Swim etiquette?

The "I'm doing a f-ing TT!" probably meant absolutely nothing to her.  From her perspective, it was just some guy yelling at her because he is really intense about something called a "TeePee" or something.  Once you knew that she wasn't a good swimmer, and you had to mention "try to stay to your side", you kinda should have known that this was likely to happen and perhaps you should have adjusted your expectations for the day.

In the end, it's JUST a workout.  

You overreacted....BIG TIME!

Since when does a early season TT outweigh common human courtesy.  She wasn't a good swimmer-I get that, but she meant you no ill will.  Perhaps YOU could have changed lanes.   Just my .02

So true, although after running headlong into someone on the complete wrong side of a swim lane halfway through an important set I don't think I'd be able to keep that in perspective either.

There are a lot of threads similar to this but this is the first time someone's been so wrong (in my opinion)

But you apologised afterwards so you know you were wrong?

I didn't think your first line of 'just try to stay to your side' covered you in glory either.  That was a good time to put her at ease and for you to reassess whether this was the best moment to start swimming as hard as you could for a few minutes.

Swearing at someone feeling vulnerable in that situation is not cool at all.  If I'd have been the life guard I'd have asked you to leave.

Does Steve actually read posts of yours? 

edit.. to be clear, i think the posters above me are dead on about you narcissistic overreaction.  i'm simply just wondering if you coach understands your train of though during your workout.  if not, he needs to address that. 

You probably did yourself a favor by choosing to vent here on the internet rather than to somone you know in person.

this gets better.

your blog says you're a teacher.  (wow)

so you can show this thread to your students as an example of what not to do. as in real life and on the internet.   

I can understand your frustration and am also glad you vented here.

What I'm not getting in all of these swimming threads is why is it surprising that you are going to collide?   If I am sharing a lane I am always on the lookout for anyone I might collide with, even when sharing with my husband and we were both competitive swimmers in high school and have circle swam or split lanes for years.  Yes the plan is to stay on your side, but I always keep checking out the view slightly ahead ensuring that I stay out of the other's swimmer's way - same as I'm watching the lane line looking for the end to see the wall coming up. 

If it helps any I gave someone a minor concussion my sophomore year of high school. I was told to do backstroke starts, did a nasty start and somehow ended up in a different lane than when I started from and kept going (goggles filled up). Got yelled at by an upper classman. Ouch. My pride.

Swimming is a contact sport, but not many people understand that concept!!

It happens.

Stuff I see posted on here makes me very happy with my pool. We have a lot of very good swimmers (not me!) and we do move around to accommodate each other. It might be because it's a smallish pool and it's primarily the same people at the same times, but I've noticed that it's a lot more polite and organized than when I swam at the college pool.Twice in the past week I've been part of moving around lanes to help keep it going. We have no lifeguard.

That being said, I don't think I'd attempt a 500TT unless I had a lane to myself. Even the most polite of swimmers bump. It's inevitable.

good on you for owning it. that doesn't happen much in internet land. 

we all get hyped at some point.  our challenge is to turn it around into something positive.  you teach, so you know how to do this, even for someone doing backstroke in your lane. 

steve won't give you this secret.. but i will.  crush a few beers the night before your next 500tt.  ;-)

You forgot the sarcasm font.  Ahh, I hope?!?

Your approach works fine if you're just swimming.  But if the OP is trying to do a TT, it makes no sense for him to degrade his TT performance by constantly looking out for other swimmers.  Hence...he probably should have waited for another time to do his TT.

Yes, please make sure all sarcastic comments are in red font.  

To the OP.   Who was in the lane first?  I usually try to get in a lane with someone who swims a similar speed.  If you observed her to be a beginner swimmer, than you should have moved lanes if at all possible.  Perhaps she should have moved. I don't know.  In any event,  everyone has a right to swim and workout in a safe environment.   We can't assume that our workouts are going to be perfect.  As in life, we must adjust to changes and be respectful to one another.  Good on you for recognizing you overreacted.   

Have you considered anger management? Let's face it, if she's a beginner she probably doesn't even know what a TT is.

I think this was a great opportunity for you to practice staying cool under pressure. Cause you probably wasted some valuable energy getting so worked up. 

Consider some mindset strategies so when things don't work as planned on race day, you have the skills to deal with it.