Joys of Lap Swimming

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  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    It's time to revive this thread. Indoor pool season has started for me and I'm seeing old friends and meeting new ones in my local pool. I shared a lane with a new swimmer today. She was pretty smooth and so I was pretty happy that she wasn't flogging up the water. I commented to her on that fact. She said that she was doing the best she could not to embarrass herself. (She has been out of the pool for a bit, but she's a real swimmer without a doubt.) Anyway, she gave me my memorable quote of the day:

    "Swimming is not a sport, it's an art."

    So welcome back to counting laps, watching the pace clock and smelling slightly of chlorine for the next few months. Ah, the joys of lap swimming...

    dpm50SoloKatieBunKate_AlexanderCamilleBridgetsosophiaphia
  • BridgetBridget New York StateMember

    ssthomas said:
    I did my first 10,000 yard swim in a long time at the pool last night. The lifeguards cheered and celebrated with me when I was done. Love those kids!

    That is so wonderful! I know I've skimmed this thread before, but tonight, the date you posted caught my eye, so I reviewed my training log, and I did 7 pool miles that day- 12,600yards (SCY). NOT thinking competition-- but it is funny that our swims that day were so close and our big swims in August overlapped. ;-) (Ok, yours totally encompassed mine, which was VERY cool for me.)

    I'm curious about your facility-- granted, you are likely much faster, but I'm very lucky to have a place to swim with pool time any time I'm there. I've been known to get in the pool within 15 minutes of it opening, and dash through the locker room 10 minutes before they turn the lights off at night. It's a treat. Anyone else in this group lap swimming all day at a pool?

    Since it isn't a huge pool, I made a sign to put at the end of my lane (lane 2), saying, "I'm Coach Bridget, and I'm doing multi mile and multi hour sets. Happy to share- just make sure I see you, and I'll stay to one side." For now, I'm hoping to get some more times in at the lake doing laps between the beach and a friend's dock. About 3 laps per mile, and no flip turns.

    Pick your brain question, if you don't mind: after doing the 80 mile swim last summer, what did you feel you needed your "long" swims to be as you prepared for Champlain? I'll open that question to anyone doing the 25 mile+ swims, or thereabouts.

  • As big Lake Michigan starts its downward dive toward frozen over, I am happy to have a pool to swim with friends in and continue the social saving graces. Maybe even a few workouts!

    Solo
  • ViveBene said:
    As big Lake Michigan starts its downward dive toward frozen over, I am happy to have a pool to swim with friends in and continue the social saving graces. Maybe even a few workouts!

    I have a 15 yard indoor pool, and got to use it today and did 3000 the slow way.

    SoloBridget
  • dpm50dpm50 PA, U.S.Senior Member
    edited October 2017

    When I swim on my own at my local Y, I'm often the only person doing what might be called a workout, but every so often, I'll be joined by someone fast and serious. Yesterday, amid the trunks-clad men, a guy in briefs dashes through a mix of free, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, impressing me with his speed. I compliment him on his butterfly--and then recognize him as a gentleman I'd seen several months ago who had given me some tips on swimming butterfly.

    I'm making very slow progress on my butterfly, but working on it.

    After my speedier friend finished his workout, he passed my lane when I happened to be resting between repeats.

    "Your butterfly looks better," he said. (I didn't ask "better than what," just enjoyed the compliment).

    Sweet words to warm a swimmer's heart.

    SoloCamilleBridgetViveBeneKatieBunStephenJaimie
  • @dpm50: That's really great! Sounds as though he remembered you.

    I too got an excellent tip on butterfly from a stranger in the next lane, who had quietly observed an issue and was able to address it in 10 words or fewer.

    dpm50StephenJaimie
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    I got to enjoy the "joys of lap swimming" last night when both my daughters and wife joined me for laps! My wife did masters about 10 years ago and loved it, so she's been itching to get back in the pool. One daughter is a current high school swimmer and the other a former club swimmer. It was nice to have all 4 of us in there having fun. Pure joy!

    ssthomascurlySoloStephendpm50JaimieBridget

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • dpm50dpm50 PA, U.S.Senior Member

    When I swim at my Y, I'm usually the only one doing any kind of interval work (not to denigrate just plain lap swimming --I did a lot of that as a runner when I cross trained or was injured).

