Don’t swim slow drills in the fast lane

It seems obvious to me, but if the lanes are assigned according to swimming speed that means it is based on the speed you are swimming *this* length. It’s not about how fast you normally swim; it’s not about how fast you swum earlier today; it’s not about how fast you can swim. It’s about how fast you are swimming right now. Therefore if you have some slow drills to do at the end of a sprint session, you might need to move lanes.

Don’t get me wrong, some people are fortunate enough to be able to do kick sets as quickly as many people can swim. I’m not saying that all drills have to be in the slow lane, nor am I saying that you can’t do any drills in the fast lane.

What I am saying is that the lane you are in should be based on your speed relative to the rest of the pool at any given time. It doesn’t matter what stroke you’re doing, or whether you’re doing drills. You should be in the appropriate lane.

I tried to have a ‘discussion’ about this with someone in the pool as we were swimming this lunchtime.

She was a good swimmer and probably the fastest in the lane while she was actually swimming. But after her set she finished with some very slow drills, which were taking her at least a minute to swim 25m. She did it while I was swimming with her a couple of weeks ago, but at that time the rest of the lane was empty, so it wasn’t too much of an issue. However, today the lane was still busy and so by being so slow in the lane she was disrupting everyone else.

I suggested she move lane, she didn’t seem to like the suggestion and continued with the drills. Grrr.

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As an aside, it’s funny how many people seem to define rude as just saying something they disagree with.

As I said, I mentioned that she should move lane – she didn’t like it and carried on. A little bit later she got out. When I saw her as I got out I went to speak to her to say that I didn’t mean to upset her. At which point she talked over me, told me other people were swimming slowly and called me rude.

Anyway, moving on.

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