How does lane swimming work if I am a very slow swimmer?

25m

Tapping is tapping not grabbing, afaik.

Swimming is so boring, Sharing lanes is honestly the only thing that can make it interesting, keeping track of where others are in your lane and whether you need to pause at end to let them overtake, or setting yourself a challenge that they only overtake my every 3 lengths or whatever.

Yeah i would hate someone grabbing my foot. I dont see why its necessary. If there's enough room to overtake just do it, im not going to miss a whole person swimming alongside me, its not exactly something unexpected in a swimming pool, I dont need to be "warned" or alterted to it! If there's not enough room you'll just have to wait and ask to go in front when you reach the end of the lane.

As with most social interactions op the vast majority of the time the answer is just talk to people!

Talk to the staff and ask when the quieter times are
Talk to the people in your lane - if they are coming up quickly behind you stop when you get to the end and tell them to go ahead.

While generally if everyone is swimming faster than you its for them to move to a different lane, at the same time if there are already 5 people in the fast lane and only 1 in your lane it would be silly for yet another person to join them and leave yours almost empty.

Sharing lanes can be stressful but hold your nerve, as long as you let people pass at either end.

Never mind toe-tapping, the worst I have experienced is swimming behind a slower swimmer hoping to pass them at the end of the length (no room to overtake). Unexpectedly, a man swims UNDER both of us to get past. Gave me quite a shock, but it still didn't occur to the slower swimmer to move down a lane.

It's really hard to find quiet times in indoor pools in my area, the demand totally outstrips availability of sessions.

OP, if you are in the slow lane you literally can't be in the wrong. Everyone else must sort themselves out around you. People tend to switch lanes as you work out where you fit. Breast stroke is generally slower than freestyle so other swimmers will expect to pass you. It is curtesy to let the faster swimmer go past you if you both reach the end together.

Our local pool do swimming training sessions during the week out of school holidays where you do some drills and guided swimming, all levels very welcome. This could really augment your confidence with lane swimming if you have a chance. Ours is very friendly and I did get much better/faster when I used to go.

I would hate the thought that a swimmer felt they were too slow for lane swimming. You really can't be and it is for everyone. Anyone who is doing specific timed stuff should be well out of your way in the faster lanes anyway. Please persist: it's a great form of exercise and bringer of joy, even more so if you can track down an open air pool.

ps: general swim times in day time (before 1pm especially, sometimes schools come in afternoons) in TERMTIME are perfect for adults wanting a quiet swim. Sometimes evening too after 8pm, even in school holidays, can be quiet. Out of school term, many pools still might be quiet on weekday mornings.

My current pool doesn't have an App to book sessions, or even any lanes labeled as slow/medium.

people were overtaking me.

that's fine, you obviously created space to make it easy for them. I don't know why you're worried. It's not a race. People in lanes are always mixed speed and waiting until the end to overtake is just an option.

I'm usually the slowest in the fast lane & people overtake me. I do my best to make it easy for them to overtake. Sometimes I'm the fastest and I overtake others. Not being able to overtake would annoy me but you didn't make it impossible for others to overtake, so all good.

I can't remember being foot tapped, wouldn't care if I were tapped although I don't understand how someone does that without getting kicked, I think it's just an intention signal, not aggressive. IME, club swimmers are so fast they don't have time to tap, from behind to ahead in a flash.

@Berwynnie most (all?) of them have booking by app now, so you can see in advance exactly what lanes are available when, whether there are two lanes per speed or just one, how many other people have booked on etc. I find this a big improvement on the days when they just published a timetable and you turned up and paid with no idea how many other people would be in your lane. Obviously people don't always stick to the one they booked but in general it controls the numbers. Also when you get in, stop in the corner and watch what other people are doing before starting to swim. Or watch from the poolside for a moment.

I tend to avoid general swimming sessions too, it is chaos in our pool, kids crashing about all over the place. It is a shame if you want to mix a bit of proper swimming with a bit of floating, treading water, chatting etc. Sometimes they have three lanes plus half a pool for general swimming which is a compromise.

