You’ve seen lane swimming on the timetable and avoided it like the plague – you’re not good enough for lane swimming right? Wrong! Lane swimming is for all levels – and is the perfect way to make the most of a short time in a busy pool.
We set up four lanes at MacPool – and mark them according to speed – slow, medium slow, medium fast and fast. You choose the lane that suits your speed and join in. Swimmers swim up one side of the lane and down the other – swimming in very long ovals rather than up and down the same line. This is the clever bit – each lane has a board telling you which side to swim up and which side to swim down. This is a safety feature – so swimmers closest to each other are travelling in the same direction and less likely to bump.
Swimmers in a lane swim in ‘chains’ – they leave a few seconds gap then follow the person in front. If you’re regularly catching up with the person in front it’s acceptable to tap them on the heel as a signal for them to give way. If you’re the person being ‘caught’ then give way to the faster swimmer at the ends – then carry on.
During lane swimming we can fit many more swimmers in the pool. Each lane has a capacity of seven swimmers, so we can have 28 people happily swimming round and round, in their own safe space. Compare this with how few people can comfortably swim up-and-down lengths in a public swim session – in a pool that’s only 10m wide it’s difficult to squeeze in more than four or five abreast.
Here’s more reasons why lane swimming rocks:
- You share a lane with swimmers of a similar speed – you can make friends!
- As well as sharing a lane why not share tips or session ideas? Make your swim session more productive.
- Swimming close to others is a great motivator – it will help give you the extra incentive to swim right to the end of your length.
- It makes swimming backstroke much easier – if you hold your line you know you won’t crash into anyone else.
- You can keep up a rhythm and focus on your stroke much easier if you know you can swim in a straight line and not have to dodge round other swimmers.
- Nothing beats the feeling of moving up into the next lane.
Lane swimming is on every weekday from 12-1pm. If you need to know more about lanes ask a lifeguard. We love lanes!