Swimming - an alternative to running!

Following on from my injury confession post I had an interesting weekend - I went swimming, in the local public swimming pool.   I haven't swum in the local public swimming pool since Danni did swimming lessons - which is a fair old time.  I have, however, swum in various pools on holiday and during the summer had membership of LA Fitness and swam in the spa pool twice a week for 5 weeks.

The difference between the different types of pool are huge - the ones you swim in on holiday are rarely regular shapes or size and there's no chance of lane rage as there are no lanes and you can leave your towel on your sunbed - all very civilised!  Oh and they are always freezing cold.

The only downside of the holiday swimming pool unless you get up at the crack of dawn is that they're always packed and there's always an idiot with an inflatable that takes up the whole pool!

The gym "spa" pools are a lovely experience - the one at LA Fitness Brighton isn't huge, has 3 lanes for different speeds of swimmers and you can hang your towel on a hook.  There is no lane rage at this type of pool, everyone swims as instructed (up on the left, down on the right) and in the correct lane for their level/speed.   There was also very few people, if any, in the pool!

The water is always a constant temperature and it's rarely noisy - apart from Mr Speedy swimmer.  Also you can have a proper shower and the changing rooms are single sex!  I paid £19 for 10 sessions on a Groupon deal!

Swimming in a local public swimming pool is the complete opposite of the above two experiences.  

The difference starts the minute you walk through the door - for one thing it's £4.25 per person to swim!  Next is the communal changing rooms - "Mummy" side cubicles, "Daddy" side cubicles, "family cubicles".   Guess who nearly went on the wrong side!  So off I went to the pool having got changed, put my bag in the locker and went to find somewhere to put my towel - hah!  "The wall" is the only place to put your towel, and if you dare put it in the wrong place it gets moved.  Getting into the pool on Saturday morning was pleasant enough - there were only a couple of other people swimming and the water was like getting into a bath.  There were also children's swimming lessons going on.

Actually swimming on Saturday was a doddle.  Instructions from Matt to mix up my stroke - what I hadn't told him was that I only "do" breaststroke, however that's only my arms - my legs do a mixture of leg strokes, sometimes breaststroke legs, sometimes crawl legs - so hopefully that's as mixing it up as I needed!   I swam gently for about 45 minutes and then got out and showered.   Saturday was easy - Sunday was a bit different.  For one thing there was no room on "the wall" for my towel, and secondly the water was freezing!  I'd made the mistake of going 15 minutes later too so it was a bit busier and the likelihood of getting in someones way was high!  One thing which I did find annoying was one young couple who got in, walked up to the halfway point and then sat chatting for the half hour that I was in there - honestly go to Costa buy a coffee and chat away, it's cheaper and you won't get wet!

I actually quite like swimming - apart from the local swimming pool thing but it will do, for now!  One of my Facebook friends suggested one of these

The Endless Pool - I actually want one!