What do you dislike about swimming?

Sully

Thought it could be an interesting topic for a die hard swimmer's forum. And what do you do to combat it?

For me it's the time associated with swimming that's not in the pool. Getting to the pool, pool hours, drying off, shower, commute home, etc. As a counter, I can run anytime, anywhere. For me, I have yet to find a great solution. I sometimes skip the shower afterwards - figure chlorine is as good as soap. I also make up some time with the shaved head.

Leonard_Jansen

This time of year - it always seems that open water season will never arrive. Especially true this year because it's been colder than a well digger's @ss in PA and I've given up all hope that the lakes and rivers will unfreeze. Ever. I'm sick of doing endless laps in over-heated pools and having my back itch like mad from chlorine drying it out.

We're doomed.

-LBJ

loneswimmer

I HATE when my local pool fucks up the timetable at least once a week. They do it so often they actually implemented a catch-all & permanent "Timetable subject to change with no notice" disclaimer. Give me a hallelujah!

I HATE, (we all do), pool temps that go over 30C. Mercy!

Slower swimmers who turn in front of you. Hear me brothers and sisters!

In comparison I merely dislike May in the sea. I can cope with freezing winter temperatures. But May is a killer. You feel like it should be warmer, the days can be warm (this is Ireland after all, so no guarantee) but you have to stay in longer though it's still < 10C and you are suffering. But it's the sea, so it's always better than the pool.

swimmer25k

Jet skis

gnome4766

The unpredictable nature of the sea. Everyday I walk down to go swimming and a lot of days it is simply to dangerous to carry out sprint sessions or long distance training. I've resorted to sticking on a pair of fins and bodysurfing just to keep up the acclimatisation.

The length of time it takes to swim for an hour.

The nagging thought that there might be something I'm about to swim into so I better look up just to check, EVERY DAMN STROKE!

How I have slowly wore away my private sand dune over the past year and thus it has become less private with people walking over MY area! Someone even left me a nice sheep skull the other day. I must plant some flowers or nettles to keep them out.

DanSimonelli

Wow gnome, what keeps you going?! ;-)

gnome4766

I guess I like getting wet.

david_barra

I hate restrictive access policies; Pools that have a lot of empty time, Lake seasons that don’t extend beyond Memorial day and Labor day, "No Swimming” signs

TimDex

Im with @loneswimmer on the pool timetable. My planned 6K in the pool yesterday was completely scuppered by a 'oh sorry the pool is closed until 11am now' change. I moved it to stupid'o'clock this morning. Now I have calmed the hunger pangs I can get on with some work

suziedods

I dislike the high cost of swims but understand some of it.
I dislike people who have "attitude".
I dislike people w a disrespect for the strength of the sea and the power of the cold.
But what do I dislike about SWIMMING? eh..? nothing.

IronMike

-Time away from the family;
-Noodlers and water-runners in lap lanes;
-Cost of travel to open water events;
-Restrictive insurance policies that lead to cancellation of OW events;
-USAT one-day fees;
-Travel time to and from OW swimming locations in my current hometown;
-"no notice" lap lane changes;
-Cross-Fit "swimmers" taking up an entire pool for an hour during lap swim (a particular problem at my local base pool);
-Triathletes who do OW events with pull-buoys, paddles, mp3's, or walk during shallow sections or hang on to the kayaks for rest, etc;
-Drunk boaters;
-Parents who bring sick kids to the pool who then puke in the pool (hat tip @Leonard_Jansen);
-Parents who don't put swim diapers on their kids then...well, you know.

David

swimmer25k wrote:

Jet skis

Make that Life savers on jet skis doing large circles around you to see if you really are fine!

ttriven

The fact that while I can swim from one island to another, on any given day my shoulder is to sore to reach behind the passenger seat to get my swim bag with one hand. Or when people say "you can't lift that by yourself? seriously? i thought you were a swimmer..."

Leonard_Jansen

People who bring their sick kids to swim.
Yesterday I was 17 minutes into a 2.5 hour swim and some kid barfed in the pool. They made us all get out for a long time and it trashed the workout since I alloted enough time to do the workout, but not enough for a long barf-break added.

