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AIBU?

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Original poster

Swimming pool etiquette?

202 replies

miaowmiaowhiss · 28/07/2015 16:36

Went swimming today and it was one of the set ups where they have slow/medium/fast lanes, and you pick the lane you swim in based on the people already swimming in them, not your own ideas of speed (eg you might think you're extremely fast, but if the fast line is full of Olympians, you'd pick a different lane). There are signs up specifically telling you to pick your lane in this way.

I was swimming in the fast lane with two other people -we were clearly faster than people in the other lanes, so it was the right place to be. Another man came and got in the pool twenty minutes after I got in, and he was swimming much faster than any of us were going - which obviously means he kept running up the back of other swimmers! Every time I knew he was directly behind me I'd pause at the end and let him overtake me for the next one, but he kept huffing and rolling his eyes. He then started overtaking all three of us during lengths - which is fine in principle, just not if it means the person coming the other way had to stop and wait and the person he was overtaking got nearly kicked in the face each time.

AIBU to think this is really inconsiderate/rude? There was just so much tutting and eye rolling at the audacity we had to be swimming faster than people in other lanes, yet not swimming as fast as this man clearly wanted to. Minor issue in the grand scheme of things but it really annoyed me - as well as actually being quite dangerous RE being kicked in the face/kicking him in the face - and made my swim a lot less enjoyable Angry

Surely if you want to swim faster than everyone else you time it right and wait for everyone else to be on the length back before you start, or something, not just passive aggressively showing your displeasure at other swimmers?

OP posts:
Original poster
miaowmiaowhiss · 28/07/2015 21:03

Perissa that's a great analogy! Bloody dangerous.

OP posts:
Mermaid36 · 28/07/2015 21:05

I'm a fast swimmer (FC) and tend to head straight for the fast lane (I do approx a mile in about 25 mins). I will always see who is swimming first and look at how fast they are going. If it's comparable to my speed, I'll get in and go.
If it's not I'll often pop outside the lanes and just start swimming.

My issues are usually with guys who can't believe that a chubby 30-something can swim very fast and then try and swim faster etc....

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 28/07/2015 21:06

DS does Motocross. In race situations, lots of manoeuvres are acceptable which wouldn't be in a practice session. In a practice session, there are many novices, so the professionals take note of that and behave accordingly. Same should apply with swimming, whether or not you are in your lunch break and have only 60 mins to get back to your office

missnevermind · 28/07/2015 21:09

I didn't know that's what a tap at your toes meant. I would most likely panic and think they were going to push me out of the way, start flailing and swallow lots of water.

dun1urkin · 28/07/2015 21:10

I am an irregular swimmer depending on if I'm training (ha!) for something
Faster swimmers have right of way. I always pause at the end, in the corner of the lane, to let a faster swimmer turn and overtake safely, and I expect slower swimmers to do the same.
YY to those who bomb it for 50m and then have to stop gasping like landed fish. I'm not fast (mile in 40 mins) but I get an epic smug feeling from being able to swim at the same pace, without stopping, for 2 plus miles Grin

SanityClause · 28/07/2015 21:14

The ones I hate are the ones that tear past you, going really fast, then stop at the end to huff and puff, while you turn around and steadily go back the way you came.

Original poster
miaowmiaowhiss · 28/07/2015 21:14

missnevermind - mine would probably be to panic and kick the hand away...which would probably mean kicking the poor person's face! Blush

OP posts:
GraduallyGoneInsane · 28/07/2015 21:16

YANBU. He should have overtaken at the end of the lane, or given the person in front sufficient head start to mean he didn't need to overtake.

I do have some sympathy though - I was a county swimmer as a kid and now train for tris. I can't remember the last time I could swim at pace without having to slow down, wait at the ends for people to get a head start, or furiously tread water to avoid needing to pass someone. I would never push past though or ask someone to move although the lifeguard once moved a very splashy alpha male who had been huffing and puffing to the medium lane for me. Ha.

FWIW though, I have vivid memories as a kid of the unorthodox but frequently used overtaking in squad training being to swim until you were practically on top of the person in front, then push hard down on their back and sink them under the water, allowing you to swim over the top!

plecofjustice · 28/07/2015 21:16

Perissa the motorway analogy is flawed, and actually demonstrates the opposite. If everyone on the motorway was doing 50, they should all be in the outside lane, freeing up the two inner lanes for faster drivers to pass them. A driver doing 70 should be able to cruise up the middle lane passing slower drivers. If a slower driver is in the middle lane without passing drivers, they are in the wrong.

