Morning Swim…Interrupted

I joined my gym because they had a pool and I wanted to be a triathlete… which meant I needed to have somewhere to swim. I also joined my gym because it’s really close to my house and it’s a family gym— not all hardbodies and beauty queens. That was important too.

The pool, however, is small. Only three lanes. When I started at the gym last year, one of the reasons I ended up shifting to morning workouts was because in the evening, the pool is crowded with kids taking swimming lessons and seniors doing their water aerobics and water walking.

Frustrated and unable to ever get a lap lane, I tried the morning. Ahhhh. The pool opens at 6:00. There’s rarely ever even a lifeguard on duty at that time in the morning. The pool and surrounding atmosphere is warm and the lights are off. It’s zen-like and when conditions are like this, I get a tremendous swim workout. I don’t even mind if someone else joins me as long as they don’t turn the lights on and they stay in their own lane. Perfection.

I’ve had trouble getting up early enough to get to the pool by 6 am this winter. And I have to be there by 6:00 if I’m going to get my swim in and make it to work on time. But today, I was determined. I was out of bed by 5:45 and in the gym parking lot by 6:00. I got my stuff together and walked into the pool area by 6:10, fully expecting the zen lighting and a peaceful, invigorating swim.

Whoa! I get in there and there are three people in the pool. One. In. Each. Lane. Now, I get that other  people pay to be able to use this facility too; it’s not mine alone. I don’t begrudge anyone that. However, what did frustrate me was that two of the three people in the pool were not swimming. They were hanging onto the side of the pool, exercising, and occasionally walking from one end of the pool to the other.

Again. Not a big deal. I applaud anyone who is starting a workout routine. But if two of you aren’t actually swimming, you can do it in the same lane and leave a lap lane open for swimmers. Because the pool is so small, I’m always conscious of others who might be waiting to swim. If I’m there with a friend, we share a lane. If someone is waiting, I always offer to share my lane. But that’s just me. I’m certainly not asking anyone to stay away from the pool. But I do wish there was more consideration. And maybe, it’s something the gym should set as a rule and enforce. If you are working out in the pool and not swimming, use the large lane on the shallow side.

Even worse, someone had turned on the lights. No zen swimming for me this morning.

After assessing the situation and almost leaving, I swam, hugging the lane divider in the shallow lane that doesn’t have markers. I managed to get a good workout in. Maybe because I was so aggravated, it was even a little more aggressive than usual. I did finally get to move into a swim lane with just 4 laps left to go. I considered adding another 10 laps, but another swimmer came in, and since really, I was done, I left my lane so he could swim there.

I’ll try to shift to a different day, even though I had found Thursday to be the quietest morning for swimming.

Ah well, workout accomplished. And next week is February. Maybe some of the January gym newbies will have disappeared by then.

Tags: gym etiquette, swimming, the gym in january