    But this past Tuesday, I was joined by a speedster in the next lane and then another 2 lanes away. Bother guys were high octane, all four strokes, flip turns, etc. And while I didn't converse w them more than a "hello," "looking good," I noticed that I'd upped my game without even thinking that much about it, and was doing stronger sets,inspired no doubt by their example. While I'm perfectly ok w working out by myself, I do sometimes feel the effort more when I swim hard than I do in my masters workouts. So I was really grateful the two fast guys showed up. They were way faster than I am, but it was just cool to be w people who were pushing themselves.

    KatieBunSolocurly
  • ssthomasssthomas DenverCharter Mem​ber

    I've been with my company for just about 5 years and travel 2-3 times a year to our corporate office in Birmingham, Alabama. YAY. This morning was just the second time I've ever been able to sneak away and get in a swim. I've been to two different YMCAs, where the pools are outdoor pools that they cover with a bubble for the winter (why they have to mess with that I don't know- It's still REALLY hot here and the bubble makes it feel like you're swimming in a dark, dank cave). Despite the early hour, I was overall impressed with how dang friendly everyone was. The pool sucked, but at least people were nice and sharing!

    dpm50curly
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    dpm50 said:
    ...I noticed that I'd upped my game without even thinking that much about it, and was doing stronger sets,inspired no doubt by their example. While I'm perfectly ok w working out by myself, I do sometimes feel the effort more when I swim hard than I do in my masters workouts. ...

    You are so right about having other people in the pool to motivate you. I love to race. It doesn't matter if they are faster than me or slower than me, if it's moving, I'm going to be racing. I know it also motivates others to try and race against me. I can see people step up their game, which gets me to do the same.

    Just to show how ridiculous I am, I was swimming some steady 800's today. I noticed there was this older lady swimming next to me. Slow and steady. As a matter of fact I noticed that we were hitting the wall about the same time. I'd do 150 and she'd be finishing her 50. This happened a couple times. And then I noticed she was getting there just a bit ahead of me. I know I wasn't slowing down. Yep. We were racing.

    dpm50SoloJSwimssthomasMoCoKarl_Kingeryflystormssuziedods
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    Had a great joy of lap swimming moment today. I got to the pool only to find a youngster in "my" lane. He was doing a set of 25's butterfly and working hard at it. I decided to give him his room and joined a slower swimmer in the lane next door. As the pool started to crowd up I noticed a couple guys decided to get in the fast lane and show the kid a thing or two.

    Well, I was keeping my eye on what was going on next door and that little kid was schooling them. He finished his butterfly set and then was doing some freestyle. He did the aggravation pass where you just blow around the guy and bang a turn to show them the deal. It was great! At one point I was doing a kick set and I overheard the end of the conversation that one of the older dudes was having with the kid. The kid said, "I'm 10!" The older, out of breath guy said, "Wow, that's great!" I smiled...

    ssthomassuziedodsBridget
  • dpm50dpm50 PA, U.S.Senior Member

    Oh, was that you in the next lane? :D

    curly said:
    You are so right about having other people in the pool to motivate you. I love to race. It doesn't matter if they are faster than me or slower than me, if it's moving, I'm going to be racing. I know it also motivates others to try and race against me. I can see people step up their game, which gets me to do the same.

    Just to show how ridiculous I am, I was swimming some steady 800's today. I noticed there was this older lady swimming next to me. Slow and steady. As a matter of fact I noticed that we were hitting the wall about the same time. I'd do 150 and she'd be finishing her 50. This happened a couple times. And then I noticed she was getting there just a bit ahead of me. I know I wasn't slowing down. Yep. We were racing.

