next »

[octoprof]

I swam and had Golden Grahams. About once a year I need a fix of them, and this was the week. Hooray for sugar!

In other notes, I am off soda except for on weekends. <whine> It is hard. </whine>

I've been completely off soda for more than a month now. I don't even miss it. I bought one a week or so ago and it tasted bad to me. Who'd have guessed that could happen?

That's great. Soda is not worth the calories in my opinion. I'd rather have a hunk of stinky cheese.

Of course, I'll never be off chocolate.  Clearly though, I never drink my calories (except fat free milk). :o)

[bookishone]

I've enjoyed this thread, though I don't have easy access to a pool myself these days (reading all your comments is making me wistful). Though I'm not currently swimming, I did want to add one thing:

My kids swim on a local team, and the coach has them do strength training (especially core training) 2x/week. Apparently it can really help you swim faster, especially if you've plateaued in your improvement otherwise. So that may be something to think about for those of you hoping to get a little faster (to fit a 6000 into 2 hours, perhaps?). I know that Pilates/core training makes a difference in my jogging and and made a noticeable-to-others difference in my skiing this year.

[toothpaste]

I had the perfect amount of time for a swim this afternoon. The last time I went to the pool at 4 it was mobbed by kids having lessons, a huge racket. Today when I showed up there was no one in the pool! It was fantastic having my choice of lanes and quiet the whole time.

[anthroid]

I had the perfect amount of time for a swim this afternoon. The last time I went to the pool at 4 it was mobbed by kids having lessons, a huge racket. Today when I showed up there was no one in the pool! It was fantastic having my choice of lanes and quiet the whole time.

Sounds wonderful!  I went to my gym this morning and had the whole pool to myself for the entire time.  Bliss.

[barred_owl]

Kids (and their irresponsible parents) and pools for exercise do not mix!  Last night, I was trying to do my water aerobics routine, and some dumb dad decided it would be fun to toss his children around, literally;  one of them landed within inches of me.  Luckily, I had the hand buoys underwater at the time, otherwise the kid would've had a mouthful of styrofoam.  No apologies--not even an "oops" from the dad; he just keeps throwing the kids around and much screaming (which echoes painfully around the place) ensues.

To avoid further chance of injury or creating an incident, I move over to the lap pool (colder water, but an acceptable last resort).  Not two minutes later, kids of same father come rushing over with swim fins on and cannonball into the lane right next to me. 

Next alternative, which I did not pursue--the physical therapy pool.  Look in the room, and it's full of more kids!  I couldn't even make use of the hot tub because it's teeming with them, too.  Where are the parents?  Sitting poolside, yacking it up with each other.  Lifeguard looks bored to death and does nothing but just sit there.

So, for the first time ever, I filled out a complaint form at this gym (which, otherwise, I love), requesting that at least the PT pool be reserved for adults only.  As I'm filling out the form, one of the gym staff comes by and asks if my "suggestion" is good or bad.  I explain the events that occurred, and--guess what?  The PT pool is supposed to be for adults only, when it's not being used for PT patients.  The bored lifeguard was supposed to shoo the kids out of there, but couldn't be bothered, I guess.

Lesson learned--do not go swimming at this otherwise lovely facility during summer evening hours.  Two days earlier, during mid-afternoon, I had the family pool all to myself, so I will stick to that schedule from now on, and hope that the lifeguard gets a stern lecture, too.

[bibliothecula]

I had the perfect amount of time for a swim this afternoon. The last time I went to the pool at 4 it was mobbed by kids having lessons, a huge racket. Today when I showed up there was no one in the pool! It was fantastic having my choice of lanes and quiet the whole time.

Sounds wonderful!  I went to my gym this morning and had the whole pool to myself for the entire time.  Bliss.

Isn't that a wonderful treat? I love that when it happens to me at my pool.

Barred_owl, I'm so sorry about your experience. My pool has crazy kids all summer long too, but they never come early, so I try to swim during the early  hours. But I know that's not an option for everyone.

[barred_owl]

I do love the empty pool feeling, for sure!  There was a lady swimming laps last night, too, and I'm sure she was pretty p.o.'d about the kids with the swim fins.  Heck, I felt bad doing the aerobics stuff two lanes over from her, even with the lane ropes (the kind with the plastic discs) dissipating my splashing!

