Favorite vs. least favorite pool (Page 2)

You might be waiting a while for a response, that guy has not logged on to this site for 6 years!

Hahahah! Didn't even look at the dates of the early posts!

I have some favorite pools like the Jean Drapeau pool in Montreal ( hosted 2005 swim worlds ). Its 10 lanes 50m, outdoors, has a 2nd 8 lane 50m for warm ups and a 25Mx33m 12 lane dive tank/water polo pool. Subway station on site in the middle of a huge park.

Locally our main pool has a renovatione 20m dive tank, and 2 - 8 lane 50m pools with bulkhead all indoors. www.talismancentre.com

I hate small low ceiling pools, smaller pools tend to have poor air circulation.

I have swam in so many places, another fave I frequent is the Kinsman Centre in Edmonton. Built for the 78 Commonwealth Games and host to World Student Games 83, Pan Pacs 91, World Cups 98 to 2001. It was 8 lane 50m but was gutted in 97 so it became 10 lanes. I swam 2 world Cups after the renovation and similar to pools in the US we raced across the pool as its 25m wide (most pools in the US are 25Y wide for SCY). Was back there last month to swim masters... pulled off my best 800 since 2000.

I am spoiled by my pools.

As a Microsoft employee, we get a subsidized gym membership. You can pick multiple gyms, but I'm a member of the one nearest to the Microsoft Campus which is the PRO Sports Club. They have been expanding this thing for years, and with pretty much guaranteed membership from Microsoft employees they've done pretty well.  They claim to be one of the largest gyms in the world and I believe it. It's huge.

The Aquatics Center has four pools.  The one in the foreground here is the recreational pool kept at 86.  It's shallow and packed with kids all the time.  The one in the background is the 25 yeard lap pool where I swam 2750 this morning. Five lanes, 82 degrees.  Past that pool on the other side of the glass is the teaching pool, where they hold lots of classes for little kids to learn.  And to the left of the picture out of view is the 25 yard deep water pool where they hold masters, triathlon swim, aquatic fitness, etc.  4' to 9' deep, 84 degrees.  All the pools are on bromine systems and are spotlessly clean.  Music plays overhead. No fog. One lifeguard for this room, and one for the deep water pool. 

Edited by brucemorgan 2016-05-12 7:51 PM

My favourite pool is a 50m pool with 10 lanes with a diving end so a third of the pool is very very deep. It is kept fairly cool which I prefer for long swim workouts.

I am lucky enough to have another 50 m pool the same distance from my house but the parking is horrible and the pool is shallow which I think makes it more choppy. One day I went there a canoe club showed up and practiced paddling on one lane of the pool and created huge currents which drove me bonkers. I hadn't planned on an ocean swim but got the equivalent of one that day - horrible bruise from hitting the lane ropes when the current pulled me an unexpected way.

I hear you about ocean swimming in the pool! My normal training venue during the school year is the 25-meter pool downstairs in my workplace (international school). At times I have to share it for part of my workout with a kids' swim club, though I usually get my own lane. (In the past, there have been some years when I have to share it with an entire high school team.) They don't always have the lane lines in if there's not a competition coming up in a few days, plus they often have high-powered fans going to improve the ventilation. The level of chop with no lane lines, fans on full power, and the high schoolers doing 25m fly sprints off the blocks is up there with some ocean swims I've done!

However, this is actually one of my favorite pools. Except for an issue this past winter, water temperature is almost always ideal for distance swimming in my book (around 80-82), it's clean, and I almost always get a lane and (after 5 PM) often the whole pool to myself.

Least favorite: The pool at a nearby gym where I am a member. When I joined, I wasn't told the pool is also open to nonmembers (and their kids) who are residents of the apartment complex where the gym is located. Workouts can be interrupted there at any time by screaming, dive-bombing kiddos who don't seem to know any English, sometimes unsupervised or "supervised" by adults who only look at their phones or scream and dive-bomb themselves. No lifeguards or anyone to enforce what rules there are. It's a standard 25m long, but only about three lanes wide and there are no lane lines or ropes. Also no designated times for lap swimming. It is outdoors and quite shallow (just deep enough for me to flip at the shallow end) and tends to be freezing in "winter" (i.e. January) and bathtub-like much of the rest of the year. I use it only at school vacations or maitenance-related closures, and consider it my "pool of last resort".

We have two local Ys with clean, well maintained 25 yrd pools. The one closest to me is my usual, it's close, it's newer, and there is some natural light from overhead. This year, from early February to late April we were in the San Diego area and I was totally spoiled by the two Ys we used that had really nice outdoor pools! I just loved swimming with no roof! I was far more motivated to get swimming . . . closest outdoor pool in the area here in Wisconsin is about 30 miles away, darn!

I have a Y membership because there's one near all of the places that I work, but most of the pools are unfortunately less than awesome. My least favorite is our downtown Y. The pool is only 4 lanes, but they leave two without a lane line so the elderly water walkers have a place to do their thing. At least one lane is also typically taken by someone swimming sidestroke at 0.01 mph. I'm no speed demon, but it's hard to share a lane when you're lapping people every 50. Plus the water is a steamy 84 every day. It's the closest Y to my house, unfortunately.

The next closest has no lap lanes, and the one after that is too crowded for only 3 lap lanes, and they aggravatingly don't have flags at one end. I was a backstroker in HS and I like to mix some into my workouts, and without flags I can't time my flip turns.

We have two rural Ys that have both a warm and a cold pool, they're awesome. The cold pools have 6 lap lanes, and they're never crowded. Also don't feel like swimming in a bathtub, and the walkers and preschoolers stay in the other pool. Just wish they weren't both 45 min away!

Two local pools for me.

The one that I go to all of the time is our local fitness center. It is a lap/rehab pool. Stays a nice 89 all the time. I don't know if they don't change the white board or not but it hasn't moved from that in months. It's pretty warm. But, usually no problem getting in a swimming. One one lane (of four) is designated lap swim only. But the people hanging out in the pool are usually pretty cool and slide over so you can swim in the next closest lane even if it doesn't have a rope.

The best pool that's close is a local university that doesn't have a swim team. It's a 25y short course pool ready for a team but they don't have. It is super nice. Gutters, six lanes, life guard. At is is considerably cooler than 89 usually around 84. Much better for swimming. But they have insane hours. Only open for a few hours per day: 12-2; 3-5; 7-9. Just no demand there. The locker room there is terrible and the shower water is cold.

Both have the pros and cons but the closest pool gets the vote most of the time.