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

Oh god it’s not masters swimming it’s public swimming @Favouritefruits Never touch other people’s feet. People going faster do not have the right to make you stop mid action. You keep going at your own pace someone can either choose to overtake you during a length of its safe or you pause at the end to let them go first.

well done… keep at it OP!

I'm extremely slow and no one has ever tapped my toe and I wouldn't be happy if they did, I just pause momentarily at each end and if someone faster is approaching let them go, I often fiddle witu my goggles so I don't get into that "you go first" "no you" thing. I've started going to early lido sessions before work this summer and it is blissful, the other swimmers are a friendly bunch and often exchange friendly comments at the end of the lane.

No one does toe tapping at the pool I go to, yuck. I'm on the faster end of slow swimming (my pool puts times on to help people decide which lane to use) so I overtake quite a few people. If it's busy I hang back and wait till the end of the lane to get past. The slow lane is wider, so room for overtaking. Unless you get two groups of three chatting and swimming very slowly, that's quite infuriating, and I had to change my session time to avoid them.

Foot tapping generally originates from club swimming whereby swimmers who train together 1-2 times a day will let those in front know they are there to let them pass on the turn.

Yes stay in the slow lane.

Then problem is the lane guidelines don’t reflect the reality of differing swimmer speeds.

Ours is slow lane = a length per minute
medium = 45 seconds
fast = 30 seconds.

The reality is a fast swimmer will do 2 lengths casually at 35/45 seconds repeatedly so some fast swimmers move to medium lane and then the slower swimmers there move to slow lane leaving the slow swimmers nowhere to swim without being overtaken.

IMO the fast swimmers who are usually more experienced should stay in the fast lane and figure it out between themselves.

Where I go the slow lanes are half the pool and the fast lanes are half the pool. The actual lanes are roughly marked out on the bottom of the pool. We can book either fast or slow. Slow is generally breast stroke, fast is generally face down front crawl.

I've been lane swimming for 40 years and I think I've only had my foot tapped once fortunately, I find it really irritating. I stay close to the lane rope, I can't evaporate, pass me when you can or turn early.

It doesn't necessarily matter if you are the slowest in the lane - someone has to be! As long as you are pausing at the end to let others swimmers go, rather than launching off one second in front of them, it shouldn't be a problem.

In my local pool the slow lane is wider than the medium and fast lanes.
V slow swimmers get overtaken, but don't feel you shouldn't be there, it's not that hard to swim round someone . Im about averagely slow , some overtake me.

Foot tapping isn't a thing I've ever been aware of.

I've noticed the fast laners can spend a lot of time chatting before they get going.

First time someone did the foot tap to me, I nearly jumped out of my skin. He explained it to me and I genuinely had no clue.

another time someone told me I was too slow and he would just swim into me.

It's incredibly offputting and everywhere is lane swimming. Or at least everywhere I can get to. It's such a shame because there's literally nowhere for a leisure swim anymore in many areas I think. I talked about it with some work colleagues and they all said it really puts them off.

The foot tap makes more sense in the fast lane context where swimmers are tumble turning and may not stop at the end of the lane for ten or twenty minutes or more unless they get a foot tap, and some swimmers are there to train for speed and don’t want to swim slower than they can but may not be able to safely overtake if the lane is busy.

It’s a knob move in a slow lane though. Should be unnecessary unless the swimmer in front is somehow swimming so wide that it’s completely impossible to overtake and not ever letting people pass at the end of the lane.

Hmm, there's no touching anyone's toes on the pool where I swim, and I would not look kindly on anyone who tapped mine.
It's the faster swimmers who need to consider if they are in the right lane. I'm a fast slow or slow medium so often have to change over depending on the relative speeds of other swimmers.

You carry on with your sedate breaststroke! Good for you, keep at it.

People who foot tap are obnoxious. Just pause at the end of the lane and let faster swimmers go first. If they are lapping you over and over, they need to move up a lane.

i always wish life guards would help manage this more actively. They have a great view and it would be easy enough to recommend people shuffle a bit.