  • I swim at a private gym, nothing special, 25yd very shallow indoor pool. After Hurricane Harvey one of the local high schools lost their pool, so our gym has allowed them a couple lanes each night to practice in at night. I have to say those kids do a great job of pushing this old man. While others may complain about the extra crowdedness, I love it. And way more entertaining than the "bobbers" doing aqua-size!

    JaimieKatieBunsuziedods
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    Hey, I thought it would be a good time for more joys of lap swimming. This week I've been kind of taking it a bit easy because I tweaked a tendon. (Because I'm an idiot if you must know) So I've been doing more pulls and less swim sets. But it does give me time to chat with a few people at the end of the lane.

    A woman I haven't seen for a while has returned from shoulder surgery and is starting back into swimming after two months out of the pool. She was so happy and didn't care that she was just drifting down the slow lane. She runs and bikes and keeps pretty active, so I'm guessing she will be back in full swing by summer.

    There's this guy that swims lifesaving freestyle. He never puts his head in the water. I've asked him about it and he says he just likes to swim that way. I watched him swimming a couple lengths and it's amazing. He has a really powerful stroke and kick. He just goes and goes forever. I don't know how he does it. He swims in the lake in the summer. I can't imagine how fast he would be if he did normal freestyle.

    And maybe this one should go in the "perils" thread. So we have a lot of people from different countries that now live in our town. Very international to say the least. They bring a lot of their traditions with them. When I was in the locker room, there was this elderly Chinese gentleman who was stripping down and getting ready to go to the pool. Well he stripped down to his underwear and walked right out to the pool. They weren't tighty whiteys, they were mid-thigh-tightys. My guess is see-through when wet... I did not stick around to find out.

    LakeBaggerdpm50ssthomas
  • JanetJanet New York, NYMember

    Today it was my turn to find that serendipitous swim buddy in the next lane. I swim at an outdoor pool that doesn’t get much traffic during the winter and know most all the lap swim regulars, so it was surprising when a new swimmer showed up and hopped in the lane next to me. We were almost perfectly the same speed—I would get maybe a yard ahead on each length, but he would pull ahead slightly on each turn. After a few laps of surreptitious competitiveness, we both stopped at the wall and acknowledged that we were enjoying pacing off each other, then continued pushing ourselves for the last 3x400s of my workout. Delightful!

    SoloKarenTdpm50wendyv34curlyssthomasminaswimrn62
  • dpm50dpm50 PA, U.S.Senior Member

    Nor a fast swimmer at all. A 100 yd sprint will still be over 2 minutes.

    But I do fairly serious workouts at my Y in addition to swimming w my masters group.

    Not always, but often I'm the only one doing interval training. As a result, I'll sometimes get compliments.... "How many laps are you doing?" "You're a strong swimmer!" etc. (My masterrs practices, fortunately, keep me humble.)

    Yesterday, the woman in the next lane, in talking with a swimmer 2 lanes over from mine, pointed to me and exclaimed, "She's the pro!"

    While that status is well out of my particular ballpark, I was flattered.

    In turn, I encourage my fellow swimmers. One man told me he couldn't swim the length of the pool when he started, and he was up to 20 lengths. I applauded. It took him likely as much commitment to do that as it did for me to swim a mile or 5 miles, or 8. Each swimmer has her/his own goals and struggles. Come to think of it, the lap swimmers at my Y keep me humble too! :)

    JanetcurlyCamilleswimdailyswimrn62
  • MoCoMoCo Worcester, MASenior Member

    During one of my fast 200s last night, Mr. Hotness in the lane next to me was doing fast 50's on a sendoff that let me chase him on the second half of each of his 50s. That 200 was 3 seconds faster than the other ones.

    dpm50CamillessthomasminaSolocurly
  • ssthomasssthomas DenverCharter Mem​ber

    Since my cancer diagnosis, I've still been trying to swim as much as possible. I've found how many people I actually do know now at lap swimming, which I hadn't thought about in a while. And I gotta say, between the life guards and just random fellow lap swimmers all giving me hugs and well-wishes... it's been pretty nice. Cancer sucks, but there are a lot of amazing, nice, kind, caring people in the world- even at lap swim. :-)