After all this talk of lanes and etiquette- I had the medium lane to myself this morning. Gave myself a late start to the work day and stayed in for bloody ages. I needed that!

Oh god no you don't want to do 'general swim', that's screaming kids leaping into the pool all over and nowhere to actually swim!

You do want lane swimming, just go in slow lane and take rests at the end of lengths, I'm a truly awful swimmer and noone has ever been mean to me about it

My local pool has this up on the wall as "lane etiquette".
Though good luck to anyone trying to tap a good breaststroker's toe 😂

Agree. The etiquette of slow lane swimming is that no one is too slow. They should have moved up a lane.

Yes, and they clearly did not belong in the slow lane

I think they picked it because it was the quietest

And now I'm hearing it's a club thing, I'm even more suspicious. I think they were actually very good swimmers.

The foot tapping thing is normal in club swimming. I think a lot of club swimmers and ex-club swimmers just assume everyone does it and knows what it means. If you’ve been doing a thing since you were 8 or whatever then it’s easy to assume it’s the norm.

Yep. They were pricks.

Beginning to wonder if Iwas unlucky with the two blokes I encountered

Foot tapping man and the man who said I'm just going to swim straight into you so you need to get out of my way

I’m a club swimmer and foot tapping is very very rare. Can’t remember an occasion when somebody has done that for years, but we are all really nice at my club (masters swimming).

Don't worry about being slow. As long as you are in the slow lane and swimming up and down (not standing chatting !) it’s not a problem at all.

I am a very slow swimmer. I stay in the slow lane and let people overtake. I akways hang back and let everyone go first. You arent doing anything wrong.

No one has tapped my foot. I would probably panic and forget to breathe/ swim. Ive seen jaws and although i know im in a pool my brain will shout ' SHARK, ITS A SHARK '

So anyone touching my foot will be told not to. Just go round me or slow down. Weirdos.

Thank you so much @AppleKatie I’ve bought a swimsuit so just need to give it a go!

Yes, some have them all the time some only for dedicated lane swimming sessions. There are usually white boards displayed at the end of each length telling you if it’s S/M/F (usually in that order although not always). The board often also tells you if it’s swim clockwise or anticlockwise. Often the slow lane is wider to account for more overtaking/people swimming two abreast having a chat etc…

It is usually pretty obvious when you look at the pool which is which. People in the fast lanes often have fins/other equipment, often swimming hats and goggles and generally taking it seriously. Slow lane is usually full of women often older or beginners, often swimmers who need to stop and walk a bit or who don’t like to get their hair wet.

pro tip- if the pool is quiet and there’s a chance to a lane to yourself use the slow lane as men are less inclined to get in it and would rather have several of them in the fast lane competing for space. 😂. I do this sometimes and move if genuinely slower swimmers turn up.

The foot tapping thing has grown arms and legs on this thread. I swim nearly every day and I have been tapped once when stuck behind people. It may not have been deli. I don’t think it’s a big thing. Our pool is busy but we make room for everyone. I am fast front crawl and back stroke and slow breast stroke (disabled legs!) - everyone is used to me and I to them nobody cares.

As someone who swam in a club as a child till my early 20s, and now swims in lanes for leisure, toe tapping is normal in club training but definitely not with members of the public you don't know and definitely not in the slow lane - that would be massively inappropriate. I'm not even sure if it would have been ok at my university swim club to be honest, we just overtook in that situation or expected the other person to realise and let us past.

@Nitgel you are entitled to swim at the pace you want - you are in the appropriate lane and if people find they want to go faster, they can overtake or go up a lane. The only thing I'd recommend is that you stop and let faster people pass you at the end of each length.

In time, you may even get a bit faster.

I would say keep swimming OP, it is brilliant exercise.

If someone is much faster than you, let them go ahead and start right behind them. The gap will widen naturally and they will have to overtake less often.