Different sizes of pools?

There is an L.A. Fitness in Florida? wierd

My Race Log

Hey Chucky, There is an L.A. Fittness in Boston too! Wicked pricy.

Just ask to see the blueprints, or get out your tape measure. When I signed up for my YMCA membership, they claimed one of the local pools (multiple facility menbership is a great feature of the Y) had a 25M pool. I asked to see the blueprints, and discovered 25yds instead. fine either way, but definitely good to know. Some pools are not even 25 yds when they claim to be. One pool lists a mile as 35 laps (pretty close) another at 33 laps (means it's slightly longer but not quite 25 m). Nothing like training in a yd pool and thinking it is meters. Kind of deflating when you see your time after a race. Then again, training in meters and thinking it's yds would feel pretty good come race day.

To add confusion, some 50M pools are 25 yds across. When split in 2 lengthwise by a bulkhead, one side is often 25M, the other 25 Yds. Gotta know which side you are on.

Not only that, but.... the university where I swim has two pools. (Well, there are more, but two pools that have schedules that work for me.) One is 25 yards and the other is 25 meters. I am FOREVER cracking my head on the side of the 25 yard pool because I think I have one more stroke to go. The brain cells I've killed with this brilliant maneuver.....

Andrea

Id say walk it. 1 Yard is approximatley one pace/stride. Its a good approximation.

I swim in a yard pool, most college/high-school even health clubs use yardage. Very rarley do you see meters used unless its a US Swiming sanctioned club (or at least thats what I remeber when I swam for a private team). They do have 25 meter pools and they are 33% longer than a 25 yard pool. And its very rare that you will see an olympic size (50 meters) pool around you.

My college pool had a movable divider which seperated the lap lanes from the diving area. When the divider was extended to the diving area (so the lap lanes extened the full length of the pool) we had a 25 METER pool.

Edited by Rower 2005-03-15 8:09 AM

Stand corrected....

You just gotta ask and make assumptions. Here in fabulous Brooklyn, I swim in a 20yd pool. There are even a few NYC Parks pools that are 15-18 yards - I kid you not. There's a new NYC Parks pool that opened recently that is 25yds (YAY!) that I plan on scoping out.

I always thought college pools were meters and not yards - that's been my experience.

My community center's pool is either 50 yards or 50 meters, I don't know (yet).  However, when I am tired, I think it is 50 miles long

The gym (Bally's Lynnwood) I used to go to had a 17yd pool. It was imho completely useless for anything but water aerobics.

The gym I'm at now has a nice 25 yd pool, diving board (yay! fun stuff). They even have starting blocks for competitions...they're not out regularly. Of course they did tell me it was Olympic size ...LOL

Diana

Here is my pool. Anyone jealous?

http://www.recsports.wisc.edu/facilities/serf/pool.htm

I am getting ticked off though as they have started swimming lessons from 11-12 on my swim days in one of the halves. The pool is already closed to lap swim most of the day (11-2, 6:30-9:30) so any of us that want to get a swim in before lunch have to all cram into one end of the pool. Super annoying. grrrr. Keep in mind that UW has 40,000 students plus faculty and 6 lanes to swim in during that lunch time. I am going to write them an email complaining when I get around to it.



Edited by lablover 2005-03-15 9:52 PM

*drool*

Lucky lucky you!

Now that is a NICE facility. My 25yd pool at 24HR is tiny. And the lanes divided by speed, awesome.

hey lablover, I'm in Madison too! but I hadn't even consdered training at the SERF pool, I figured it would be full of really fit buff people-I go to the Princeton Club-- (more old ladies in floral caps!) do you workout with their tri-team?

Damn.. now THAT is a pool!

Ok, so I am traveling for work. when I check in the clerk tells me they have a lap pool - how long is it - it is pretty standard, ah, 25....ah....."meters?" yeah, i think so. cool. so I go up and realize I do not have a swim suite. I drop in and buy one - too expensive and rather ugly, but it will do - on my way back from work to the hotel. I stop on the pool floor to get a look before suiting up and viola - it is 25 sure enough......

25 FEET!

A girl could hurt herself in there! Or get an intensive flip turn practice!

The sears was nice enough to refund my money for the unused suit.......

but there is that bay out there......

Yea I went swimming in my girlfriend's pool the other night (no heater) about 25ft def glad I could judge the ends by the lighting just wanted to get used to 50-60 degree water but def a nice place to get injured!

Jason

How about pool temps? My guess is they vary as widely as the length of the pools. My personal fav is a YMCA pools that caters to a senior crowd. Pool averages 86 F. Makes getting in none too rude early in the morning. And surprisingly, it doesn't make me sweat....

Here's a thought for those of you stuck with a too-small pool. In my previous job, I travelled extensively. Hotel pools are not made for swimming laps, but using a bungee thether sold by swimcords (www.swimcords.com) I was able to get a decent workout regardless of pool size. I had to modify my stroke a litle bit, but I never had any problem re-adjusting to untethered swimming. I could swim as long & hard as I liked without interfering with the other pool users. (I did occasionally get some funny looks and strange questions, however.)

FWIW...

They still compete at 25 yds in college in the US. Even new pools are often still made 25 yds. Why you'd opt to make something that can't be used for international short course i don't know. Part of that self-centered American personality I guess. On the flip side though, there are some amazing sport facilities at even small colleges and high schools, as opposed to the mostly public and occasionally not terribly amazing places to work out in relatively Amateur sport oriented Canada. Here in Texas public indoor pools are essentially unheard of. You have to belong to a gym or a school to use one. Whereas in Kingston you probably have a choice of what, half a dozen public indoor pool facilities?

Okay here's a pool by me.
http://www.findfamilyfun.com/kitspool.htm
Yes that's 137 m long. It's salt water too.
Okay this website says it's Canada's longest pool.
http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parkfinder_wa/index.cfm?fuseaction=...

Around here lots of pools are 50m long. The Vancouver Aquatic Centre, UBC, Canada Games, etc. UBC has an iteresting shape in that it is not totally square. It's length is 50m, it's width is 25m, but the end is 25 yards. Just go to the pool at the right time and you can do either. I believe the master's swim club uses the 25 yard configuration.

Jen

No the SERF isn't packed usually. There are lots of buff college kids there, but hey! I don't care. lol. I have a GF who loves me no matter my BF% and a dog who thinks I am god, so I am not too bothered if some18 year old kid thinks I am fat!

You might be surprised possum. There are quite a few people there who are out of shape (like me). Also, don't know if you are a student, but if you get a gym pass you can go to any of their facilities including the indoor track.

Oh and no. I don't work out with the tri team. Maybe I might look into that after I get in better shape, but I figure that they are probably mostly all distance runners and the like and will smoke me constantly. Not much point training with a team when all you see are their white shoes way off on the horizon. :D

Edited by lablover 2005-03-19 1:08 PM