    JanetKatieBunJustSwimwendyv34SoloSara_WolfjendutMoCoKarenTswimrn62LakeBaggerJSwimIronMikedpm50StephencurlyBridgetDoc2docksosophiaphiaSydneD
  • wendyv34wendyv34 Vashon, WASenior Member

    That's what I love about working at a pool, it's a community! Although there are a few jerks, most of the swimmers we chat with regularly are awesome people. If they suddenly stop showing up to the pool, we seriously worry about them. I'm glad you're able to swim and feel supported your pool community, @ssthomas .

    KatieBunswimrn62LakeBaggercurlyBridget

    It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.

  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    I had to stop by City Hall today and as I walked in, the receptionist brightened up and smiled "Hi!" to me. Well it turns out that she was a lifeguard at the pool a few years ago. There are a number of people who worked at the pool and then have moved into different jobs in town. It's so fun to run into them. Yes it's a great community of water spirits...

    Solodpm50
  • JanetJanet New York, NYMember

    I had two excellent musical moments at the pool this past week. It was raining last Sunday, and there were only 5 of us at the pool, 3 of whom were occasional swim buddies. We decided to finish our various workouts by doing 8 x 100 (75 moderate + 25 sprint) together. We were in four adjacent lanes, and all of us being middle-aged masters swimmers, of course things soon turned competitive on that last lap. People started pushing the pace on the moderate bit to get a head start, beginning the sprint a little early, leaving early—you name it. One guy even went all out on the 6th(!) rep, then declared himself done with the set once he beat us all. In the midst of all these shenanigans, what song pops up on the sound system? Blondie’s “One Way or Another.” :)

    Then during a noontime swim last week, I was feeling tired and worn down when I happened to look over to the shallow end of the pool towards the water aerobics class. I really love the water aerobics ladies—they tend to be some of the cheeriest and hardiest pool users here, and it’s obvious how much they love being in the water. On this day, they were waving their water barbells in the air, beaming in the sunshine under their sequined visors while dancing around to “It’s Raining Men.” It was glorious, and the day seemed sunnier, and the swimming easier, after that.

    evmocurlySoloKarenTflystormsrosemarymintssthomasCamilledpm50suziedodsSydneD
  • rosemarymintrosemarymint Charleston, SCCharter Member

    I've been, um, a little less than disciplined in the past few months about going to the pool or even just getting in the water. I moved in late September and started a ball buster of a job that I love, but most evenings just following a black line for a few minutes is too mentally challenging. I'd been trying to go at least once a week, but went a gasp 6 week stretch without getting in the water (also due to weather and a pool heater failure, la la la.)

    I finally showed up yesterday afternoon, after several hours of giving myself a pep talk to get out of bed. The woman collecting my money looked at me and said, "girl, where ya been? You used to come at least once a week."

    I mumbled something about work, weather, cold, blah blah, and the guy behind me said "get in the pool now."

    Nice to know people notice when I don't show up :-)

    dpm50curlyKarenTIronMikeSoloJanetssthomassuziedodsSydneD
  • I just got back to swimming after about a year off. I found a 3 mile swim in September as a goal and am just on my third week of slogging away trying to get my pool distance up to a mile. I feel slow and have moments when my stroke fall apart and I need a wall break to regroup.

    My local YMCA pool only has 2 lanes and they're usually empty on the days I swim before work. Today, a couple of gentlemen (maybe in their 50s-60s) got into the lane next to me about halfway into my swim. I was already behind schedule and knew I wouldn't make my distance goal for the day because the lifeguard had been hiding when I first got there (turns out he was actually just fussing with some equipment and hadn't heard be come in). Anyway, I was turning at the wall and one of them said something that I couldn't quite hear so I stopped my watch and paused to talk to them.

