Houston, TX

It's been a long time since I lived there, but you will be kinda close to many nice pools. Just a bit farther southeast you have the Jewish Community Center, which has an indoor 25 yard & outdoor 50meter pool, a bit more inside the loop and you have West University Place & Rice University. Also the University of Houston - but that may be a bit too far away - and then my favorite, the Dad's Club - which is off I-10 not too far away Houston standards - but it is old now - the 50m pool was brand new when I trained there. Have you checked on-line? They used to have a city wide type of masters team called H2O that trained in many different pools. Watch out for the nasty Palmetto Bugs and humidity!

Trotter Family Y is probably the closest location that you could get into, coached workouts are available. The Houstonian Club is also close by but probably not open to non-members. Rice University Masters is another option, new outdoor pool. I swim with Houston Cougar Masters. Funky pool but great workouts at the old University of Houston pool on Holman Dr. Here's the link for all swim clubs in Houston. www.gulfmastersswimming.org/.../clubs.cfm PM me if you want any other info.

I think my gym is part of IHRSA, so I might be able to swim at the Houstonian. If so, that would be great because it's really close to the hotel. Then again, if there are 50m pools nearby I might check those out too. What is a palmetto bug?

Is there a new pool at U. of Houston also? I hope it's not "funky" because the Nat'l. Sr. Games are there in June.

2790 is this the "new" pool?

Those of you who live in the south will probably laugh at us northerners, however, I still remember being scared out my wits one night by a palmetto bug when I was in college. I was visiting relatives in Miami and got up to get a glass of water in the kitchen. They had large, recessed fluorescent lights. When I turned on the lights I startled a palmetto bug who was hanging upside down from the light. Now maybe he crawled there, but he definitely flew away, straight at me as I recall. "... useless for flying ..." my ass! Skip

What is a palmetto bug? From Wikipedia: "The Florida woods cockroach (Eurycotis floridana), or palmetto bug is a large species of cockroach, which usually grows to a length of 1½ inch to 2 inches. It is black in color, and has a wide, glossy body, and appears at first glance to be wingless, however it does have very short wings just beneath its head, which are useless for flying..."

Yes, that's the new UH pool. It's a great racing venue, fast and deep when set for SCY. For 50 mtr. pools, you can head to the Dad's Club. Older, outdoor pool but it sits among pine trees, very nice setting, and is aerated to keep the water cool. Rice Univ. has a 50 mtr. outdoor pool but not sure if it's set up for SCY or LCM. The new UH pool is normally set up for SCY. I can assure that palmetto bugs/wood roaches can indeed fly for short distances. They are gross insects and seen all too often both indoors and out. Houston has been in a terrible drought and that's when the bugs venture indoors, seeking moisture. Ugh!!

I swam at the Houstonian this morning. It's a really nice pool. Outdoors, lots of lanes, and lit from below with blue lights. Early morning is about the only time of day when I can stand the temperature around here. I went from 62 degrees in WA to 91 degrees here in TX. Quite a shock to the system. At 5 AM the drive from the hotel only takes about 5 minutes. I'm hooked. I don't even care about the expensive guest fee.

I swam at the Houstonian this morning. It's a really nice pool. Outdoors, lots of lanes, and lit from below with blue lights. Early morning is about the only time of day when I can stand the temperature around here. I went from 62 degrees in WA to 91 degrees here in TX. Quite a shock to the system. At 5 AM the drive from the hotel only takes about 5 minutes. I'm hooked. I don't even care about the expensive guest fee. I have no idea why, but I belong to the Houstonian and Dad's CLub and I never swim at the Houstonian. Come to think of it, I basically never go. But I digress, you might enjoy Dads Club. At the Houstonian, Goerge and Barbara Bush have been in the pool (hmmm, I wonder if they got out if they had to go to the bathroom). At Dad's you have had NCAA Champs and a couple of Olympians. And for what it is worth, Dad's is only $5 or $10. I ran at the park yesterday (memorial park which is right down from your hotel) in the 95 degree heat. Ouch. It does take some getting used to.