I've only done it a couple times, and unfortunately tonight was one of them. I was being a little sloppy on a turrn and my heels smacked the top of the gutter. Nothing broken but I'll probably have a good bruise. Add this to lanelines (the plastic floats can be sharp when broken) and hand collisions with other swimmers to the list of hazards.
Former Member
Oh yeah, done this many a time. Fortunately never hard enough to split my heel *ouch!*
When I first started back, I did this quite a bit, once every few months. Actually cut my heal one of the times. Just did it two weeks a go after probably a year and a half, the bruises are finally gone.
Yes, I smacked the heels over the top of the gutter/pool deck. I still do old-school turns (ie, do not flip straight onto my back) so I hit at a slight angle that was enough to sprain my ankle. You would think after the first million or two flipturns this wouldn't happen any more.
Fortunately it was minor and only resulted in a few days of limping around in pain.
Learning from other swimmer's experiences: this is a good argument for swimming with corrective lens goggles or with contact lenses if you have poor eyesight.
Thankfully this very rarely happens to me. The last time it happened resulted in a large bruise. I blamed it on switching to a different color goggles.
"Re: ever nail the wall with your heels?"
Yes. Yes I have. Split open both heels. Swam another 1700 yards of warmup before I got out and somebody started yelling about all the blood on the pool deck that I was unknowingly spewing.....:shakeshead: ...When you're visiting a pool for the first time (e.g. warming up @ an unfamiliar pool for a competition), be careful. The walls may be deceptive until you get used to them.
