or backstrokers hitting her from behind (and she would still go on like you were just a fly).
She usually continues like this for at least one hour, could be 90 minutes. She probably has her rule in mind, to never stop during the lap. That's fine as many of people here do that, but that works only if your speed is comparable to the others sharing the lane.
What's the best way to deal with such a fellow swimmer?
She's not old, she's in her 20's. Yes, the lane is very narrow, it seems to be built for exactly 2 people in parallel and no more. Whenever there are three people swimming in parallel, what happens is usually the middle person would hold back his/her arms and quickly slip through underwater then resume his/her strokes.
And again as I said, having such a swimmer in your lane is worse than having an 80-yr-old who just stands/floats still within a small area whom you just need to pass at that one spot then go on.
As for the suggestion to talk to her, I think people haven't done that probably thinking as what some of you said, she has her right just as everyone else (which I agree). I tend to agree the strategy of returning the same, so maybe when we are both at the same end of the pool I should not wait since she doesn't wait ;)
find a group to swim with. this doesn't have to be large, but 2 others make a good lane group and the slow poke may be less likely to want to join your lane.
if you don't know anyone who is available to swim your hours, put an ad in the paper. offer small compensation like sports drinks and peanut butter crackers if they successfully deter "the dreaded one" from joining your lane.
She's not old, she's in her 20's. Yes, the lane is very narrow, it seems to be built for exactly 2 people in parallel and no more.
ddl, are the lanes circle swim? they should be, if they are not it is unsafe. The approach is simple: if she shows up in your lane, stop at the end and wait. Stop all the swimmers and announce that you are going to circle swim because it is unsafe otherwise. If she disagrees, tell management. Word it like this, "there is a swimmer who is not cooperating with the rest of the lane and she has created a dangerous environment for everyone else." 95% chance that it works.
Also, considering you haven't spoken to her, there seems to be some/alot of assumptions made about her behavior that are based on pure speculation. I do that too, but in reality the only one that hurts is you. It is tough to take a step back and give people the benefit of the doubt, but you will live longer and be happier if you do. The suggestions that you make it uncomfortable for her are ridiculous. If you really want to go that route, why don't you just punch her in the face? That would be way more effective.
My team has a guy that wears an old, seriously big, nylon drag suit. It is so big, or maybe he just doesn't tie it, that you can see his butt crack when he stops on the wall, does a flip turn, swims breaststroke, etc. He has a decent body, but COME ON! I will NOT swim near him because I cannot stand to look at his butt crack throughout the whole practice.
We don't just see a little crack, we see more than half of it, especially when he stops on the wall and makes sure that his backside is facing the oncoming swimmer.
If talking to her doesn't work, pull out the dirty tricks and gross her out.
The fact is we all have to get along.
Does she join the lane or do you all? If she joins, then yeah, someone should explain the rules of the road to her. Nicely. If you join her, then you have to accommodate to her pace. Sorry, faster swimmers don't own the pool.
I'm appalled at how many of you would "swim fly", create turbulence or otherwise harass this woman.
Turn in the middle of the pool so you can position yourself just in front of the swimmer and at least get part of your swimming done at your preferred speed. It does work better LCM than SCY, though; and it does screw up your own workout.
I've also bagged my plans for fast intervals or other swims where my swim times were important and did drills/kick/offstrokes until the offender left.
I have encountered some swimmers in public lap swim who are 2:30/50y with a wide scissors kick and flat arm recovery "freestyle". They are impossible to pass or even tap their toes without risking injury. It hurts even watching their technique.
One facility "solved" this type of complaint by putting up signs limiting swim workouts to 15 minutes !!
It is a very strong argument for training in an organized workout (USMS workout) or shifting your workout times. The folks who swim 6AM are an order of magnitude better caliber than those that swim at 6PM at the fitness club I sometimes swim at.
I realize this is actually off-topic, because it wasn't a problem, but I like happy stories.
Last Monday, I was in a lane with one of our slowest swimmers. This 55 year old had trouble completing a single lap when she started last summer, but tries to tackle whatever the coaches ask her to do. She even had the guts to race at Nationals and did a 40.8 in the 50 Free and 1:30 in the 100.
It wasn't crowded, so people were picking lanes based on space, not speed. Another guy who is around the same speed as this 55 year old joined us, so we circled. It worked out fine, mainly because both are very nice people and 3 people in a LCM lane is still plenty of room even with a big range in workout pace. I told them not to stop when I come up on them, it's my job to go around and not interfere with their workout. They could do a 600 while I did an 800. At one point, Coach was working with both of them on technique & I was able to pitch in some help due to my underwater view of their strokes. As for my wake, the 55 year old thought it was helpful because she's talking about trying to tackle an OW.
Nice story.
My lanemate is working on his freestyle tech. right now so he can go all out right so I will just pass him or he will stop at the wall. We have a system in pass right now. Slow people in LCM is not an issue because you have enough room to pass someone and you don't have to put extra energy pass them like you do in Short Course.
Here is a story from my college days. One day, this former American U/1996 Olympian swimmer was training with us one day. It was me, a fellow teammate(another douche) and the Olympian. Why I was in this lane that day, I will never know because I was the very very slow one that day. The scholarship guys should have been in that lane, not me. Well, the Olympian was obviously lapping me like nobody's business. But, this douche later was telling people that I should stop at the wall when he was going to pass me. Sorry, I was raised at my age group program like that. Of course, he never said this to me. Just because you got 9th in the 1996 Olympics in the 400 IM, I wasn't going to stop my swimming so he could pass me the easy way. From the famous word of Whitney Houston, "Awwh! Hell to the Nawww!!!!" I guess that I was supposed to bend over backwards for him and ruin my practice efforts because the almighty was in my lane today. :censor:
I realize this is actually off-topic, because it wasn't a problem, but I like happy stories.
Last Monday, I was in a lane with one of our slowest swimmers. This 55 year old had trouble completing a single lap when she started last summer, but tries to tackle whatever the coaches ask her to do. She even had the guts to race at Nationals and did a 40.8 in the 50 Free and 1:30 in the 100.
It wasn't crowded, so people were picking lanes based on space, not speed. Another guy who is around the same speed as this 55 year old joined us, so we circled. It worked out fine, mainly because both are very nice people and 3 people in a LCM lane is still plenty of room even with a big range in workout pace. I told them not to stop when I come up on them, it's my job to go around and not interfere with their workout. They could do a 600 while I did an 800. At one point, Coach was working with both of them on technique & I was able to pitch in some help due to my underwater view of their strokes. As for my wake, the 55 year old thought it was helpful because she's talking about trying to tackle an OW.
There is a swimmer in our pool whose appearance is "dreaded" by many of us.
What's the best way to deal with such a fellow swimmer?
Pull out your kickboard and do a long kick set! Sometimes that is all you can do with a slow lane........even if you end up kicking faster than they can swim, you don't have to pass as frequently. You'll keep your heart rate up and your blood pressure down.
However, I don't understand a few things that are happening in your lane. First of all, swimming 3 parallel in a lane sounds insane...you need to circle with more than two swimmers.
And second, why are you standing at the wall waiting for her to stop and let you go? Why don't you push off and go before she gets there? There are lots of ways you can adjust your workout to make the best of what shows up in the lane.