@loneswimmer - 30 degrees C? Man, I suffer if it gets over 27 deg C. I'd die @ 30.

-LBJ

JBirrrd

Other people's hair wrapped around my watch strap, fingers or dangling off my goggle nose piece into my mouth. Ick.

gtswim

The people who cross between lanes to get to the zero entry ramp and don't bother to look before crossing and walk right in front of me as I going into or out of the wall. I wonder if those people drive without looking.

ssthomas

Being wet....sometimes it gets old. :-)

Mike_Gemelli

Sharing a locker room with a college kids who think nothing of leaving behind everything imaginable on the floor: towels, suits, goggles, underwear, protein powder, used protein powder, old cheesy/fermented protein powder...

gnome4766

I thought of another one. Hard stones under cold feet. There's no agony like stones shifting under feet that have been exposed to 6 degree water.

Laflamme02

Deep water / not seeing bottom. This is the most intense of my visceral fears and I battle it with a warrior's heart every time I swim outside of a race scenario.

swimdaily

I get sick of the clothing changes and having wet hair most of the day.

swimmer25k

David wrote:

swimmer25k wrote:

Jet skis

Make that Life savers on jet skis doing large circles around you to see if you really are fine!

Those guys are ok if they're supporting or part of a race.

I'm talking about the weekenders who don't understand the rules of the water, who think its ok to drink and "ski", and want to buzz the tower.

swimmer25k

IronMike wrote:

-Time away from the family;
-Noodlers and water-runners in lap lanes;
-Cross-Fit "swimmers" taking up an entire pool for an hour during lap swim;
-Triathletes who do OW events with pull-buoys, paddles, mp3's, or walk during shallow sections or hang on to the kayaks for rest, etc;

Didn't you just describe yourself???
:-))

I'm coaching Masters on Saturday AM. Get your butt to the pool. Haven't seen you there for months. Yes, I'm calling you out!! :-)

Laflamme02

I thought of another one after last night masters' practice:

Getting smoked by dudes and dudettes who appear to be old and out of shape while on dry land. Nowhere in my life has "you can't judge a book by its cover" been more true then in swimming. i.e. Crazy stupid fast fat old ladies who make me feel bad about myself.

JBirrrd

@Laflamme02
Hoping your complimentary "crazy stupid fast" makes up for the fact you called them fat old ladies...but not sure it will. But we get what you mean ;-)

swimmer25k

Laflamme02 wrote:

I thought of another one after last night masters' practice:

Getting smoked by dudes and dudettes who appear to be old and out of shape while on dry land. Nowhere in my life has "you can't judge a book by its cover" been more true then in swimming. i.e. Crazy stupid fast fat old ladies who make me feel bad about myself.

I was once called a "well fed porpoise" in the Washington Post.

Plenty of people have asked me about me not knowing that they were talking to me. (Does this make sense?)

I've never looked the part and many people are suprised when they see me.

On my old masters team in Dallas, one of the superfit tri-geeks was actually mad that I could move so fast (9:37 in the 1000 back in 2008 when I was 38 years-old) while being a 190 lb heavyweight. I defended myself and all of the well fed porpoises out there that marathon swimmers can't buy speed like he could. We are who we are because we have the willingness to suffer the time, distance, and cold unlike few other groups of athletes.

Now, where's my breakfast burrito?????

lakespray

Oblivious lap swimmers who after you have lapped them multiple times still turn right in front of you while using the entire wall to do it. Many of those same lap swimmers who can't seem swim to stay to the right of the center strip, again even after passing them multiple times with inches to spare.

swimmer25k

lakespray wrote:

Oblivious lap swimmers who after you have lapped them multiple times still turn right in front of you while using the entire wall to do it. Many of those same lap swimmers who can't seem swim to stay to the right of the center strip, again even after passing them multiple times with inches to spare.

I like the guys who hang on to the backstroke bar in the middle of the lane. I've had a few successful "straddles" that seemed to do the trick.

caburke

Chlorine...and the greenish blond hair, alligator skin and lingering odor that comes along with it.

