I had an interesting experience this during a morning swim at our local YMCA. I am fortunate enough to have President's Day off from work, so I took my time getting to the pool today. Arriving at about 11 am, I knew in advance that only 2 of the 4 lanes would be reserved for lap swim. I don't mind sharing a lane at all (as long as no one slams into me) and I find that most people think the same way.
The pool was really busy today, probably because of the holiday. I had to wait a few minutes to get in the pool because both lanes already had 3 people in them. No big deal in my mind.
I got in a lane with a two very different swimmers - one woman who doing breast stroke pretty leisurely while her husband and kids played in the recreational swim area (she's ID'd as breast stroker in this post) and another woman who was a good swimmer and clearly swam quite often during the week (ID'd as superior female swimmer from here on out). I would put myself in between these 2 in terms of ability.
The three of us seemed to be managing our circle swim quite well until a fourth person, a male swimmer, jumped into the lane with us. It definitely became a bit of rush hour and the superior female swimmer was clearly not happy that there were 3 other swimmers in the lane who were serving as barriers to the completion of her workout. The male swimmer was staying out of everyone's way because he was a very fast swimmer. At one point, female superior swimmer asked if she could go ahead of me on a lap and I said fine, but she then proceeded to literally swim into the breast stroker.
Fortunately, the breast stroker and superior female swimmer ended up finishing their workouts shortly thereafter and the male swimmer and I were able to split the lane ourselves for the remainder of my workout.
Now I recognize that swimming is my weakest tri leg, which means I'm slower than many swimmers, and I have the added perk of being 7.5 moths pregnant. At this point I'm dragging 20 extra pounds through the water, so I am probably swimming slower than I had pre-pregnancy. But I don't got to the pool to break any world records; I was looking for a low impact, but high quality workout (which I talked about in my previous post about prenatal fitness).
My attitude is, if you're a faster swimmer than others in the lane, either figure out a way to pass them or discuss with them how you want to share the lane. It's no big deal and it's par for the course when you participate in a sport that is friendly to all ages and abilities, and you definitely get a wide range of swimmers at the Y. If you only want to be around fast swimmers, then join a swim club or a pool with more lanes. We were all doing our best to stay out of the way so we could all enjoy a swim.
I'm interested in others' perspectives on this issue. Thanks, as always, for reading.
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Sharing a lane with other swimmers is always a little tricky. I get to the pool super early (4:30AM) because there are usually not many people swimming at that time. Every once in awhile though I end up having to share the lane. However, we don't circle swim. We each chose a side of the lane and stick to it. I think this works better than circle swimming because you don't have to worry about passing, tapping on toes, or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteI still don't like sharing lanes, but if I have to I always talk to the person I'm sharing with and we figure out a way to make it work. I honestly think communication is the key. I'm sure everyone would rather figure it out then be plowing into each other! :)
I have had my share of unpleasant pool experiences typically because people who think they better than they are in reality insist on asserting themselves. The other day at Yates pool, after waiting for the crowd to clear out, I entered a lane and some jerk jumped in from the wrong side of the pool and almost caused an accident. Excellent swimmers will pass easily and without disturbing other swimmers. Swimmers with moderate speed and questionable form will do what the woman did to the breast stroker and be disruptive, even dangerous. These days I tend to hold my ground, as I have come to this realization. I may slow down to accommodate circle swimming (and I am not the fastest fish in the pool), but I won't harass another swimmer except those who harass others.
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