How many in your lane..

mloc123

One for the triathletes.

How many people in your swim lane this morning or this week?
I am getting fed up with my current pool, I am in a lane with 5 or 6 other people most days... is this common?

Macanri

Can't speak for this week as I was only in the pool this morning for a club session. But normally early morning for me would see 3 to 4 and sometimes 1 or 2. Average been 2 to 3. (all the above no.s would include myself int he lane too!)

Nwm2

mloc123 wrote: »

One for the triathletes.

How many people in your swim lane this morning or this week?
I am getting fed up with my current pool, I am in a lane with 5 or 6 other people most days... is this common?

25m pool? 5 or 6 is a lot, but manageable if the pace is similar.

My problem isn't the number of people (my pool is usually quiet when I'm there), it's the breaststrokers, or extremely slow swimmers (even slower than me), that seem to have zero awareness of the world around them (eg they're standing at the end when you're swimming, then they start just as you reach the end to turn).

shotgunmcos

5-8

there can be up to 15 in the next lane! sometimes more, so they just hop into the fast lane and forma second group. Often 30+ people down sharing 3 lanes of a 50m pool. It gets hairy when the Irish Squad take over 7 lanes!

catweazle

The problem in my pool is two of the three lanes are almost permanently leased out to swim clubs, leaving only one free. Its not too bad in the morning but there are a fair few breast strokers in with you in the evenings, you get really nailed on quick sets. Have a bit of trouble passing and the time deadlines are gone

couerdelion

I usually go around 8:30pm and at the most have to share with 1 other person even like last night when 4 lanes are taken over by a club.

kingQuez

Next time you get to the end of a lane and other people are taking a break try farting?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

On the early morning sessions 1 or 2 and sometimes nobody. Lunchtime can be 4 or 5 and evening time you can forget about it.

pgibbo

mloc123 wrote: »

One for the triathletes.

How many people in your swim lane this morning or this week?
I am getting fed up with my current pool, I am in a lane with 5 or 6 other people most days... is this common?

Man up and hit the OW!

Usually only 2 to 4 per lane when I swim in the morning or at lunch. As with the others, it's the inconsiderate gits that push off as you approach the wall for a slow breaststroke that drive me nuts. In fairness to the pool I go to, if it gets busy, they put in an extra lane. Normally 2 lanes and the rest open but they add a third lane if it's busy.

griffin100

My pool is very much populated by non swimmers. There is one lane (which I had to fight for) in place permanently but it's hilarious because once a breaststroking pensioner gets in they seem to think the lane belongs to them and they moan at you if you get in beside them and complain to the lifeguard.

RacoonQueen

My pool has two lanes, a fast lane and a slow lane. Usually they'll only have one or two people in them. If there's two others in the lane I'll just get out and hug the lane on the outside and swim at my own pace. Just because I'm not confident enough to stay in it while theres others there and would rather concentrate on my form than be worrying about kicking someone in the face.

Though with just two in the lane it's handy enough, you can have your unspoken agreement about just staying on your side instead of going clockwise.

My pool is generally dominated by people who like to stand in the middle of the pool yapping...

catweazle

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Though with just two in the lane it's handy enough, you can have your unspoken agreement about just staying on your side instead of going clockwise.

Thats reminds of a recent incident I had with a breast stroker, jumped in beside him in the lane and tried to brazen it out by not going with a clockwise rotation. I saw him deliberately holding his ground as I came up so I said feck it and swam on top of him. An argument started and he was immovable with his insistence on a rotation policy......I broke after a couple of feeble protestations and came out with but you are as slow as sh1t. I never saw someone so insulted . Needless to say I spent half the session swimming around him, lifeguard comes up after he has gone and says he was an asshole, I could have done with her opinion as he remonstrated with me.

I have no issue with rotation when there is three in the lane but when there is only two and there is a clear discrepancy in the standard they should keep to their own side

tunney

mloc123 wrote: »

One for the triathletes.

How many people in your swim lane this morning or this week?
I am getting fed up with my current pool, I am in a lane with 5 or 6 other people most days... is this common?

yesterday morning, including me - 3 for a while, then 2. 50m pool. Normally okay these days except when a certain tri club are in. Still no more than 5-6 in the lane and you do get to laugh at 20+ in a lane wasting their time.

tunney

Friend of mine used to swim in the same pool as mloc. He was in one day and it was very busy. He was doing fisting drills. Punched some bird in the face. He got lots of room that day after that.

Nwm2

catweazle wrote: »

Thats reminds of a recent incident I had with a breast stroker, jumped in beside him in the lane and tried to brazen it out by not going with a clockwise rotation. I saw him deliberately holding his ground as I came up so I said feck it and swam on top of him. An argument started and he was immovable with his insistence on a rotation policy......I broke after a couple of feeble protestations and came out with but you are as slow as sh1t. I never saw someone so insulted . Needless to say I spent half the session swimming around him, lifeguard comes up after he has gone and says he was an asshole, I could have done with her opinion as he remonstrated with me.

