Swimming in Crowded Pools
armstrong_jack
Posts: 82
in General Chat
Morning all,
I have a question. I am relatively new to triathlons and swimming, having only had a year semi participating in the sport (rower by trade).
I taught myself front crawl in my local London pool and recently learn't how to tumble turn as well (albiet not overly well). I got to the stage where I could quite happily swim 3k with tumble turns as a nice UT2 workout in just under an hour.
I have since moved to Rotterdam with work for 3 months and had about a month where I didn't swim whilst settling in and finding a pool. I have only been 3 times now in the last month (had a marathon to do, but now focusing on tri again) and can't seem to find the same relaxed rythmn. At first I thought it was just a case of building swimming stamina back up again, but now i'm wondering if its to do with how crowded the pool is.
In the UK I pretty much have a lane to myself, or maybe shared with one other person. There are at most 5-10 other people in the pool, none of whom really swimming lengths. In the pool here there are just 6 lanes for lengths with about 4 people per lane all swimming fast lengths. I have found an appropriate speed of lane for myself, but just find it really hard to get into my stride.
I have entered my first Ironman 70.3 in the UK this June so in many ways think the congestion will be good for me. However I am just wondering if anyone else has had this problem or experienced this. Alternatively my swimming fitness could have just really dropped, although that doesn't feel the case.
Many thanks,!
Jack
I have a question. I am relatively new to triathlons and swimming, having only had a year semi participating in the sport (rower by trade).
I taught myself front crawl in my local London pool and recently learn't how to tumble turn as well (albiet not overly well). I got to the stage where I could quite happily swim 3k with tumble turns as a nice UT2 workout in just under an hour.
I have since moved to Rotterdam with work for 3 months and had about a month where I didn't swim whilst settling in and finding a pool. I have only been 3 times now in the last month (had a marathon to do, but now focusing on tri again) and can't seem to find the same relaxed rythmn. At first I thought it was just a case of building swimming stamina back up again, but now i'm wondering if its to do with how crowded the pool is.
In the UK I pretty much have a lane to myself, or maybe shared with one other person. There are at most 5-10 other people in the pool, none of whom really swimming lengths. In the pool here there are just 6 lanes for lengths with about 4 people per lane all swimming fast lengths. I have found an appropriate speed of lane for myself, but just find it really hard to get into my stride.
I have entered my first Ironman 70.3 in the UK this June so in many ways think the congestion will be good for me. However I am just wondering if anyone else has had this problem or experienced this. Alternatively my swimming fitness could have just really dropped, although that doesn't feel the case.
Many thanks,!
Jack
0
Comments
I find that if the session is say 7-8:30, 95% of people go 7-8
Going 7:30 - 8:30 means you are likely to have it to yourself for half an hour