Swimming Question of the Week - June 30, 2010

One the your favourite GoSwimmers? I am honored! Thanks :)

My favorite one is a nice and well maintained 50m outdoor swimming pool... it is clean and water is quite deep as I like! It is outdoor even in winter, water is heated and there is a passage from the inside building to outside staying in the water. The name is Palais des Sports in Puteaux, west of Paris. The "only" problem is too many people in summer... early morning is ok! The rest of swimming pool in Paris is quite a disaster. For the pics... I think it is a joke of Glenn :-) ciao gl

I think I've got it now:

Almost. The link worked, but it's not embedded in the discussion (nice pool by the way).

Pick one of the pictures, then on the right side of the page look for "Link to this photo". Click that then look for "embed image". Under that, click the little box that says "image only, no link", then grab that code above it, and paste that between those img bracket things in the picture up above. Select the size (I use medium, 400 pixels), and then put all that in here. You'll end up with another great swimming picture like the one I'm posting here. :)

Easy as pie huh? Kinda makes EVF seem so much simpler doesn't it?

Just missing those img bracket things. No worries... we're here to help. ;)

well,
i go to 3 different 25m pools depending on their lane swimming hours (these have generally been fairly restrictive and can result in crowds). the norm at all 3 places is to have just one lane dedicated to front-crawl swimming, and this can often result in a crowded environment (sometimes 10 or more people in one lane with the whole range of skill levels represented). the rest of the lanes (there'll generally be several without dividers) are monopolized by the 'trying not to get your hair wet' crowd. for a great many people, lane-swimming is a perfect chance to catch up on gossip.
lane etiquette is basically non-existent, it's a free for all, but you can bet on having the odd person treat it like a relay-race and regularly push-off just as you're trying to make a turn. (maybe they're just trying to take turns when it's crowded, i don't know.)

at the place closest to my house, you can't see the pace clock from the freestyle lane unless you lean over the left-side rope. . . ah, yeah, and the lane-dividers at all of the pools are just the old-school rope with a ball kind of thing.

2 of the pools are pretty shallow and one is fairly deep. all 3 can be quite turbulent.

the low-pressure, preset temperature showers, which are on an annoying timer thing, are practically located on deck. at one place, the use of some aggressive-type shampoos has often caused nasty chemical fumes to float over and onto the surface of the pool for swimmers to breath in : (
given that the showers are mixed, you have to keep your suit on.

at the beginning of this year i joined a club. basically to get away from the crowded lanes up to 4 times a week. much better when you can choose a lane which matches your own tempo of course. that club is done for the summer now, so i guess it's off to the outdoor pools....

these are nice in that they are all 50m, but with no structured times or lane dividers you have to watch out for flying objects, dive-bombing children, and all the rest of it. (but generally it's calm at certain hours, or when the weather is crappy.) one pool (when it's more crowded) puts a dividing line about 10m off one side of the pool, so you have to remember to just swim under it.

i haven't swam outdoors yet this year, but i'll probably be going to this place since it's close by:

in the foreground you can see the divider obstacle... they say it's used when there's a lot of kids, to stop them from venturing into deeper water. . . but the kids just use it as a toy for the most part.

ah, okay, fixed

lol... gotta get them a bit smaller... but nice pool!!!

Man... these are all such beautiful pools.

Here's a couple more from me. These were yesterday and today:

Now you know why I'm always hiding behind them. :)

Stunning... where is this pool?

Wow. That's incredible. I was going back through some things recently and came across some information about Adolph Kiefer. I've met him many times, spoken with him at length about swimming, his business, my business... all that stuff. Then I realized in watching something about him at the International Swimming Hall of Fame... he actually MET Hitler. I mean... like shook his hand and said a few words to him. Just the historic connection is incredible. Thanks for sharing those.

crazy... and swimming well into his 90's !
i'd like to do that somehow,
and breaking the 1 min barrier on 100m backstroke also (okay any stroke actually),
i don't think i'd want to have to meet hitler though.

I used to train in this pool before I joined Vineyards.

(50m in upper left corner)

(50m pool)

It used to be salt water, now it is chlorine. I believe it is still a not-heated pool.

yes, they are. Every single time I do my warm up and run to those pools and back I always think "damn, if I wasn't paying fr the other pool (and it wasn't that cold), I would jump in this one right now".

Hi my fav place to do my training is my 5 meter swim spa out the back of my house. It's a 2 hours out of Sydney.

Hey Rheomys! Is that "Kromme Rijn" in Utrecht? Yes.. for a whole swimming pool they had 1 roll of toilet paper on a table. I asked about this and the answer was yeahh people make such a mess of these rolls, letting them roll on the floor, getting wet and useless, that's why. Yes, and i know all about the "babbelbaan" (talking while swimming). It was fun to read your response.