I have no issue with rotation when there is three in the lane but when there is only two and there is a clear discrepancy in the standard they should keep to their own side

I have to disagree with you here catweazle, from his point of view (him being an asshole notwithstanding) it sounds like you jumped into the lane and followed your own rules and then purposely swam into him? Although I think there should be a rule that breaststrokers should accomodate other swimmers.

If it's only 2 in the lane, and one is a breaststroker, then I don't find swimming around them a big deal. If there's 3 in a lane it's a disaster though.

tunney

catweazle wrote: »

Thats reminds of a recent incident I had with a breast stroker, jumped in beside him in the lane and tried to brazen it out by not going with a clockwise rotation. I saw him deliberately holding his ground as I came up so I said feck it and swam on top of him. An argument started and he was immovable with his insistence on a rotation policy......I broke after a couple of feeble protestations and came out with but you are as slow as sh1t. I never saw someone so insulted . Needless to say I spent half the session swimming around him, lifeguard comes up after he has gone and says he was an asshole, I could have done with her opinion as he remonstrated with me.

I have no issue with rotation when there is three in the lane but when there is only two and there is a clear discrepancy in the standard they should keep to their own side

Disagree - always stick to rotation.

catweazle

Nwm2 wrote: »

I have to disagree with you here catweazle, from his point of view (him being an asshole notwithstanding) it sounds like you jumped into the lane and followed your own rules and then purposely swam into him?

tunney wrote: »

Disagree - always stick to rotation.

Agreed, I was chancing my arm trying to push him into staying on his side, hence I climbed down quickly when he started getting really thick.

pgibbo

Nwm2 wrote: »

I have to disagree with you here catweazle, from his point of view (him being an asshole notwithstanding) it sounds like you jumped into the lane and followed your own rules and then purposely swam into him? Although I think there should be a rule that breaststrokers should accomodate other swimmers.

If it's only 2 in the lane, and one is a breaststroker, then I don't find swimming around them a big deal. If there's 3 in a lane it's a disaster though.

The pool that CW swims in usually has a sign at the end of each lane indicating which direction to swim. Not sure if it was there that day ort not.

Nwm is right though. If you got in after him and there was no sign in place you should have just went the same direction as him. Jumped up triathletes!

MrCreosote

I swim rotation even when I've a lane to myself. I start feeling all weird if I stick to one side..

pgibbo

MrCreosote wrote: »

I swim rotation even when I've a lane to myself.

+1

You never know when someone else will get in to the lane so better off swimming rotation.

interested

and this is the reason I no longer swim in public hours / pools or even at the NAC.

original question - depending on the morning and how bad a state I arrive at the pool either solo or sharing with 4 or 5 age groupers.

Ive been in groups of 10+ in a 25 metre pool and it just gets silly. Apart from 50's it can become futile when people are catching the back markers


@ lifeguards - they should enforce lane discipline since they're actively charged with enforcing safety and pool enjoyment of ALL patrons - if its advertised as lane swimming then its 'up one side and down the other' for everyone - whether theres two in the lane or not. If two people decide to take a side each then a 3rd person can hardly get their set done. Unfortunately - Im hoping there are exceptions out there - alot of pool lifeguards are reactionary rather than pre-emptive. They'll wait til you swim through a slower breastroker as they swim up the middle of the lane whilst you're doing pull with paddles because they simply arent a*sed to politely tell the breastroker that they should move to a lane more suitable and abide by the 'down one side back the other policy'.

mloc123

So a new pool this morning and what looks like it will be from now on and...

1 other guy in a lane with me for 15mins and then a whole lane to myself :eek:
I almost felt lonely.

I had been swimming in the Markevitz(sp?) in town and over the winter it was fine but for the last 2 months it is a joke. On a good day I'll have 3-4 people in a lane with me on a bad bad 6+ Some days there could be anything up to 40 people in the pool at once... 25m, 6 lane pool.

n-dawg

The reason the Markevitz is so busy is because Trinity's pool is closed, and I think the students have free access to Markevitz.

For me a swim in a 50m pool near my work. Its great the whole pool is 2m deap and its hard to hold the sides so that keeps the non swimmers to a minimum. Most days there'll be 2-3 in a lane.

mloc123 wrote: »

So a new pool this morning and what looks like it will be from now on and...

1 other guy in a lane with me for 15mins and then a whole lane to myself :eek:
I almost felt lonely.

I had been swimming in the Markevitz(sp?) in town and over the winter it was fine but for the last 2 months it is a joke. On a good day I'll have 3-4 people in a lane with me on a bad bad 6+ Some days there could be anything up to 40 people in the pool at once... 25m, 6 lane pool.

Izoard

n-dawg wrote: »

The reason the Markevitz is so busy is because Trinity's pool is closed, and I think the students have free access to Markevitz.

