regular swimmers, what's your local pool like?

[mercury7]

Does it make much effort to accommodate those who want to swim lengths?
Mine has lane swimming sessions but they are quite short (60 - 90 minutes) and sometimes just too busy.
I find it a bit frustrating really because getting a good swimming session where I don't have to keep stopping is so hit and miss

[mercury7]

speak to me swimmers :o

[thebluebirdofhappiness]

I feel your pain - mine is 15m with no provision for lane swimming - I just have to hope it's quiet when I go. The plus side of a short pool is my number of lengths can be impressive

[bruffin]

We have a 25m pool with lane swims during the day usually 3 hours and a later one of 1.5 hours 8.30 to 10

[mercury7]

15m is quite short Theblue..I once swam in a 50m pool, it felt like being in the sea!

I wish my local pool had a 3 hour daytime session Bruffin

[BistoBear]

I use the council pool when I'm at uni and they have two lanes worth of pool cordoned off with one divider. Everyone swims in a clockwise direction, slower swimmers will stop at the end and let faster swimmers past. So you can comfortably have 5-10 people swimming at the same time.

Back home, the council pool has two lanes cordoned off so you can only really have two people swimming at once.

[BistoBear]

Sorry, meant to say, they are both cordoned off like that all day with Club swimming for a couple of hours every night so no access to public.

[Thereonthestair]

mine is ok. 25 m. Has lane swimming for the whole width of the pool in the morning from 7 til 9, at lunch 12 til 2. Daytimes rest of the time 2 lanes usually, also some evenings has 2 lanes with the rest for messing about. It also has a family pool and a toddler pool and i am sure that helps

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Mine has quite a high proportion of lane time in public sessions, but sometimes they get busy, I have settled on going at lunchtimes as it is fairly quiet then (in term time anyway). It is also given over to clubs a lot in the evenings, you can't swim on Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun after about 6. I have other issues with it to be honest, it's not very clean, the changing rooms smell. But it is inexpensive and 10 mins walk from my house, apart from a couple of small ones at private gyms there is nothing else within 15 mins drive.

[mercury7]

changing room are a bit iffy smell wise in my local pool too :(

[Murraylover]

I use the council pool near me & the only time they cordon off lanes is for kids group lessons. Other swimmers don't bother me at all - can happily swim lengths for 3/4hr, 25m lengths without stopping. Quite like other folk being around for some motivation!
If it's really irritating, try going at an unpopular time like 1st thing in the morning, or during lunchtime, or after kids bedtime...?

[mercury7]

I dont mind other swimmers...so long as they dont get in my way.

but I do love an empty swimming pool, some of my most transcendant moments have been towards the end of a long swim when the pool has emptied out and I'm really 'in the zone' :o

[bruffin]

Do you ever get a sense of deja vu swimming Mercury.
I go to an advance lesson one a week and I get what you mean about those moments.

[mercury7]

i often feel 'blissed out' but not deja vu
last summer i had almost daily deja vu but i've not had it for sometime now
what a weird thingit is!

Does swimming give you deja vu Bruffin?

[bruffin]

Yes a few times. I sort of felt like I was when I was 12 again and i last used to go to a swim club. It's usually when I do back back stroke

[feetheart]

Very new local pool (think Splash TV programme :))

50m for first 2 hours of day then either 25 or 32m usually with 4 lanes just for lane swimmers - 1 slow lane, 2 x medium and 1 fast. Occasionally cut down to 3 lanes for swimming lessons but still lots of room.

I agree with mercury7 though - 50m is a loooooong way.

[mercury7]

hmm, I think we have a different understanding of deja vu?
for me it's a sensation of intense recognition characterised by the thought 'I have seen this before in exactly the same way' but there's no sense of when or any memory that it can be linked to

[bruffin]

It is like that because when i was 12 it was a completely different pool. I feel like a teenager again swimming looking up at the ceiling, but it would be the wrong ceiling for when i was that age.

[mercury7]

I find deja vu quite surreal....being in the water is often also surreal!
I'm half tempted to start a thread about deja vu now that you've got me thinking about it Bruffin:o

[Parisbanana]

I go to the local council run 25m pool.
On weekdays before 9am it is 4 lanes lane-swimming and 2 for club.
9 - 12 is 2 lanes lane-swimming and 4 lane space for schools.
1.5 hours at lunch all lane swimming, divided into slow, medium, fast and fast-crawl.
Til 3.30 as morning sessions
After 3.30 2 lanes lane-swimming, 2 for lessons and 2 for general mucking about.
From 6pm the club takes over the lesson lanes, then from 8 they take over the casual lane too.

From my 3 years of 3 or 4 times a week attendance, the absolute best time to swim is late in the lunch break!
And reading this thread I realise we have a really good provision. We have 4 council-run pools in the borough of which I can easily walk to 2, the others are about a 10 minute drive away.

[mercury7]

Paris, I do find that the pool gets pretty empty after 1:15, I guess most people have just eaten and dont want to swim then...this is where my weird eating times are an advantage :o

[rootypig]

50m, heated, outdoor, always three lanes for swimming. Sorry! I love it so much it's a big factor in where I live.

[MrsHoarder]

I go to the local lido. Toasty warm and fairly big but busy on sunny days. They have one lane roped off for serious swimmers but I feel like a fraud going in there.

[mercury7]

oh you lucky thing! :o
I am totally obsessed with swimming right now
I think I might find out where the nearest 50m pool is and move there!

[lljkk]

60-90 minutes seems long enough to me for lanes sessions.

The best thing about my pool is the changing rooms, honest, well designed, underfloor heating, so they don't go manky & smelly & mouldy. No segregation by gender, good family room provision. No drafts, no constant puddles. The facility is 9 yrs old and not gone horrible.

[stargirl1701]

Good. 25m pool. Lane swimming from 6.30am. School use 9-12. Club use 6.30pm till 8.30pm. Lane swimming 8.30pm till 10pm.

It is one of 3 pools in the building - leisure pool, swimming pool and baby pool.