to stick to swimming lane etiquette (light-hearted)

[Anonandonandonandon]

I am bemused by an exchange with a fellow swimmer this evening and wondering whether this is normal...

I was half way through my set this evening, swimming clockwise as specified by the lane signage, when a lady got in and started swimming directly at me. I thought she’d correct her positioning, so kept swimming slowly, but she didn’t budge. I stopped, smiled and the exchange went something like this:

Me: “oh, it’s the other way round”
Her: “can we just do it this way?”
Me: [puzzled, checking the signage] “this is a clockwise lane”
Her: [irritated] “I know, but can we just stick to our own sides?”
Me: [even more confused] “well, it’s the fast lane for swimming laps. There are other people around”
Her: “not in this lane. It’s perfectly easy for me to have this side and you to stay on that side”
Me: [not articulating myself well due to continued puzzlement] “no, we’re meant to swim laps”

She then moved to the medium lane, asked the (much more leisurely swimming) lady in that lane if they could swim side by side. Said lady agreed, so I got a death stare to hammer home my unreasonableness.

I wish I’d been able to articulate all the reasons why it was a mad idea:

• It’s not normal and I’m programmed to swim laps, so I will forget and bump into you, particularly swimming backstroke
• lanes alternate direction specifically so you’re not swimming alongside people for too long, with the risk of clattering arms etc.
• it would effectively exclude anyone else from swimming in the lane
• I can’t tumble turn if I have to stick to half a lane

This was weird, right?

I’m sure I could, technically, tumble in half a lane. The problem is that I spent years tumbling in the middle of the lane in order to be able to safely push off on the other side and not crash into the team mates swimming behind me. This went wrong once, when I was about 10, and my best friend’s head broke my nose. I am conditioned, and I will get lane splitting wrong.

I also wouldn’t want to put someone in the position of feeling they were interrupting an arrangement in order to join the lane. This feels rather anti-social. The club where I swim (it’s a Nuffield Health) has now done away with timed sessions- you can swim when you like, for however long you like, so you never know when this might happen.

I also want to be able to swim fly and breaststroke without clattering arms with the person in the next lane, or with the person in the same lane who I’m going to be passing more frequently if sharing a lane down the middle.

So, I will understand what someone is asking now (and what their reasons might be) but I can’t see many circumstances where I’d actually want to do it.

It appears to be a more divisive issue than I thought!

It’s completely normal in every pool I’ve been to to ‘split’ the lane if it’s just two of you. Then go back to the normal circuit if anyone else gets in. It makes it much easier as you can just go up and down without worrying about someone else’s pace.

It’s also quite normal to not do fly unless the pool is empty. It’s not great for everyone else around you.

YABU

Even worse are the couples or pairs of friends who stop for a chat in the lane.

Sorry I meant YANBU

@Salanda

It’s also quite normal to not do fly unless the pool is empty. It’s not great for everyone else around you.

Agreed, unfortunately.

I used to get pool rage all the time. I since joined a big gym with two pools and I can count the times I have had to share a lane on one hand in a year. It's a lot more expensive but a lot better for my blood pressure. Things that used to cause me pool rage included but weren't limited to: splashy fly, swimming in the middle of the lane, stopping at the end of the lane with your arms out across the pool so I can't turn, swimming two abreast with your friend not wanting to get your hair wet so I can't overtake, not even stopping at the end to let me overtake. One chap used to do butterfly on his back, verrrry slowly which was the ultimate pool rage inducer. Definitely better for my health to avoid other people!!!

I'm generally a fan of one side of the lane each - yes I have to turn tighter but it's much less antisocial than constant overtaking and it doesn't do my lap counting in if I turn round in the middle of the pool (which also annoys me because I can't push off).

I'm a very awkward speed of swimmer - I can do 2.5km in an hour, but just do a consistent pace throughout. Which puts me perpetually faster than most people who aren't doing sprint sets, and slower than a good chunk who are.

That was very odd of her!!

Completely not the point, but I always wonder why my local pool swims anti clockwise and why the fast, strong swimmers always swim in the slow lane where I belong after only having recently started swimming again.

@Salanda

It’s also quite normal to not do fly unless the pool is empty. It’s not great for everyone else around you.

If there’s anyone else around, I only do it for one length- my last. I want to be able to do it for as long as possible, so little and often makes a difference.

Fly also gets its bad reputation from poor technique. Doing it properly doesn’t create nearly the tidal wave that most people associate with it. In a 25m pool, most of its under water anyway. So I don’t think it’s right to ban fly for everyone.

I'm evil so like to do fly when they're doing paddle board yoga in the other half of the pool

@Meloncurse

I'm evil so like to do fly when they're doing paddle board yoga in the other half of the pool

I actually find the major danger of fly is that someone (always a man so far) will be put out seeing a woman who can actually do it properly, and stride over from the jacuzzi to demonstrate their own dreadful technique and wash the head up breast stroker on the far side clean away.

@DieSchottin93

Oooh I could write a whole thread about lane swimming etiquette or lack thereof at my local pool I don't mind sticking to one side each provided that there are just two of us in the lane, it's agreed mutually at the end of a lane (not Just assumed when you are halfway down the pool) and most importantly THAT THEY ACTUALLY STICK TO THEIR SIDE instead of barrelling down the middle leaving me right next to the lane ropes on my side trying not to accidentally kick the people in the neighbouring lane Obviously if anyone else comes into the lane we'd switch to going in the given direction.

I always swim in the medium lane as I'm not quite fast enough for the fast lane but it's a bit of a gamble as to what type of other swimmers you'll get - some days it feels like the fast lane overspill and I struggle to keep up, ther times it's filled with people who should really be in the slow lane. There is one particular lady who always chooses the medium lane but manages to overtake everyone every single time 😤😤😤😤

Hmm.. I’m back at masters training now, but when we weren’t allowed adult group training I did book a few public Lane sessions

I put myself in the middle Lane cos I know if any of my top Lane lot turn up it’ll be carnage but mostly if it’s just members of the public in too fast for medium and fast enough for the fast Lane. I swapped into fast a few times

I hate the unpredictability and idiotic behaviour of public sessions

I’m faster than I was the previous times I used public sessions (before I joined the masters squad) so now I’d probably be able to hold my own and keep the splashy blokes at bay/show them that I can swim at half the cadence, faster than them AND still turn and do more than their wheezy 25m

But it’s so much nicer swimming in a club because everyone knows how to swim/behave

I have split lanes when I’ve been doing ladders with my faster lot in other lanes and the bloke I was with wasn’t able to keep up/keep out of the way, but he was lovely about it cos we were all having fun

Oh God I'm glad I found this thread! This happened to me two years ago. I had been through a really tough time and thought I'd join the Gym with a lovely swimming pool near me.

I had two people want to swim up and down the same side of the lane. I couldn't handle it because every time we went past each other, I felt I was going to kick them as I do breaststroke, whereas they were doing crawl.

They were very insistent and when I finally mustered up the courage to tell the third person who asked 'no' they were clearly very irritated by me.

I was so intimidated I never went back, despite having to pay for another 6 months membership.

Now I go to my local town swimming pool where everyone is happy to follow the rules and isn't a pompous, wealthy, entitled fucking twat.

I felt I was going to kick them as I do breaststroke, whereas they were doing crawl

You pass people each length whether you're going round or up or down though. The problem with swimming crawl behind a slower breaststroker (that word looks wrong!) is that you have to break your stroke to look forward to see if you're about to crash into their feet, otherwise you're normally looking down. If you're regularly overtaking them, then you can still end up swimming beside them anyway.