As a new member, please familiarize yourself with the swimming pool requirements and etiquette when sharing lanes. The aim is for everyone to have a productive, enjoyable and safe workout.
What equipment do you need?
- Essentials: swim suit, goggles, swimming cap, flip-flops and towel
- Training equipment: fins*, paddles, pull buoy, snorkel (*ask the coach to advise which type of fins to buy)
- Open water swims: open-water buoy (for visibility in the sea), wet suit (winter sea swimming and racing)
Each training contains exercises that may use paddles and fins or pull buoy. To keep up with the others in the lane you need to have the required equipment with you, or you will not be able to maintain the same speed.
Exercises
All sessions include a warm up, the main set and a cool down. A warm up usually consists of 100m freestyle + 50m other style i.e. for a certain number of meters, i.e. 400-800m.
During the main set, a coach can give time-based exercises like swim 50m on 1 minute, or distance-based exercises like swim 25m fast + 25m easy for 400 meters, or 8 times 50m with 20 sec rest in between, or 4 sets of 200m using fins and paddles.
Cool down is usually any other style of swimming for 50-200m at the end of a session.
Which lane to swim in?
Enter the water only when a coach is present.
Lanes on the side of the pool are usually slower and in the middle are faster. If it is your first swim – please ask the coach to assign you to a lane. If it is not your first swim – you should know your speed and choose the lane compatible with your speed. Lanes may be shared with other clubs so if in doubt – ask the coach. Coach can move you to another lane at any point of time if necessary.
Circle Swim or splitting lanes?
If you are two in a lane, you may agree to split the lane, meaning one person on one side of the middle and the other on the other side. If you are more than two people, then circle swimming is the way to go: always swim on the right side of the lane. It is custom here to swim on the right, counter clockwise that is.
If lanes are limited, a coach may split the lane into 2 directions. For example, 3 people start from one side of the lane and 3 from the other.
Speed and overtaking
When doing group exercises, i.e. 50m on 1 minute, the fastest swimmers leave the wall first, followed by slower swimmers.
When swimming long laps, i.e. 400m, the fastest swimmers will inevitably lap you and you need to make it as easy as possible:
If you are near the wall – stop and allow the faster swimmer to overtake you at a turn (best way).
If you are in the middle, squeeze to the right and slow down a little to allow the faster swimmer to overtake you as fast as possible, especially if there are other swimmers coming in the opposite direction (who could also be overtaking someone).
Avoid overtaking near the end of the lane and please be cautious when overtaking in the middle. Make sure you are aware of swimmers coming in the opposite direction and take necessary measures to avoid collisions or hand bumps.
Also, when you are behind someone, you are drafting. This means it is easier for you to swim than if you are ahead of the pack. So after overtaking the person in front, you will need more power to maintain the same speed or go faster. Make sure you have that power before you overtake, or they will be overtaking you again before the end of the lane!
Pausing, rests and in between sets
During a set, and when at the wall, move as much to the right side of the lane as possible (the side where you enter the water and push off from), and follow the sequence in which you started.
Avoid stopping in the middle of the lane. It is unexpected, unless required by exercise.
Use common sense
Be polite to your fellow swimmers, and don’t be afraid to tell another swimmer if you see them doing something potentially dangerous.
Of course, over and above anything, follow the instructions as they are given by the coach.
And most of all: enjoy your own training and support that of your fellow swimmers in the lane!
Coffee after morning swims
The last, but not the least, we usually go for coffee after morning swim sessions. It’s our chance to socialize and chat about life, upcoming races, training gadgets, nutrition. Make sure to come and hang out, as the day has already started in the best way possible – with a swim.