    It turns out that they have both just recently started learning to swim. One of them had been working on kicking with his face in the water despite being, as he had said to his friend earlier, "terrified" to do so. They complimented how easy I was making it look and told me that I was inspiring them to keep at it. On a morning when I was a little disgruntled to be behind schedule and off my plan for the day, it was nice to hear. So I chatted with them about breathing and relaxing and then we all went back to our practice. I hope I see them out again on another morning.

    KatieBunJustSwimcurlydpm50suziedodsIronMikeSoloflystormsSydneDswimrn62
  • sosophiaphiasosophiaphia Colorado USAMember

    Thanks to a crummy night shift schedule, I usually end up at the pool mid-morning after leaving the hospital. At that time, I'm usually going fastest and farthest of anyone in the pool (sidebar: I'm NOT actually fast). The pool is usually pretty empty though, and I'll end up with my own lane or splitting if anything.

    My favorite lane mate is an older woman who won't share her age with me but likes to say "I'm not 90 anymore!" My nursing intuition would place her between 95-100. She can no longer lift her arms out of the water and she has to wear fins to help keep her legs afloat. She ends up doing a breaststroke/doggy paddle combo with flutter kick. And she swims a mile EVERY day.

    She says she wishes she could swim like me, but in reality, I hope to be swimming like her six decades from now!

    jsrobertsdpm50SoloJaimiecurlySydneDKatieBunflystormsswimrn62
  • ErrrwinErrrwin BerlinMember

    I was following my trainingschedule in the beginning of last year and suddenly there was this younger lady -who was very obviously a really good swimmer- coming to the pool twice a week. She just swam without stopping relatively slow, not appearing to have any fun. But one day she came up to me and asked what I was doing and if she could join.

    "Sure!!"

    Turned out she used to swim professionally and we swam together two times a week (with her pushing and helping me to get faster) until she couldn't anymore (pregnant) and I moved to Berlin. :)

    Jaimiedpm50KatieBunSolo
  • glennglenn cape town SAMember

    this morning planned to do an easy swim and was thinking of doing 2x2km sets. Started the swim and at about 1.5km I decided to go further. Got to 2km and a gentleman jumped in to share the lane. I quickly realised we were about the same speed. Spent the next 1km along side each other and the speed slowly increased, neither one wanting to be the one to back off first. It was a great 1km portion of the swim and is so much better when you have a companion to push you along.

    He did stop before me:)

    curlySolodpm50ErrrwinIronMike
  • Today was "lots-o-stroke" day in the form of drills drills, swim, drills....did I mention drills?
    The fun part? When the master's coach's face lit up and she got "all excited" (her words) because apparently, my breaststroke is finally coming together.

    I went FORWARD.....
    and was able to repeatedly perform lengths at a "strong" effort.....
    and did NOT feel as if I was going to have a heart attack.
    And, my form didn't deteriorate.
    This has been years in the making.

    Lunch!
    Where's the lunch?
    I need food!!!!!!

    CamilleSolodpm50
  • Maybe not so much a "joy of lap swimming" but........... more along the lines of "odd things you see in locker rooms."

    Went in to get ready for yesterday's swim.....and there on the bench in front of the lockers I see a black-out eye mask (like what you wear on planes or in hotels to get good sleep).

    I spent the entire workout trying to figure out...........
    WHY someone has one of those in their swim bag....
    on campus
    during the day
    or at work/in class
    and.............
    what will they do now that it's missing.

    lol

    dpm50wendyv34
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    I always like it when there is a good swimmer in my lane or the one next to me. It makes me up my game and I get a nice strong workout, plus it's more fun that way. The other day I had another fun experience and it didn't involve a strong swimmer.

    There's a nice lady who is a regular at the pool. We chat on occasion and she always has something nice to say. At any rate, I was pausing after my warm up and she said, "I love to watch you swim, your stroke is so smooth and it's really inspiring to see." Well, that was really kind of her. She went on to say that the person in the lane beside me was also an admirer. I thanked her and said that I'm always trying to improve my stroke and I appreciated her noticing.

