Winter Swim Training

I joined a swim center at a private school.

Ouch...that's a bummer.  Is there ANY pool nearby?  I like the idea of the private school pool above.  Any local colleges or nursing homes or PT places or similar that might have a pool?  Beyond that, there are things called Endless pools that you can buy - they are quite pricey though. 

What about your local YMCA or rec center?  Is there a local high school/college?  (They might have a Master's Swim or neighborhood Open Swim program.) 

What about joining a gym? I specifically looked for a gym with a pool. I go to Bally's and they have a 25-yd pool, only with 4 lanes, but it works for me. I would also call your City/Park Dept. and see if they know of anything....Good luck!

I agree with the above suggestions, high schools usually have some lap swim time during the week at night.
Otherwise you can look for gyms that have pools (bally's, etc) but again, those get pretty pricey too.

If you can't swim, maybe you can try to concentrate on some exercises that work you muscles for swimming. I like to do pushups, pullups, and a rowing maching to keep my shoulders and back strong.

Good luck!!

No public pools ... ouch!!!  Surely there must be a univesity nearby with an olympic pool.  Or how about a gym or the YMCA? 

That sucks!! I agree with everybody else, YMCA, local high school, etc.

Check to see if there is a local swim club or Masters team. Generally, swim season for Masters and USA-registered swim clubs is year round. You can search for local clubs on the following websites:

http://www.usaswimming.org

http://www.usms.org

Also, check http://www.swimmersguide.com.Someone here recommended it to me and it unveiled a lot of pools I didn't know were in my area.

skedawg

The link to swimmers guide didn't work because of the period at the end. It's should be www.swimmerguide.com

Also, they don't include states that voted against "defense of marriage" (same sex marriage). What a crock, just because my backwardsass state voted against that they aren't listing the info. BS!

Actually it's www.swimmersguide.com . Any resource that excludes seventeen states for political reasons is pretty useless.

Bear, thanks for fixing the link, I can't edit this late.

For what it's worth, here's the email I sent to the website operators voicing my concern for their decision:
(Also, i full well know they can do whatever they want with their free site, but if they provide an email to send concerns, etc. then I am by all means going to respectfully tell them what I think/feel about their decision)

bill,
I know it's your site and you can do whatever you want, but I want to voice my concern over your letting political issues dictate what you put on your site. Many people depend on your site to find an acceptable place to swim, myself included. To eliminate them because you disagree with a states political decision is a diservice to your visitors who have no choice but to travel to these states and may hold your same political view, but still need to get in their laps. As you know yours is the only site like this available on the internet and I would hate to see it's use go downhill because political view dictate what is/isn't on the site. Swimming is an a-political activity and it seems appropriate that a site for the masses maintain that neutrality as well.

Just my .02, take it or leave it, but please put back the states you've excluded for the benefit of your visitors.

Skee

Go get 'em, dawg. Let us know what they say!

And here's Bill's response:

Skee,

If it were just politics, I would never have taken the position I have. But it's not "just politics"; it's Human Rights; it's protesting the injection of selectively applied religious "principles" to secular government; it's standing up for tiny, relatively powerless, generally disdained minority against a band of hypocrites and bigots.

If I had seen any sign of a backlash against the 17 errant states, I might have acted differently. But it seems that bigotry and tyranny by the majority has somehow become fashionable and acceptable. Well, not in the America I grew up in; not in the America in whose army I served 34 years ago.

As far as I'm concerned, those states aren't part of America any more. I won't go to them myself and I won't facilitate anyone else's visits there, either.

I don't fool myself into thinking that what I'm doing will have a major impact, but I have to look myself in the mirror when I shave in the morning...

And you can believe that it's costing me more than 2¢, too.

Best regards,

Bill Haverland

I haven't responded. I was kinda floored he even replied, surely I'm not the only one who's voiced their concern. I guess I just don't understand what all this has to do with swimming laps.

skeedawg

Edited by skeedawg 2004-12-02 1:18 AM

Anyway back on topic. Finding a masters group in your area is the best bet and the sites provided with the exception of the one i posted, are very good sites for finding out that info.
Happy laps everyone!


Skeedawg

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I am going to be able to work something out with a local community college.