Whose Lane Is It Anyway?

One of the difficulties in training this time of year is finding time to swim in a pool that has a lane available for you. Unless you are fortunate to have one of the Endless Pools or live in a house big enough to have an expensive, heated indoor pool, a challenge we sometimes face is getting a lane.

Having only the necessity for a pool over the last year and a half, I am beginning more and more to understand pool etiquette or the lack thereof. Yesterday, my training partner and I went to our local community center where we always swim (10 lanes). We had already checked the schedule and knew that the water aerobics class would take the first 4 lanes; however, tonight they had the first 5 lanes (that leaves 5 lanes). Then, there is the swim team that usually takes one lane but tonight they have 3 lanes (that leaves 2 lanes)...it's now starting to feel like Gremlins where adding water causes them to multiply only the lanes aren't multiplying, too. So, there are supposed to be 3 lanes for open swim. Now I am no mathematician but that doesn't leave 3 lanes. So, my partner and I decide to swim in the swim team lane from the time we arrive until their start time - that gives us 30 minutes. We'll then move into a lane that opens when the water aerobics class finishes or the 4 swimmers get out of the 2 open swim lanes. It sounds good, right?

Well, it just so happens that the swim team begins their swim practice early AND the water aerobics class is not over. There are 4 swimmers in the 2 open swim lanes....two are swimming and it has now come to my attention that two have stopped swimming and have decided to snuggle and make out across the lane lines/ropes. They look up at us as if it isn't obvious that we've gotten out of the pool two lanes down and are now waiting on a lane to finish our swim workout. These two swimmers (although tonight they don't technically qualify as swimmers by definition) making out are not in the same lane. Fast forward...-the female in the couple gets out and the water walker sharing the lane with her male counterpart gets out. So, we politely ask to share the lane with the remaining female....denied. As we sat on the deck of the pool carrying on a conversation, she continued to give us every reason under the sun why there should be no lane sharing with her. It was an unbelievable, frustrating evening trying to complete Luckily, the water aerobics class ended and we proceeded with our swim workout.

I write about this today to say that I am not crazy about sharing a lane either especially when there are so many factors that can affect a good swim, but over time, I have learned that we all have one common goal - to get our workout done (unless you're there for a pool make-out session). So, just like with biking, I ask, be courteous with those around you and be willing share your lane...it will make the overall experience much more pleasurable and everyone meets their goal. Happy swimming! :)