Swimming (pool) frustration. Any tips?

[Jewel1968]

I swim for fitness. I am a reasonable swimmer. I either go in medium lane or fast lane on a good day. I tend to hop between them depending on speed of swimmers. I have mobility (disability) issues so swimming is the only exercise I can do that challenges me aerobically and a bit strength. I also walk lots. So my frustration comes from the following:

• there are two sessions swim for fitness and swim for all. There are not that many swim for fitness sessions compared to swim for all. Swim for fitness can either be the whole pool divided into 3 lanes slow, med and fast but it can also be 2 small lanes and the rest of pool a free for all.
• there is no lane discipline and life guards rarely tell someone to move into a more appropriate lane. As a result there can be very slow swimmers in the med lane which can lead to faster swimmers overtaking causing collisions. I never overtake.
• there are people in the slow lane who are not swimming at all. They are doing some type of exercise (maybe walking underwater) which means the slower swimmers move to the med lane causing problems
• when there is a mix of free for all and lanes the people messing about in free for all section will hop into the lanes swim a lane or two. They can't really swim so cause collisions
• there are no sessions for fitness in the evenings or Sunday

All of the above makes it hard to use swimming as a form of fitness. I have contacted the pool but don't get a response. I have tried talking to lifeguards but they are often young and clearly don't want to challenge people. I also think there are risks to safety with non swimmers in deep water. Any suggestions on what I can try next?

Its really hard. My local pool has no enforced rules on lane etiquette at all, even though during lane swimming there is always an open area, and slow/medium/fast lanes but as there are only 3 narrow lanes it can all go wrong very quickly. Our main issue is a couple of fast people intimidating others out of that lane so then there is 12 people in medium, 5 of whom should be in the fast lane but instead are getting narked with the actual medium swimmers.
If I want to swim without the aggro in a pool, then I like the lido where they have permanent lanes and they enforce them - but also as it is a bigger, and 50m pool everything is more spaced out. But now I swim in a lake all year round and put up with the cold for a calmer swim!

Wish I lived near a lake. I suspect what we experience is a common problem but I think some pools have a better strategy?

I've heard there are some where they are really strict on being the right speed. Is there a Masters club near you so you can train with them? Ours doesn't have disabled swimmers (I have one non functioning arm), so I'm too slow for them, but that or a tri club swim session is a good bet

I feel for you OP & have experienced everything you mention when I swim myself. I agree that lifeguards don’t want to challenge people, which is frustrating even when it’s both obviously disruptive & even risky, with possible collisions as you say.

I don’t really know what to suggest as I’ve experienced similar problems for years, but some ideas, first for the ‘swim for fitness’ sessions specifically:

• posters around the pool on lane etiquette? Our pool has these, explaining things like safe overtaking etc.
• signs at the end of each lane specifying what is appropriate to do. For instance, our fast lane has a sign specifying ‘fast front crawl only, no breaststroke’ whereas the medium lane has ‘front crawl & breaststroke’. Perhaps clearer indication of what the fast/medium/slow designation means might help people.
• is there any chance of making the three lanes into four? I always assumed that my local pool only had three lanes, but actually it turns out it can accommodate four! The pool now runs one ‘fitness’ session a week with four lanes, divided roughly speaking into ‘Very Fast’, ‘Fast-ish’, Medium, & Slow. In this scenario, your aqua joggers would be in the slow lanes but the other slow swimmers could go in the medium lane, and you as a swimmer who is between the medium & fast lanes usually, has a ‘fast-ish’ lane to use. It’s worth asking the pool management if this is possible - ours started as a trial but has proved popular so will likely be staying.
• join a club or team? Master’s and triathlon clubs often welcome swimmers of all abilities & it might mean you can get one decent session in a week since they’ll have dedicated pool times.

Otherwise, I think you need to keep badgering the pool management about specific issues, like for example not allowing aqua joggers during lane swimming sessions - since they’re not swimming, they should attend the ‘for all’ sessions. That should be communicated to members, and have the lifeguards enforce it - they will do it if the pool management will back them up. I’ve seen them police our 4-lane session for example, & I assume the big difference between that & the usual 3-lanes is that the lifeguards know this is something being pushed by the management so they have to make sure it works properly. When making complaintssuggestions, ask to speak to the manager/supervisor in person, I always found emailing the pool useless as they didn’t respond. Ideally after a session which has been plagued by many of the issues you mention…

How easy is it to access your next nearest pool? Some places are better than others, so if a different pool is accessible, I'd give that a try.

I feel your pain. I (slow to medium swimmer, not very good) swim with our Tri Club. Super friendly bunch, takes the hassle out of it. Means I have to do whatever structured session they have planned but the evening lane swimming can be carnage.

It varies a lot between different sessions and different pools. I go to a pool a 20 minute drive away versus the one in our town because there are so many more swim for fitness sessions on offer at the other pool.

Food for thought. I had considered another pool but might be a bit of a challenge - will explore.

I do think I need to push more with management. I have wondered how I might engage with other swimmers.

Never thought about a club - will explore

Oh my god I feel your pain. At my pool the rules (and swim times for each lane) are clearly advertised yet people ignore them. Mostly it’s slow swimmers in the medium lane (where I go) and too slow swimmers in the fast lane. Fortunately our lanes are wide enough to overtake safely but I do wonder - do the slow swimmers in the medium lane completely lack the awareness that they are in the wrong lane when they get overtaken on every single lane they do??? It’s annoying. Rules are not enforced either.

