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Swim nemesis...

Seems the government scheme of handing out free swimming has brought all the swim nemesis out...I had the lot today...the sprinter who jumped in front of everyone, only to stop every length....the old dears bobbing about chatting whilst leaning on the fast lane ropes, the swim walkers, a new one for me slightly larger built ladies wearing t-shirts who try and walk widths and also hang onto the lane ropes for support..and the really fast guy who stopped 5 metres short of both ends to get in front of the pack wtf?....
however one of those days where i laughed at the madnesss of it all and decided it was great training for my next pool based sprint

Comments

  • Good point about traing for the pool based Sprints. Never ceases to amaze me how slow the swim can be, and how many poeple get in your way and struggle. Nothing beats my 2nd ever event, one bloke couldn't swim, so they let him walk it. Good job the pool was a constant depth. Shame is, he wasn't the last out of the pool.
  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    ah the return of the nemesis. Had conehead not been in Aussie land I'm sure he'd fill us in... I've not seen my nemesis for a while..... swum like a fish and blew me out the water......grrrr
  • I know the feeling! Rocked up for my usual pre-work swim this morning only to find out the pool was booked so couldn't swim. The pool though is frustrating even when you can get in. It's got two shallow ends, they only divide it in half so there is one slow lane and one fast lane. Only 3 days per week does it open at 7, and apart from the monrning sessions, which start to late to do a long swm before work, no lane swimming sessions are longer than 1 hour, which makes it impossible to train properly for an ironman. Then theres the usual sprinters and cruisers who stop at the end of each lap and line up across the end so you can't even touch the end after each lap. The water is so hot that you struggle to dry yourself after a swim because the sweat just keeps on coming.

    At the risk of sounding like a whinging Aussie, the city I come from in Australia (only 30000 people) has an Olympic sized pool, opens at 5:45 every monring, and has lane swimming all day. It's rare that there's more than one other person in the lane. It amazes me that with the population here that there's not more proper pools here and the opening times are so short. If pools were more openly available, surely more people would swim and they'd be able to fund constant improvements. It makes such a big difference when swimming is a pleasure.

    Sorry, that sounds like a real rant. I'm not normally one of these Aussies who go on about how much better things are in Oz, because I do love it over here and the Tri scene is great. I did have a bigger rant about the cricket though......
  • I sympathise, I really do, but i would just like a raise one point.

    Sometimes I want to swim long and slow.

    Sometimes I want to swim medium at a reasonable speed.

    Sometimes I want to swim short and fast.

    It all depends on what i want to train on.

    When I swim short and fast (intervals) I will stop every couple of lengths. No excuses. No apologies. I would add that i'm not a complete tosser! I am always considerate to over pool users.

    Normally the slower you go the better you can avoid or deal with traffic. But i don't like the idea that anyone wanting to bash out a few hard sprints here and there are put in the 'nemesis' category!

    Just my opinion
    G
  • GGGG Posts: 82
    Main issue with people in the pool is their complete lact of awareness. People are not switched on enough to realise you have been following them for four lengths. Toe tickling seems to be a no-no. You cant swim over/punch/kick like in open water so it leaves one option... go when the idots generally are not around. In my pool it seems to be friday evening and sunday evening.

    Failing that, i know its getting colder but i have never been stuck behind a breast stroking arse in the sea.

    GG
  • I couldn't agree more vetboy, our pools are a national disgrace.

    Much like your cricket ;-)
  • Thankfully my pool has 'coached' sessions where the pool is closed off for *cough* proper swimmers. It is more expensive than just going in on a public ticket, but there really is no time wasting from the old 'table-polishers', one length wonders etc.

    I went in once for a long morning swim during public hours and couldn't cope. No such evidence of slow/fast/training divisions amongst the lanes and everywhere I went was either way too slow or too quick.

