You probably didn't feel the need for speed?
It does depend on the pool as well. I had many many issues with Birmingham university swimming pool but probably because it was busiest. Harborne pool in Birmingham I used once and gave up instantly as all 3 lanes were used by octagenarians going at glacial pace (which is fine - but not what I wanted to do). Sophia gardens here in Cardiff was OK actually but had erratic times of opening as they train the Welsh national squad in there (makes one feel quite mortal!) and everything revolves around that. Maindy pool in Cardiff is the closest thing I've found to a regular lanes session since I moved from Brum to Cardiff and I did encounter fewer problems here, mostly because the fast lane was less competitive than in Brum and so I fitted in there rather better. I really needed a medium-fast lane in Brum which didn't of course exist. I tired rather more quickly of the conflict in Cardiff though, plus my other half lost her early morning job leading to (much) less likelihood of me getting up early enough to go.
There are many and varied ways that lanes swimming can be extremely irritating. It's OK for a while but the same people doing the same things day in day out really grates in the end.
Examples include.
Poor lane selection. The lanes are usually segregated into slow, medium, fast. The slow lane is fine. The medium is generally occupied by those too arrogant to believe they are slow (when they are) or too modest to be in the fast lane (when they should be) - this is the most disastrous lane of all.
The fast lane also suffers from people with delusions of grandeur or those who are too ignorant to read the signs saying which lane is which.
This is compounded by lack of enforcement by the lifeguards. The only time in 5 years of lane swimming I saw it enforced was when a guy in a turban (so yes, doing slow, head-out-of-the-water glacial breastroke) sauntered off in the fast lane
This was Birmingham University pool I used to use - the fast lane could often get seriously professional in standard.
Standing about chatting*In* the pool at the ends where people are trying to turn.
Hint. Get out of the pool and chat somewhere else, this is not a public leisure session.
Swimming side by side chatting Oh please, this is a session for exercise, get out of people's way
getting offended by being overtakenHint. It's not a race, some people are faster than others, get over it. If I spend 10 lengths catching you up from more than a length back, I'm going faster than you. Don't either try and prevent me overtaking by swimming at an unsustainable speed when I approach (that way we both get knackered and grumpy) or re-overtake when I've completed the manoeuver - I will *still* be going faster than you afterwards and am likely to get grumpy and keep clipping your legs as an unsubtle hint.
Not looking before setting offBefore you set off, check that noone is approaching for a turn who is almost certainly going faster than you.
Swim in the correct directionThe lanes are usually marked for swimming with a clockwise or anticlockwise orientation so swimmers don't have head on collisions. Please note this *before* heading off.
Do the same thing every timeIf you do the same thing as each turn then we can work out ways to avoid clashes. Simples.
Everyone I know who's done lane swimming (other than you it seems
) has expressed annoyance at some of these types of behaviour.
This should probably be in another thread
