Yesterday I arrived at home to a package from Amazon.ca that was full of goodies. A few weeks ago someone recommended Total Immersion to me as a good “go to” guide for swimming. I sat down on the couch, had a snack and got through a couple of chapters. I then headed down to the pool for the Adult Lane Swim at 9 pm. When I got there I headed towards the two “middle” speed lanes. One lane had a lady swimming back and forth on a noodle wearing flippers so I opted for the second lane. It was pretty full though, and I felt like we were too bunched up. After I warmed up I looked over at the other lane and the noodle lady was gone and there was only a girl and guy in the other lane, hanging out at the wall and just talking so I moved over. These two did more talking than swimming the entire time, just hanging out at the wall and blocking it, so making it pretty impossible for me to touch the wall and push off. One of them was a swimming instructor, so she should have known better pool etiquette (says the girl that just started swimming). I thought about moving to the other lane again, but it was still so busy. Every once in awhile they would move from one end of the pool to the other, but at one point they stopped half way to chat with a lifeguard. Grrr, those two were really ticking me off. But, aside from that, I had a terrific swim! I swam 20 continuous laps of front crawl and it felt alright. I still rested at the wall a bit and I’d like to get rid of that, but I think I’m making progress. 1000m total for the night, including a breaststroke warm up and cool down. I came home and was wired so I read another chapter of Total Immersion and called it a night.
Ha, those damn swimmers! Just like in running, yell out ‘on your left’ and keep going……
I find that the best way to deal with that situation is by turning on the T at the end of the lane, no matter where they’re standing (it works best if they’re hanging out ON the T). It’s even better if you can do a really splashy flip turn and get them both in the face. They’ll get the message real quick, and it’s not like they can complain about you to the lifeguard, so they HAVE to go away.
This approach is better than beating them with a noodle because you can make it look like an accident.
Congratulations on swimming a continuous 500m. You’ve already got most of your sprint triathlon swims taken care of there.
Swimming can physically drain me, probably more than running or biking, but it can leave me feeling wired too. I usually try to stay away from a late night swim, just for that reason.
I have that book to and would like to get more into it! Enjoy.
Nice swim.
You couldn’t beat them with the noodle anyways…what would the old lady with the flippers do if you took her noodle?
It’s going to be my first swimming lane session today. I hope I don’t encouter nincompoop like that lol