Lap swimming etiquette
How about the people that want to start socializing during your 15 sec rest period?
I was on team of 50+ triathlete's of all levels, I've learned most people don't have swim etiquette. I know when I started I didn't have it, but I picked it up quickly.
Yes! all this combined with difficulty making lap swim times and kids jumping in on top of me (at the Y when there is open swim along with a couple of lap lanes) is what finally got me to talk my hubby into our endless pool. Trying to train in a public pool is impossible. A masters team is a good alternative if you can do it.
I've always found that the people standing against the middle of the wall add a little cushion on the flip turns and help to keep you from scrapping your toes on the concrete if your judgement is a little off . The only problem is they're never there on the 2nd lap.
john
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
I ask before hand would you like to swim up on the right and back on the left with me? or do you want the right side of the lane and I take the left? I have to swim a lot of laps and don't want to be in your way. Usually they ge the pic. Rest and they see my cap with tri on it, well I will talk and tell them about Team In Training and what I am doing at the moment to bring them to the dark side of our sport!
The worst is having to deal with the sauna/hot tub people who jump in the pool a float for a while just to cool down. They are basically a combination of points 1-7 all rolled into one.
My solution is to get to the Y at 5:30, you have to be relatively serious to drag yourself out of bed that early. Every once in a while I'll have to get a swim in during the afternoon and deal with all of the kids. I also love it when they turn on the big water slide that shoots a wave across all of the lanes.
Once when all the lanes were taken I was swimming in the section of the pool for open swim but I was right up next to the lane lines. In the middle of my swim a little kid comes up and elbows me in the middle of the back. I figured it was just good practice for race day.
I've always found that the people standing against the middle of the wall add a little cushion on the flip turns and help to keep you from scrapping your toes on the concrete if your judgement is a little off . The only problem is they're never there on the 2nd lap.
Awesome.
The one I hate is walkers...the pool I'm in is shallow on both end, so I get the seniors walking in the lane sometimes... even though there's a lane specifically for walking on the other side!
There's also this one guy that is probably about 300lbs... he does the weirdest swimming I've ever seen, he has both arms outstretched and just kind of flips with his hands. Very very slow, and because he's so stretched out he's really wide too, so hard to pass.
Anyone give a little extra splash kick when they pass the annoying people? It's completely inadvertent, I swear.
You may enjoy this blog... particularly the list down the side of the "characters" you will find at the pool :)
http://poolstories.blogspot.com/
Strange Denizens of the Deep
FWIW - here is link to a site that does a nice job of outlining the basics of lap swimming etiquette.
When I'm in this situation I usually takes a lap of fly swimming, hitting a bit here and there, and people tend to move to the other lanes, if they don't like bing hit or splashed on.
Actually, I ask them first if they would move to the other lane, because I'll probably be swimming a little faster than them, and they have the same pace as the guy next lane, and if they say no, I do the first mentioned trick. If they are really stubborn I just swim them over, just like a raceday if there's no space for passing :D
Here's my favorite pool story to date: http://star.trifuel.net/2007/04/06/damn-didnt-you-see-me-coming/
"I'm more fun than an iPod!"
My blog: http://star.trifuel.net












Let me first state, that anybody at the pool trying to swim laps is a very good thing. But has anybody else experienced any of these at the pool.
1. People standing in the middle of the wall at the end of the pool. Blocking flip turns.
2. A large number of people socializing at the end of the lane.
3. People swimming down the middle of the lane flailing their arms blocking you from passing.
4. People just standing in the middle of the lane. (easy to hit after a flip turn)
5. People just floating in the middle of the lane.
6. People swimming in the wrong direction in the lane.
7. Slow swimmers in the lane marked "fast."
I tell myself that these are just open water simulations and force me to do "sightings" for stagnant swimmers. Passing swimmers underwater (haven't quite figured out who that fits in yet). Doing 180 degree turns before the wall because people are blocking the wall is like cornering around a buoy, but even with all the creative thinking its gets annoying some days.