Leonard_Jansen

caburke wrote:

Chlorine...and the greenish blond hair, alligator skin and lingering odor that comes along with it.

If I remember my chemistry correctly...
The greenish blonde hair is from copper ions; not chlorine. It can be removed with a solution of potassium permanganate.
The chlorine (and odor) can be gotten rid of with a dilute (5% by weight) solution of sodium thiosulfate.
The alligator skin - sorry comes with the territory.

-LBJ

IronMike

swimmer25k wrote:

Didn't you just describe yourself???
:-))

I'm coaching Masters on Saturday AM. Get your butt to the pool. Haven't seen you there for months. Yes, I'm calling you out!! :-)

Kid swim meets every weekend. And I get more out of swimming myself than masters hour. Thanks but no thanks. See you in Mason Neck in April.

swimmer25k

See you there.

swimchica623

I have super long hair that is really thick. It's so pretty when it is dry and actually styled...which happens like four times a year. Sometimes I wish I could have less wet hair (dripping down my back too) and more time with pretty hair that doesn't have to get wet every 12 hours!!!

pavlicov

My first post here: I hate the chemicals they use in some NYC pool showers and changing areas. They make my lungs burn at night after swim when lying down (I have to stand and walk to get rid of the pain) so much that I was coughing blood in the morning. Since then, I swim only half of the year. It sucks.

Then there is the wet long hair and sea-lice. But I take those over coughing blood any day.

Mandai

The time and hassle it takes to go to the pool or the beach, esp. when time-pressed (nothing beats running in this regard).

Dawn_Treader

Salt mouth and breast strokers. I hate them both.

Natalieswims

1. A lady that I won't mention her name that is heavily caffeinated and is obsessed with the website "did you swim today."
2. A wetsuit posse swimming next to you while you are in skins. (Just get away from me)

Natalieswims

When she comes and all the wetsuit gang comes, I just swim by myself and book it down to the beach without them. I secretly like this because I will haul arse to the buoy. :-)

KatieBun

Mass starts, long hairs in a swimming pool, anything above 28C in a pool, women in full make-up, talking 19 to the dozen whilst swimming glacially slow breaststroke......these are the same people who complain that the water's cold if it dips below 30C.( Swim harder if you don't like it.....or just go and stand in the shower. It's about the same level of exercise!) Unexpected "private lane hire" occasions, which has us all jammed in the two remaining lanes, people who stand across the end of the lane so you can't turn, pools in general, wetsuit compulsory events, being much slower than I'd like to be......but it's all forgotten once I get in the sea. :-)

KatieBun

Forgot the eejit in the speedboat who kept ruining our swims throughout 2013, until we complained to the coastguard and the council. Haven't seen him since.

gtswim

Swimming through a hair ball. Thanks @ KatiBun for that reminder.

Getting the same leg cramp during my Wednesday workout, especially at the end of a workout where I'm feeling really strong and holding a better than usual pace.

danswims

Perfume hanging in a cloud over the pool's surface.

gnome4766

@danswims Why do people insist on wearing cologne to a swimming pool?

danswims

@gnome4766 No idea, fortunately it doesn't happen much at 6AM when I usually swim.

stevenc616

Getting caught in seaweed.

heart

I don't dislike swimming at all. But I'm finding myself becoming more and more impatient about any of the external jump-through-hoops stuff involved with the process of channel crossings and the like. I miss the experience of swimming for my own pleasure.

heart

That's a really sweet proposition, @Niek. I'll certainly consider it.

Mayanblue75

Waking up at 4:30 AM to get a swim in. It makes all better the moment I jump in the water!

doversoul

It maybe just me but I hate seaweed.
I hate endless laps in the confined pool.
Cannot wait for the season to start at Dover

stevenc616

The knowledge that most everyone is peeing in the pool.

Leonard_Jansen

Leaving your wet suit and towel in the car overnight when it's sub-freezing and then having the suit be stiff, cold and damp when you put it on in the AM.

-LBJ