    Now here's the fun part. For the rest of my workout I had to make sure that my stroke was excellent. Yep, people were watching and I couldn't get away with any flopping around when I was tired at the end of a rep. So I had to step up my game. Yes! Another day, another great workout.

    jsrobertsflystormsevmoSolossthomasKatieBundpm50
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    This is to balance out my addition to the perils thread.

    There's a triathlete who swims pretty regularly at our pool. He's been getting better and better at swimming and it has been fun talking with him and watching his progress. Yesterday, he and I arrived at the same time so we chatted before getting into the pool. He asked me what I was going to be doing and I told him I was kind of flaking and taking an easy day. I asked him what he was going to be doing. He said it was going to be a lesson day with a friend of his. So I thought that he was going to be getting some training tips. I was thinking during my swim that he must be taking the swimming pretty seriously since he was getting lessons.

    Well, it turns out that he was the one giving lessons. When we talked later he said that this girl was a co-worker of his. He had encouraged her to start working out and had coaxed her into the pool. He said they are starting easy with her just getting used to putting her face in the water. She could swim, but it was just the basics of being able to not drown. So he spent his training time helping this girl get used to being in the water.

    I thought that was really a great thing for him to do. Here he is working on doing triathlons and yet he didn't mind blowing up a day to help someone else get started. Pretty darn cool.

    Soloswimfreeordie
  • ssthomasssthomas DenverCharter Mem​ber

    I almost put this in the Perils thread, but for @curly 's sake, I'm putting it here. :-)

    I'm not a morning person, but I occasionally drag my lazy butt out of bed at 5 am for a pre-work swim. My friend D'Arcy agreed to meet me this morning, as an extra layer of motivation to actually get out of bed on time. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I knew it was going to be an interesting swim. A sign at the front desk confirmed my fears and alerted us that boys' high school swimming had started up and they would be training from 5:30-7 Monday-Thursday. Between them and masters, there were only 2 available lap lanes until 7. Oh boy. (This is abnormal for this pool that usually has totally open lap lanes from 5:30 am to 3 pm or so during the week. Apparently there's a life guard shortage at the pool the high school team normally trains at, so they moved over to this pool.)

    With trepidation, we trudged our way into the pool, with fears of impeding doom filling my head. And sure enough, it was PACKED. Masters had a few lanes, the high school team had a lot of lanes, leaving one lap lane, plus the lane with the ladder in it (where I refuse to swim for fear of breaking my ankle). The one proper lane already had three people in it, the ladder lane had two. Plus me and D'Arcy. Plus three others who wanted to swim together. I staked my claim on the proper lane. Two of the current occupants I've seen before and knew they would be swimming together, and knew they would be out in about half an hour. They were doing a kick set and actually smiled at me and said, "Come on in!" WHAT? They were welcoming us? Weird... So, D'Arcy and I jumped in and went for it. The planned workout out the window, we made plans to swim 1000s for an hour until the kids were done and we could spread out. The two ladies kicking stayed out of our way and the third lady was very kind about moving over and letting us pass. After about 20 minutes or so, we gained another guy.

    Six adults in a 25 yard lap lane. Recipe for disaster. Why am I not posting this in the Perils thread?

    Because every single person sharing that lane was NICE. And welcoming. And accommodating. Yes, D'Arcy and I were faster, but we weren't trying to run anyone over. The others moved over and let us pass. They didn't hog the wall when they stopped, so we could still flip! As expected, the two ladies got out around 6:30, leaving four of us to swim. Still, the other two people were SO NICE to me and D'Arcy and we shared some laughs on the wall about how insane it was in there.

    Around 45 minutes in, we dropped down to three people for a while (what a relief!), before gaining a really slow older lady. She was also very nice, with her snorkel and paddles. Neither of our lane mates seemed to mind that D'Arcy and I were faster (which is weird- I usually get dirty looks or rude comments). There were still smiles and laughter!

