Had a weird thing happen at practice today. I was finishing my swim with a set of 25yd butterfly to work on my stroke. I had the lane to myself, and for a time, both lanes to either side were empty. About midway through my set, an older woman got into the lane next to me and started swimming. Ordinarily I'd pay it no mind, but at one point when I was resting she turned to me and said "you know, it's really hard for me to swim backstroke when you're swimming like that, you're a real jerk!"
When she began her statement, I thought she was going to make some kind of joking comment. But as she finished it, I realized she was serious, and it kinda caught me off guard. Since the lane on the other side was open, I moved over a lane so as not to disturb her, and tried to apologize when she was at the end of the lane, but she just curtly replied "fine" and went on about her swim.
So my question is this, does swimming butterfly make me a jerk? I'm not going to stop swimming fly, but I'm just curious if anyone else has run afoul of other swimmers getting bent out of shape in this manner. To summarize, we both were in separate lanes (6ft wide), and she was swimming, not water walking. I wonder if Phelps runs into these problems :D
Parents
Former Member
So my question is this, does swimming butterfly make me a jerk? :D
The simple answer is yes. But so are backstrokers, freestylers, and even the gentle breaststrokers. It's a human condition but....that lady probably turns at the end of her lane and talks to the "jerk" even when she's alone in the pool. She sounds nuts and angry. I meet people like that in the pool regularly. They DO often resent it when you swim fast. Speed is interpreted somehow as aggression, at least by some. So, when you encounter someone who is nuts, as an intelligent jerk, you cater to their nuttiness to whatever degree necessary so that you can get your workout done. That, after all, is what you want to do. If you work out alone at YMCA's as I do it is inevitable that you run into difficult people from time to time. Most of the time it's great, but it's inevitable.
That said, there are some folks who swim fly and every stroke looks like they are making as big a splash and wave as possible, others slip in and out of the water like snakes. When I see the former I think they are getting one hell of a workout. When I see the latter I just like to watch. Either way, just get your workout in. Usually there is no point in talking with a nutty angry person except to defer to them verbally, then swim.
So my question is this, does swimming butterfly make me a jerk? :D
The simple answer is yes. But so are backstrokers, freestylers, and even the gentle breaststrokers. It's a human condition but....that lady probably turns at the end of her lane and talks to the "jerk" even when she's alone in the pool. She sounds nuts and angry. I meet people like that in the pool regularly. They DO often resent it when you swim fast. Speed is interpreted somehow as aggression, at least by some. So, when you encounter someone who is nuts, as an intelligent jerk, you cater to their nuttiness to whatever degree necessary so that you can get your workout done. That, after all, is what you want to do. If you work out alone at YMCA's as I do it is inevitable that you run into difficult people from time to time. Most of the time it's great, but it's inevitable.
That said, there are some folks who swim fly and every stroke looks like they are making as big a splash and wave as possible, others slip in and out of the water like snakes. When I see the former I think they are getting one hell of a workout. When I see the latter I just like to watch. Either way, just get your workout in. Usually there is no point in talking with a nutty angry person except to defer to them verbally, then swim.
