February 15, 2009
Sarah

A random thing happened in the pool the other day and I realized it might be a good way to train.
So the pool where I swim is a small 20-yard, 2-lane lap pool. It is actually the Hyatt’s hotel pool, but the gym I go to does not have its own pool so they let us use that one. It’s a little small, but it works…. 1 mile is 84 lengths!
I love it because since it is a hotel pool there is hardly ever anyone there. I am usually alone or with a few 5-6 year olds splashing around in the other lane. So I was surprised yesterday when I went to find 3 big guys (they looked like they were triathletes because they were wearing Zoots and not normal ‘board shorts’) swimming laps. They were very nice though and I shared a lane with one guy while the other two were in the lane next to us.
I did a few warm up drills then decided I wanted to do a continuous swim. As I started swimming I noticed it felt different. My stroke felt a little off and I wasn’t sure why. Then I realized it was because the guys were almost creating ‘waves’ as they passed me. I was so used to swimming by myself that I was not used to the ‘waves’ created when you swim with other people.
But I thought to myself, this is kinda nice, its like getting practice for the open water swim where we have to deal with hundreds of other people as well as the natural current of the open water! So if I may make a suggestion…. if its too cold where you live to start practicing in open water, find 3 big guys to swim laps with you and you can create your own open water experience!