    Once the kids cleared out, D'Arcy and I scooted over a few lanes. The remaining guy we'd been sharing with flagged us down and said thanks for being so easy to swim with. In all my lap swimming days, I have NEVER had that type of experience in a crowded lane. What could have been miserable and awful, actually turned out to be a pretty happy experience, and totally unexpected. Sure, we didn't get to do our workout, but we still got in 6000 yards, 4000 of which were with 3-4 other people. There were no crashes, there were no fights. I wish I could swim with those people all the time! Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration... I definitely won't be going back for a morning swim (except on a Friday) until May 23 when the season is over!

    evmocurlyKatieBunjendutCopelj26rlmSara_WolfSoloflystormsIronMikeMvGswimfreeordiedpm50
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    Finally, after a bit of a drought, I got to experience the Joys of Lap Swimming™. I've been sort of plodding and making myself work during my workouts. Just basically struggling and my dumb life hasn't helped recently just because I've missed days here and there, which is very not like me.

    Anyway, yesterday I had a fun little workout planned. It was one of my sneaky little workouts that make me work hard without realizing what I'm doing to myself. The first part of the workout, there were two other people in the pool. By the time I hit the second half of the workout, I had the entire pool to myself! So there was me and a bored lifeguard in the entire pool area. It was so cool! I was just blasting and having a grand old time. At the end of a rep, all I could hear was myself breathing hard. The water would almost calm down to glass, so it was heaven just cruising along.

    What an unusual moment to get to enjoy to the fullest. I love swimming with other people because that usually motivates me. But on this occasion I was fully motivated and took advantage of a great afternoon.

    Take that, Perils... :p

    MvGIronMikeSolodpm50
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    Yeeeeee Haaaaaaa! Today was a Joy Day! I got to the pool a little late and it was dead. The water was clear and clean, they were playing some Miles Davis and there was one of the regulars just finishing their workout. Normally I hate music in the pool, but this seemed to be really perfect for the setting.

    So I got in and started my warm up. About halfway through the warm up someone joined me in the next lane. I started my main set which was a descending pyramid. He was doing some kicks with fins, so I figured he was a triathlete and figured it would be fun to roast him once he started swimming.

    I finished my 700 and started my 600. He pushed off a little in front of me after my first 50. I sort of paced behind him for a while, them moved up beside him. We both were casually picking it up while acting like we weren't. Well towards the end of the 600 we were cooking. I dropped time each hundred. He stopped at my 550, so I guess he was doing 500's or something. I came in smoking at the end of the 600 and turned to him and said, "That was fun!" He agreed and asked me what I was training for. I said that I wasn't training for anything, I just like to swim. I asked him what he was training for and he said he was just trying to stay in shape.

    So there we were, two people who like to swim just for the sheer hell of it and we both made each other faster today. I love it! (I'll probably see him in some race this summer that neither of us are training for...)

    SoloKate_AlexanderflystormsAzskiViveBeneKatieBunIronMike
  • The pool is the anteroom to OW season. :) :)

    curly
  • ssthomasssthomas DenverCharter Mem​ber

    If you ever find yourself in Wichita, KS, as I do a few times a year, I highly recommend the Northwest YMCA pool. It's hot, but otherwise a really fantastic pool.

    IronMike
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    Hey! I just flew out of there a day ago. I had a suit but I didn't have time. It was one of those trips where everything is planned to the minute, so you don't have time for yourself. Fortunately I don't have to do that too often. I'll have to remember that pool if I'm ever in town there again.

    ssthomas
  • sosophiaphiasosophiaphia Colorado USAMember

    My new favorite member of the rec center's cast of characters is a young guy who shows up a couple times a week to do underwater boxing against the resistance of the water. It's pretty amusing to watch as I'm coming off turns, but now he cheers me on every time I stop! I was doing a set of 400s yesterday and every time I stopped he called out "how far was that!?" or "looking great!" or "keep it up!" Love it.