Mermaid36 · 28/07/2015 21:18

As an open water swimmer, I've had enough kicks in the head/face/belly to not panic anymore thankfully

SantanaLopez · 28/07/2015 21:18

YY to those who bomb it for 50m and then have to stop gasping like landed fish. I'm not fast (mile in 40 mins) but I get an epic smug feeling from being able to swim at the same pace, without stopping, for 2 plus miles

I'm really struggling with those post-(twin)pregnancy. I didn't feel safe poolside at all so I didn't go, but now my arms and legs are conditioned to go faster than my poor heart and lungs can cope with!

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 28/07/2015 21:18

Miaow and Miss - precisely!
A public pool session is for EVERYONE to use if they choose. It should not be dominated by those who think they are better swimmers, and that everyone less than that is simply a nuisance to them.

sleepwhenidie · 28/07/2015 21:19

I had a guy a week or two ago who did the flat out then catch breath thing - fine - but every time I reached the end of a length where he was resting, instead if letting me pass he would wait til I was just about to turn then launch off, interrupting my pace because it wasn't clear, the first few times, whether he was waiting for me to pass or not. At which point I got bored and turned mid length to get ahead of him and continued swimming at a consistent pace. So he then changed lanes and did the same, two lengths then rest, me continuously swimming but his rest giving me a 'head start' then he would 'race' me for two lengths so we ended up back at the same point, and repeat. Hmm Weirdo.

dun1urkin · 28/07/2015 21:21

Santana get yourself a tempo trainer - it'll help you slow down until your limbs and lungs are back in alignment. I luffs mine got it to make me speed up coz I'm so lazy

TalkinPeace · 28/07/2015 21:23

There used to be a chap who came to our pool who was a free swimmer : he'd do 5-6 lengths along the bottom and then come up for air.

It was rather odd but he was very polite and always checked that those above him understood.

That and he was utterly gorgeous so we all coped with having his shadow going along underneath us.

Mermaid36 · 28/07/2015 21:24

I second getting a tempo trainer!

Twinkie1 · 28/07/2015 21:24

Oh Gawd, this is one rage enduring scenario!!

Usually it's me swimming fast though but being joined by fucking idiots who think you can swim without getting your hair wet (get out of the lanes, what you are doing isn't swimming) or grannies who swim (? Without getting hair wet) and the jog back!!!!! ????

It's infuriating, I think the system should be every one moves down a lane if a faster swimmer gets in and those left without a lane have to leave.

Original poster
miaowmiaowhiss · 28/07/2015 21:24

TalkinPeace that's very cool!

OP posts:
DamsonInDistress · 28/07/2015 21:25

At least you guys have multiple lanes...

From about 3pm to 6pm my pool has just one 1.5 width lane for all lane swimming. That's fun. I'm not bitter and jealous, not at all!

I should say though that weekday mornings are much better with three normal double width lanes (F, M, S) that usually run quite smoothly. At a mile in 50 mins (head up breast stroke) I'm hardly Sharon Whatshername, but I'm too fast for the slow lane but can usually keep up nicely in the medium lane in the mornings. But the after school slot is awful - there's a really fast chap who is polite and observes where others are and is no problem, but there's also a really fast, agressive, ignorant sod who does the swim over, under, through people thing that others have mentioned. There's also the older ladies who whilst very very slow, are doing their 20 odd lengths non stop and trucking along as they are perfectly entitled to do. It's a melee to be frank. I only swim then because my boys are in their lesson and it's effectively free for me, but more and more I'm starting to pay for a morning slot. It's just so much nicer.

SantanaLopez · 28/07/2015 21:27

Santana get yourself a tempo trainer - it'll help you slow down until your limbs and lungs are back in alignment. I luffs mine got it to make me speed up coz I'm so lazy

Cheers- will look them up!

TalkinPeace · 28/07/2015 21:31

twinkie
and those left without a lane have to leave.
to where?
MAN I cannot wait to remind you how effing selfish you sound when YOU have chronic injuries and are trying to stay out of a wheelchair.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 28/07/2015 21:31

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SantanaLopez · 28/07/2015 21:31

Tempo trainer users- do you just tuck them under your cap?

Perissa · 28/07/2015 21:32

piecofjustice I used motorway as that is what turquoise said but I was only really referring to one lane. Alternatively you have 3 lanes of traffic, one doing 50, one 60 and one 70. Someone then comes and wants to do 100, they just can't safely and have to adjust to the prevailing speed.

smogsville · 28/07/2015 21:32

For all these reasons (and others associated with having two small children and no time) I now run instead of swim.

Remember the lane rage well. I don't think OP was being unreasonable but agree that three lanes can rarely accommodate all abilities harmoniously.

I once went swimming in NZ in a (public) 50m outdoor pool in the middle of the day. I had a lane to myself the whole time. I was unbelievably happy!

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