I suggest trying another pool, some are better at enforcing the rules. Or be brave and overtake…

Early morning (pre-work) sessions can be good for those who swim for fitness rather than leisure. Or pools connected to gyms rather than leisure centres.

I have done the early morning session and you still get the aqua walkers in the slow lane.

Another pool is worth exploring I think.

Chat with other swimmers if you can, you’re likely far from alone in your frustration. They may not be willing to join you in speaking to pool management but you’ll be able to say you’ve spoken to some fellow swimmers and you all agree X, Y & Z are issues that need tackling. Especially things like the aqua jogging & better policing of the ‘for all’ sessions.

I agree early morning sessions aren’t any better….. I wish I was just brave enough to ask a slower swimmer - wouldn’t you be more comfortable in the slow lane?
But I’m not that brave!

The pool I go to is variable depth and they have sessions where the pool is a constant 1.8m, that gets rid of the aqua joggers :-)

@WTHiswrongwithme

I agree early morning sessions aren’t any better….. I wish I was just brave enough to ask a slower swimmer - wouldn’t you be more comfortable in the slow lane? But I’m not that brave!

I tried this once. An incredibly slow swimmer in the fast lane, I genuinely thought she might get hurt by the super-fast swerve for no-one lot (not me). I got sworn at both in the pool and then in the changing rooms later.

Now, I prefer lakes and rivers. Though, in one lake I tried, an entire triathlon training squad, not following the lake swimming direction, swam over me one by one - there was no escape!

If anyone thinks they might like lakes or rivers, you could look on Bluetits and see if there is a site near you? thebluetits.co/can-we-help/

I feel your pain. I can only swim after work, but the only session available is a “general swim” which is mainly children and families. At these sessions there is just one lane to accommodate all “lane swimmers”, regardless of their speed or ability. It’s absolute chaos, especially for medium pace swimmers like me who are stuck behind the slow swimmers and can’t overtake them, as the fast swimmers are always in the middle of the lane overtaking everyone else! Definitely not a relaxing experience

I feel your pain! I nearly started a similar thread a couple of weeks ago.
I've been trying to get back into swimming and lane sessions are so stressful. I'm fairly slow, only do breaststroke, but the slow lane is SO slow - practically floating! The middle lane is impossibly busy and I'm too slow for the fast lane!

I'm lucky that I'm live quite near a lido but it's only open May- Oct. It's lovely and quiet there as long as it's not really hot and sunny.

Sorry, that's absolutely no help to you at all - just a bit of solidarity. I'm going to try a different pool this week but it's a pain to have to travel further.

I totally sympathize. I am a competitive swimmer and train with a club but on the odd day I have had to train alone, this is infuriating and very selfish. Feel free to overtake and ignore any huffing - they should be in the appropriate lane.

I also think swimming is not respected as a form of exercise. Messing about in the pool seems to be considered a reasonable thing to do. Can you imagine if a gym had a section devoted to people who didn't know what they were doing and were messing about. People would complain and safety would feature.
How does one find a local club?

What about a swim fit session?

It's a sessions for people like yourself who want to swim for fitness.

Lanes are divided up by appropriate speeds and etiquette is enforced. Usually coached as well.

www.healthista.com/the-new-swimming-workout-that-increases-metabolism-and-aids-fat-loss-we-try-swimfit/

I got into an argument at our local pool a couple weeks ago because there appear to be absolutely no rules.

We tend to go with young DS to the Saturday morning swim for all sessions and there is a family who are doing serious swim training.
Now yes, I know it's swim for all, but the pool is divided into 2 halves. Right side is for swimmers and left side for people like us (ie people with young kids and babies etc). This family insists on being in the left hand side and the dad is screaming at the daughters about their techniques, timings etc. They also have to swim in the middle while he paces up and down the side and lets us know that we are in his daughters way.

This particular week, his wife was in the water with the daughters and she grabbed my son's foam board thing and dragged him out of her daughter's path while he was trying to swim to me. She kept reminding me that they are training so we had to watch out and I just told her that in future perhaps she should book the pool out or hire a private lane if they want to dominate the pool and for them to stop taking the piss. I did also tell her that she is never to put her hands anywhere near my child again.

Dad jumps in telling me that ill never be as good a swimmer as their family and I clearly don't take swimming seriously. Aye right mate, calm down.

Have a look here on Swim England's Club finder, you might find a masters group that would suit you

discover.swimming.org/

@theyweretheworstoftimes I do go for swim fitness sessions but they are not managed well and people don't seem to be aware of their own speed. Slow swimmers in med lane, med swimmers in fast lane and non swimmers (aqua runners) in slow lane.

@ExtremelyDelighted thanks

The pool where I swim is divided into 3 large lanes, so plenty of room to overtake if people aren’t selfish and don’t try to hog the whole lane. Each Lane clearly shows if it’s clockwise or anti, some idiots think they can just swim up and down the middle- they seriously piss me off as that prevents overtaking.
I’m a breaststroke slow swimmer but occasionally need to overtake, not quite fast enough for the medium Lane though.