    LakeBaggerlakesprayIronMikeBridgetssthomas
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    I was happy today when I was joined by a super-fast swimmer. Second time we've shared a lane. Last time I was in-out really quickly. This time our sets synchronized at one point, and when I hit the wall, she looked at me and said "Good morning! Thanks for splitting the lane with me!" What a great way to start a lane-sharing relationship! She was so nice.

    Then she started doing a bunch of 100 IMs. I continued my slow-a$$ 1000s. Then I started to think: one of her tattoos looks familiar. Do I know her?

    After 150 for me and 200IM for her, I stopped and asked if she was named D___. She was shocked, "Um, yes, that's my name...?" I laughed and said, "Uh, we're FB friends. I'm Mike!"

    Turns out I was connected to her by @emkhowley a year and a half ago when I was moving to this area. She advised me on pools and open water in the area. Yet, despite living only a mile or so from each other, we'd not met till this morning!

    Definitely a joy(ful) swim this morning!

    curlyBridgetSara_Wolfflystormswendyv34MoCoSolo

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    I totally did not feel like swimming yesterday. I did a half decent warm up with a swim, a kick set and a pull set. I can usually fake myself into working by easing into it and building up steam. But I just wasn't feeling the love...

    I was splitting the lane with a friend of mine who I've known for years. She is slower than all heck and just does nice little exercises and drills along with a little bit of freestyle that she is still learning. She is very diligent and swims daily, as do I. Well, yesterday apparently she didn't feel too much like swimming. So we were at the end of the lane chatting instead of swimming. Finally I suggested we grab kick boards and chat as we kicked.

    So that's what we did. Easy kicking, easy chatting and basically floating from one end to the other. After a few hundred yards we decided that we were done and that was the end of the "workout". Some days it's a great idea to back off the accelerator and just take a nice float. I get so focused on time and distance and so forth that I sometimes forget that part of the joys of lap swimming is that it's fun to be in the water. We meet so many nice people in the pool who become our friends over time. It's hard to have a conversation when you are doing 800 yard repeats. But every now and then it's worth it to grab a kick board and enjoy your friends company.

    Yesterday's workout log: Yardage - don't know. Duration - don't care. Enjoyment level - excellent!

    Kate_AlexanderSoloflystormsssthomasTory1340
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    OK, time for more Joy. It's cold and miserable outside, so I'm swimming in luxurious 80+ degree water and inhaling the delicious chlorine that reminds me of my misspent youth. Today's story is about what connects old me to young me.

    I was doing a basic dumb workout when I was joined by a regular. He's a sprinter and so he does these short fast sets. He's an ex-swim team guy and we have had fun locker room chats about those days. He knows I'm more of a distance guy, so he loves to blow past me in a pile of power and bubbles. I was doing a set of 800's and he was knocking off 75's, so you can imagine the contrast.

    At any rate, I finished my set and decided to do a warm down. And that's when I decided to have a little fun. He passed me going the opposite direction on his first length of his 75. I waited a few seconds and then short cut my lap and headed back up the pool. He passed me going the other way and I made it look like I was hauling butt. As soon as he passed me I short cut again and took off after him. He finished up at the wall and I glided in to touch just a little behind him. He sort of looked at me funny and said, "how're ya doin'?" and I said fine, just warming down. I let it hang a little while before I finally told him that I was messing with him. He cracked up because he was wondering how the heck I caught up with him so fast.

    I'm telling you, that trick never gets old. We used to do that back in the swim team days. It's really fun to do it with guys that know they are faster than you. If you're doing 200's it's the best because you have a few laps to slowly sneak up on them and you know they are pushing harder and harder each lap. The best way to finish is to do a nice effortless glide to the wall to drive the dagger in deep... ;)

    Maybe this post should go into the Evils of Lap Swimming...

    KatieBunssthomasevmoBogdanZWebstem67JustSwimflystormsSoloruthIronMikekejoycegregorywannabe
  • ssthomasssthomas DenverCharter Mem​ber

    CURLY! That IS SO MEAN!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

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