    And vetboy, agree completely. A big thing here in the South (of England!) is the lack of 50m pools, the only major one being in Crawley. In fact, I was speaking to the lady at my local suit hire shop, who said she used to be a swimmer and was selected for the Olympic programme. However, commuting every day to Crawley was too much so she couldn't go for it. Makes me wonder how many other missed opportunities there have been...
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    The main problem with pools is they make no money, they cost a fortune to run & even more to build. Providing leisure facilities is an optional activity for councils, as in it is not statutory like social services for example & as councils get squeezed by central govt grants being reduced, then something has to give & it can't be a statutory service so....our pools get run down, get closed, stay closed & not replaced. So central & local Govt make all the noises about getting people off their butts to improve the health of the nation, but really do not put their money where their mouth is...except in the London Olympic zone...however I suspect that local pools have shut to pay for an olympic venue.
    Here in Brum we have 2 pools..nope 3 pools struggling or closed recently, one will be flattened & I don't recommend breath holding whilst waiting for a rebuild, one seems to be in suspended animation, one is a long running,on going battle for preservation. Another still has knock down & rebuild plans....BUT we are finally building a 50m pool much needed..as our Aussie points out your average 'one horse town' in Oz has at least one 50m pool, we have very few across the nation....but I believe this one central pool will cost at least 2 local pools, which really should not be the case, most err 'normal/nemesis swimmers' wouldn't want to swim in a 50m pool anyway, so to take that away is not good, plus the point of a local pool is....its locality, a central 50m pool is going to be a journey for most, so not only are we discouraging a fitness activity, but encouraging a car journey with its attendant pollution congestion etc.
    Now thats a rant!
  • MowfMowf Posts: 272
    It just seems to me that most people don't really know what the etiquette is. They're not neccessarily tossers. At the end of the day we have to share the pool. And remember, public lane sessions are as much for people just trying to keep active as they are for 'serious' triathlon training. That's why there are swimming/triathlon clubs for those who really want to to train.

    I get annoyed by a group of three blokes who all seem to get in at the same time and then chain gang up the pool at medium ish pace. Meaning that you cant overtake them and they wont wait at the end (because then they cant sit on each other's heals and save all the effort). Now technically they are just training, and they all seem like nice blokes. They just have no idea how much pool they are taking up!

    As such, i do all of my hard interval sets early in the morning with all the OAPs. Much more civilised, and the fast lane is always free!
  • MowfMowf Posts: 272
    No use comparing us to Australia - their pools are all open air arent they? It must be much cheaper to run and, due to the favourable climate for swimming, the demand would be higher. We have crap weather and land is expensive. We're never going to be in the same league.

    I bet if you compared our national squad to Australia's, ours are all better at tumble turning!
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    Lots of open air pools & land prices are prob better, not sure that it is cheaper to run an outdoor pool though. We are embarrassingly under endowed with most if not all european nationa as far as pools & partic 50m pools go.
    As far as ettquette goes, I agree, quite often a quiet word will enlighten them..if not pool lifeguard or pool manager are worth a word. No joy with that, try a written comment, that goes higher up the tree & will have to be responded to, is logged & gives you more ammo if there is no change in the situation.
  • The pool in my town in Oz is indoor and heated. It means that it's pretty heavily sponsored - big Alcoa signs everywhere (one of the big mining companies), but it's a pretty small price to pay. There's also kids play sections, on weekends half the pool is left for lane swimming while the rest is for kids mucking about, with bouncy castle type things in the water, water slides in the play pool, etc. Having 10 lanes available means it can be used for several things at the same time. There's so much to do it's constantly well used so it keeps paying for itself now it's up and running. (though I don't thik it could have been built without several companies sponsoring it)

    i think one thing that might help over here is a basic set of etiquette rules being diplayed near the pool/change area. I think that many people don't mean to be a pain, they just don't know any better. I'm just like everyone else in that I do some long swims, and some intervals. If people were taught to take off 5 seconds early for their repeats if it meant not having to swim over someone, stand on the side when resting, etc, it would all flow so much better.

    Also the lifeguards being a bit more proactive would help. Moving the slow swimmers into the slow lanes has got to be good for everyone.
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    Thank goodness there's an old Victorian baths near my office. It's used for schools and clubs most of the time but there's a lunchtime weekday swimming club 12 - 2 that anyone can join. Seems to be proper swimmers only and is only £40 a quarter.
  • deeessdeeess Posts: 150
    At my local pool in Lewisham there is chap who, on occasion, decides to stand up and start shadow boxing because the water 'provides good resistance'

    i'm not making that up

    i would say something but he is about 6'4", built like a brick sh*thouse and appears slightly unhinged
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