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

[Nitgel]

I know this has been covered before, but how does lane swimming work. I went today as that seems to be the only option to swim at my local pool and I am desperate for a swim. i stuck to the slow lane but people were overtaking me. Am i too slow to use the lane swimming?

I am a competent slow swimmer and haven't been in the pool for a year plus I have bad knee arthritis so was hoping this would help me. I felt like I was in the commonwealth games.

Should I find another pool? it's a pain as I use the gym frequently and get swimming too as part of the membership. I just breaststroke quite sedately.

You stay in the slow lane and if someone touches your foot you let them pass. You always let the faster swimmer go first at each end and if there’s only two in the lane you have half a lane each.

You were in the slow lane, so no problem that you have people over taking you. I say with anything, never decide on one visit. It’s school holidays, so that may have made a difference.
Enjoy your swimming.

I only heard of the toe tap thing recently and hate it. Apart from not wanting any man or women touching my feet, many people have foot of toe problems (ingrowing/fungal nails, joint issues etc) and it could be incredibly painful for some-until you have a problem, you won't realise how painful.
In this day and age, when there's so many more rules against touching people, how can this be ok?
Don't remember it back when I used to swim.

You stay in the slow lane and if someone is behind you you let them pass at the end of the lane.

Thank god no one at my pool has done the toe tapping thing, I think I’d shoot out of the pool and you couldn’t pay me enough to touch anyone else’s foot.

The rule at my pool is if you’re constantly over taking someone then you’re the problem and need to move into a faster lane! Swimming slowly in the slow lane is fine!

You’re doing the right thing by being in the slow lane. Just let people through if they are catching you up (no one has tapped my toe yet thank goodness!). Try different times of day too- at my pool, the earlier slots tend to be the ‘keener’ swimmers so can feel quite fast. If I go at 8am instead then it’s more my pace!

As everyone else said, if you're in the slow lane then the other person can move up a lane if they want to go faster. However I do find the speeds vary at different times of day. I can be in the slow, middle or fast lane, depending on who else is swimming at that time of day. During the working day a lot of older people swim so the pace tends to be a bit slower overall.

I always swim in the slow lane. I keep to the side as much as possible so there is room for people to overtake me if they want to go a bit faster. Although they should probably just move over a lane if they keep overtaking you

Slow lane is completely fine, those overtaking would be the ones having to decid if they are in the wrong lane. There are always people swimming slower lengths on the main body of the pool as well, when I go.

Definitely keep going, you'll only get faster and fitter!

At the end of the lanes i always ask faster swimmers if they want to go first.
At my local ex council leisure centre they have rehab sessions, might be worth looking into.

Hi there! Well done for going swimming!
I have been a very avid swimmer in my time (not so much at the moment with small children and a hectic life - but hopefully I’ll get back to it). These are my thoughts on swimming lane etiquette - others may have other ideas.

If you are a slow swimmer then choosing the slow lane is correct and helpful to everyone else - so good start (not actually something everyone manages to do!!). You need to stick to one side of the lane and, if it’s busy, you’ll be swimming in a circle - up one side and down the other (you’ve probably already worked this out). As another poster has said, if you have someone faster coming up behind pausing briefly at the end of the lane allows them to go past without overtaking (generally a bit more pleasant for everyone), but you only need to think of that if they’re right behind you - if they’re still half a lap away, you just carry on with your swim and leave them to sort out overtaking as needs be. In terms of the foot touching mentioned in a previous response, I’m in two minds - in my experience good swimmers will sort themselves out without bothering you (they’ll get ready to overtake at the end or will speed up to overtake while there is a gap between swimmers coming towards you etc).
Not all swimmers are great at recognising that the space is shared, so the more of us that do, the better. I like to think of it a bit like dancing - everyone has their own rhythm and is doing their own thing and we should each be trying to facilitate others in the space without breaking our own rhythm.
Most importantly, the fact that you’re even thinking about it sets you apart from a great number of people. And as other have said, just keep going and it’ll all start to feel more familiar. But no one who is sharing the space is too slow to take part! Enjoy!!

No one has ever tapped my foot and I would be very displeased if they did, cheeky gits.

I swim in the evenings as mornings seem to be more "serious" swimmers ploughing up and down. In the evening I am fast lane material and certainly would not be in the morning!

I can also recommend looking for the women only sessions. These are generally nicer in terms of manners, and less crowded.

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

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!

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.

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.

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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.

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

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).

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!

Thank you for the encouraging responses I will definitely keep going. Maybe the later sessions will be calmer. I did book the first evening session and it was nearly booked out.

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.

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.