Yep - Trinity is due to re-open on July 1st, so that should help.

mloc123

aaaah, I knew trinity was closed a month or so back but I presumed it was for a couple of weeks. That might explain it alright.

griffin100

The timing of your swim plays a big part IME. Last week a lunchtime swim in glenalbyn had 8 swimmers or so in the lane; last Monday in the same pool in the 2pm swim there was a max of 4 of us in a 33m lane all swimming anticlockwise with a nice wide lane for overtaking.

shotgunmcos

LOL, I thought of this thread this morning in my swim session and logged on now to find all these comments. This morning was a hoot. Coach prescribed 2*50 kick then 2*50 swim all with fins and repeat the sequence for an 800m warm up. Normally nice and orderly. However this morning, it being friday and all, people hopped in at various times so you had some on kick and some on swim on the same 50. On top of this it was busy anyway so the usual 10-12 was more like 15. Then to add some spice, the fast lane was taken and the fish were lobbed into the already crowded lane with their own fins on! In the middle of it all one of the lads was doing backstroke!! You can imagine the Chaos The Coach's face was anmusing but the faces on the fish who usually lead the fast lane was priceless. They actually opted for the relative calm of the public (crazy) lane! BTW Its tough to laugh heartily with your face in the water doing kicking drills We eventually got an extra lane which calmed the fires and get on with the session...

Oh yeah, ALWAYS rotate, otherwise you can expect carnage...

EMPM

mloc123 wrote: »

So a new pool this morning and what looks like it will be from now on and...

1 other guy in a lane with me for 15mins and then a whole lane to myself :eek:
I almost felt lonely.

I had been swimming in the Markevitz(sp?) in town and over the winter it was fine but for the last 2 months it is a joke. On a good day I'll have 3-4 people in a lane with me on a bad bad 6+ Some days there could be anything up to 40 people in the pool at once... 25m, 6 lane pool.

I also swim in the Markevitz. I switch between early morning and lunch time, there can be a big difference in numbers and level of swimmer between the two.

I find at 7am it is ok can be 4 or 5 in a lane but generally good swimmers and have very good pool etiquette, but at lunch time it is very hit and miss.

mloc, where is this empty new pool

gottarun

The latest triathlon 'must have' - an endless pool, problem solved

Bambaata

i normally have only 1 or 2 others in the lane with me and by 15mins into my sessions im often on my own. There are those from time to time that have terrible etiquette and won’t let me through buts its normally quiet enough to swim around. I even had a guy realise i was on a 15sec break, as he read my session written on a piece of paper on the wall, in a session on Wednesday and waited to let me through

BTH

Yesterday morning there was 5 in the lane, but its a coached session in a city centre pool, so everyone there is doing the same set, and everyone in the lane is of similar standard. If the numbers get any higher, we split out into the outside (generally unused) lane.

I only swim in these masters type sessions or club sessions (which are very quiet this time of year) for this very reason. Remember being in Markevicz last year, in the fast lane, and there's a young girl in a swim suit about 5 sizes too big doing a painfully slow breast stroke. Cut my session short out of frustration. Would only swim in the NAC on a weekend evening, usually having a lane to myself in that case.

interested

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Would only swim in the NAC on a weekend evening, usually having a lane to myself in that case.

Good stuff - with your luck this season there's every chance you'd fall just getting into the pool and pick up more road rash Ive a feeling things will start looking up for you at Kilkee champ

BTH

interested wrote: »

Good stuff - with your luck this season there's every chance you'd fall just getting into the pool and pick up more road rash Ive a feeling things will start looking up for you at Kilkee champ

Yeah, cheers for that.. Those wet tiles can be lethal!

I think I'll be happy enough to get round Kilkee in one piece. Forecast at this stage is for a lot of rain on the day, just praying its not as cold as Valentia. Looking forward to it.

pgibbo

Bambaata wrote: »

I even had a guy realise i was on a 15sec break, as he read my session written on a piece of paper on the wall, in a session on Wednesday and waited to let me through

CLASSIC!

mloc123

EMPM wrote: »

mloc, where is this empty new pool

If I told you I might need to kill you

Stewarts Hospital in Palmerstown, suits me because its between home and work.

tunney

gottarun wrote: »

The latest triathlon 'must have' - an endless pool, problem solved

I know endless pools were limited to 1:30 per 100m.
Also the uneven flow from the jets didn't/doesn't replicate real swimming properly.

Had wanted one until I heard both of these.

RacoonQueen

pgibbo wrote: »

+1

You never know when someone else will get in to the lane so better off swimming rotation.

But you can start swimming rotation if someone else gets in. :pac: I like to stick to the same side to allow me to rest and not worry about being in someone elses way. I don't swim as much as you guys though...

...and you all go to really busy pools. :eek:

kingQuez

tunney wrote: »

I know endless pools were limited to 1:30 per 100m.
Also the uneven flow from the jets didn't/doesn't replicate real swimming properly.

Had wanted one until I heard both of these.

I wanted one till I saw the $20k+ pricetag

Oryx

I use a few different pools. Today in the 25m it was 2 or 3 at first and I had it to myself for the last 20 mins. Which is normal for that place. Only problem there is that the rest of the pool is open swimming so you get kids coming in the lane or sitting on the rope. I've collided with a few.

The other pool I use is very busy but doesnt get many serious swimmers. So you get people doing one or two lengths and getting out. So even if they are slow they don't stop ya for long.