I think the toe tapping does come from club swimmers. Someone did it to me recently and I am pretty fast but I was stuck behind about 4 slower swimmers. Where did he think he was going to go?!
I generally swim in the medium or fast lane in the early morning.

@Nitgelas a faster swimmer I can tell you the speed of lanes is most definitely variable and it is for the faster swimmer to move lane. You are in the correct lane and I find you get used to the same swimmers and their style. I know those that will not give way, the one that rest every other length (so no need to overtake), etc - so it gets a lot easier to settle in to the session. Please don’t be put off! This morning we had people doing butterfly and people doing doggy paddle. All most definitely welcome.

You're doing absolutely the right thing.

But whatever you do, DON'T TOUCH MY FOOT! I think that's a terrible rule. It certainly isn't one that's advertised, or which has ever happened to me, at my pool.

Where I swim - slow lane is usually wide enough to let people overtake easily.
Nobody minds being overtaken or doing the overtaking. Theres an etiquette that you don’t do splashy kicking as you overtake a slow swimmer without goggles.

Please don’t the put off! Absolutely no one in the pool thinks you’re in the wrong place.

i have knee problems and swimming has been simply fabulous for my knees so please stick with it!

There is nowhere else for you to go. You are in the right lane. Just do the tips others are suggesting. It's possible some of those in your lane should be in a faster lane. In my experience very few swimmers are as thoughtful as you!

Recently I shared a lane with a very posh gentleman. He was a tiny bit slower than me and he was very mindful of that letting me go first etc...At the end he said to me - I think we did a jolly good job of swimming together. It made me chuckle. It's rare for people to be that aware and thoughtful.

You're a slow swimmer, in the slow lane, exactly where you should be. If people pass you, let them. They can always move to the next lane up if they think they're too fast for the slow lane 🤷‍♀️

I do get what you mean though, I'm neither a slow nor fast swimmer but when the pool is busy I find myself getting a bit stressed trying to work around everyone (our pool doesn't have lanes so it's a free for all!). I do get frustrated when slow swimmers swim adjacent each other when they could be sharing an imaginary lane if it's busy, but other than that I have never, and can't imagine being frustrated at someone being slower than me.

You have just as much right to be there as any one else. If they don't like it they can overtake or move along.

(Agree that you should let the faster swimmers go first at the start of each lane though).

No you shouldn’t find another pool. The slow lane is for slow swimmers - it’s up to those who can go faster than your slow whether they choose to overtake or move up to the next fastest lane.
The pool I swim in has three lanes and in each of them you go up one side and come down the other. This leaves a space in the middle for those who want to overtake so if this is the case in your pool so long as you aren’t deviating into the middle all the time because you can’t swim in straight line you should just plough on at your own pace and not worry about those behind you
If you swim regularly you soon get to know the speed others swim at, and in the pool I use it’s common practice to allow the faster ones to go before you and for those who know they are going to quickly end up on someone’s tail to wait a bit before they start off

Does the foot touching thing come from youth club swimmers perhaps? It seems to be something that a subset think is 'normal' and no one else knows about it.

This

You're absolutely in the right lane. Please don't let this put you off, swimming is a wonderful exercise for your joints. I'm a slow swimmer but do front crawl and found the slow lane too slow for me, and perhaps 50% of the time the medium lane had faster swimmers than me but I would just always stop at the end of the lane and if it looked like somebody was catching me up, I'd let them overtake to avoid any toe tapping. If other swimmers don't like your speed in the slow lane, they are perfectly welcome to move up to the medium lane. Don't allow yourself to think you deserve to be there less than anybody else.

Where i swim the slow lane is wider than the mid & the fast as its expected to need to cater to a wider range of speeds so overtakes, letting people past etc likely. Unless the particular pool has specific rules then just carry on as you are, maybe be aware at the end of each length if someone is super close behind and faster perhaps let them go first, but onus on them to move lanes or safely overtake.

Let folk overtake and if someone is close at the end of the lap, move to the corner and the edge of the pool and let them kick off first.

Lanes are weird though, some people will swap between slow and fast depending on how slow the slow people are and how fast the fast people are!

It’s not my rule, I’ve not made it up 😂