Sharing Your Lap Lane - Yes, there are Benefits

This past year I grew up.  Really.  I finally learned to share my lane and enjoy it.  In fact, I am known to the guards at the pool as someone who is happy to share my lane - given the swimmer doesn't fall into any of the 10 points in my prior post.  Here's why I am happy to share my lane:

1. Lap swimming can be VERY boring.  Having someone else in the lane, even if you don't communicate with them verbally, keeps your mind a bit more stimulated just by the sheer fact that one must keep aware of where the lane partner is in the pool relative to one's self.
2. Your lane partner can spur you to swim faster.  Who wants to be humiliated by someone in baggy trunks?
3. Your lane partner can make you feel like a fast swimmer, even if you are not - this of course requires your lane partner be a slower swimmer than you.
4. Your lane partner can provide you with a slip-stream if you want to swim along side them like a baby whale does it's momma.
5. By having a lane partner, your lane is less likely to be chosen by the next crappy swimmer who wants to get in your lane. 

No, I didn't list 10 benefits.  I'm sure there are more, but jeez, I never thought there was one good reason before this year.  Give me a break!
 

Ten Reasons Sharing Your Lap Lane Isn't for the Faint of Heart

Sharing a lap lane can be a real pain.  Here are a few of the reasons sharing a lane isn't for the weak of heart:

1. the nail trimmer - hug the line too tight and nearly break your finger in the buoys
2. the navigationally challenged - those who use the whole lane (usually not on purpose) due to poor navigation skills
3. the leg men - those who use more of the sub-surface than you are expecting (they kick you)
4. the ax men - those who use paddles and like to chop you when you go by (I never realized swimming was a blood sport until one of these hit me in the arm)
5. the butterflies - these guys start the butterfly soon as you enter the pool area, just so you won't choose his lane (some even swim with their fists!)
6. the loose rope - just when you've got a straight line going, the line floats into your path (see #1)
7. the waterboarders - these are the swimmers who throw up a great swell as they pass, usually when you are inhaling
8. the jet boats - these are the swimmers who use fins.  They blow by at high speed or if you're at the end of the lane and swimming circles, they force you to stop so they can go past - again and again and again - and they think they are faster than you when you know deep down they are just using them because they are really speed challenged
9. the loose barges - these are the slow swimmers who generally fit the category of #2 and #3 as well.
10. the endangered - these are the swimmers who apparently have a respirator ready at the end of the lane because they stop and recover for two minutes for each lap.

Feel free to add your favorites in the comments section!

In my next post, I'll touch on the advantages of sharing your lane.

Why the Phelps Phenomenon is Not for Me

If you were a kid watching the Olympics late last summer, I'm guessing you probably got at least a small itch to try swimming as your chosen sport. And it may have even stuck with you through the spring-time. How do I know this? Well the number of kids who have joined the premier swim team (the ones who build the Olympic athletes out of the XBox generation) in my city has grown by 25 percent this summer.

Good for them you say? OK, I'll agree, good for them ... but not for me.

I happen to work out at the same time the team practices - dawn - and the coach, flush with cash from his new arrivals, has bought the rights to an additional lap lane in the pool. Until this year, they had always used half the pool. Cool, right? We get half, they get half. Not any more.

Thanks to the Michael phenomenon, they're taking over our space. This forces us early risers (of which there always have been quite a few), we of all varieties of skill and speed, to move over, smile and pretend we loyal members still count for anything.

Thanks for your time and chance to rant.