another stupid (newbie) swimming question

rbtrumpet - 2009-07-14 2:30 PM For the record:  I've only been swimming a month, have never taken a swim lesson (yet - I e-mailed the swim coach at my gym hoping to set some up), and have NO CLUE about pool ettiquite (SP??)

"slow lanes" "fast lanes" - how do we determine these? 

I usually just go into the pool and get in any lane that happens to be open.  If all the lanes are full, then I try to find the person who seems to most want to not pay attention to anyone else and ask if I can share a lane with them (so they don't try to talk to me, so I can just mutually ignore them and enjoy my swim - we have some very chatty people at my gym!)


And while I'm at it:
What exactly is a master class?  How good do you have to be before joining one?  For some reason I thought 'master swim classes' were for older people, but I accidentally showed up early one morning when they were finishing up, and most of them were about my age (mid 20's)