One of the many things I love about this gym is that, although it markets itself as 'family friendly,' it has not become the free-for-all that another community facility has become.  Friends from my previous water aerobics class told horror stories about the teenage boys who hung out at the community pool mocking the adult swimmers (especially the older ladies), spitting into the pool, and who knows what else.  Ugh!  No, no--my gym (which is owned by a local hospital) is the greatest, despite the occasional stupid family swimming incident.  Even the locker rooms there smell good! 

[dept_geek]

The adult pool is just that where I am from 5am to 12:30. Laps, various areobics classes, then laps again. The kids aren't welcome in that pool until lessons start.

Thank you pool people for that.

[anthroid]

On campus now we have switched over to the outdoor pool, but it's been cloudy and rainy all week, so I believe I'll be staying away from there for a while.  The water must be freezing!

On a related note, I seem to have injured my knee (again).  Darn it.  You can't tell me that swimming a mile yesterday morning at the gym, coming to campus and working in a purely desultory manner before going out for a very long lunch, and then doing 45 minutes of weight machines, has anything whatsoever to do with that sore knee.

[johnr]

On campus now we have switched over to the outdoor pool, but it's been cloudy and rainy all week, so I believe I'll be staying away from there for a while.  The water must be freezing!

On a related note, I seem to have injured my knee (again).  Darn it.  You can't tell me that swimming a mile yesterday morning at the gym, coming to campus and working in a purely desultory manner before going out for a very long lunch, and then doing 45 minutes of weight machines, has anything whatsoever to do with that sore knee.

I wish our campus had an outdoor pool. We had one on the campus where I earned my Ph.D and it was great.  I would walk over to the pool at lunch time, swim, dry out in the sun, eat my sandwich on my walk back to the lab and be ready to go all afternoon.  There's something about outdoor pools, for me at least, that makes swimming much more fun. I must admit that when I was a young, single, graduate student, the legions of young women tanning on the pool deck didn't hurt matters either!

[macaroon]

I'm sorry if this has been covered here before, but I just recently started swimming (just once a week) and I have a pool etiquette question.

What do I do if someone asks to share a lane with me and then fills the end of the pool with toys? How am I supposed to turn if there are noodles and a kick board there?   I guess she put them in the water to "save" them or something.

I took them out and put them on the side of the pool.  Was I a jerk?

[barred_owl]

I'd have done exactly the same thing, macaroon.  The person who put them there, unattended, was the jerk.

--Barred Owl, who told off an inconsiderate adult today at the pool.
(he, a grown man of about 250 lbs., jumped in about 4 feet from where I was exercising--I told him to go to the other side of the enormous pool if he really had to do that sort of thing)

[galactic_hedgehog]

I was in the "family" part of the pool the other day with HP, when a guy got in and started doing laps.  Hello?  There are four lanes for lap swimming.  They are not filled up.  Not that we were interfering with each other, but, c'mon.

And then there were the boys who were playing "baseball" with a kickboard bat and a tennis ball.  When it was crowded.  And the clueless lifeguard who ignored them.

[octoprof]

A pox on clueless lifeguards!

I love swimming laps (25y). I love open water swimming (up to >1 mile). However, I still can't seem to get in the groove for swimming long course (50m), which is what we are doing this time of year. It's so far that I can't find the right rhythm to keep a good consistent speed going. In short course, I know just how many strokes and breaths get me from one flipturn to another. In long course, it's just too far to feel any rhythm. I know that sounds insane. But, it's bugging me.

[scampster]

I was in the "family" part of the pool the other day with HP, when a guy got in and started doing laps.  Hello?  There are four lanes for lap swimming.  They are not filled up.  Not that we were interfering with each other, but, c'mon.

I avoid the family swim times like the plague if I want to swim laps! I can't even imagine seeking out the family area. (My pool is at a fitness center so the pool isn't open to kids most of the time, just about three hours a day on weekends - besides the commotion, I also avoid the pool at this time because I figure the likelihood of pee in the pool goes up exponentially. Family hour is the only reason the pool has ever needed to be shut down to be shocked.)

It shouldn't stun me still, but I am always amazed at the basic lack of pool etiquette. Sometimes there are a few obscure rules, but most of them boil down to:

"Don't ruin the enjoyment of your fellow swimmers."

Don't even get me started on the old people! At my pool, it's as if being over 70 gives you leeway to do whatever you want.

On preview: Octoprof, I have never swum in a long course pool - I would like to try it some time, but I think I would be thrown off by it too. Also, when I swim with my friend, probably the only reason my slow butt can keep up is because I am a good flip turner (thank you 7th grade swim team!). My friend also is quite thrown off by open water, so I can keep up with her there, since I have never had a problem with not being able to see a thing...