Friday, July 25, 2008

A Shout out for advice from Triathletes and Swimmers or anyone who has an idea:

What would YOU do with this pool, if you were ( me ) a swimmer who would like to be a swimmer again..and will be using this pool regularly in the short spring/summer/fall months in Minnesota? Granted I need to define "swimmer."
For me in the last year, due to some shoulder issues, a crappy hot indoor pool that makes my eyes itch, and a not too cordial aqua aerobics teacher who doesnt like to share her space..."swimmer" is defined as 800 meters on a short day. And maybe 2000 on a long day.
Some sets of 1, 2, 3 or 2 x 500 but nothing really really harsh.
Whenenver I thought I would do 10 x 100 I usually gave in after hitting 1'30" thinking, heck, that was it. done. "my neck hurts. My shoulder hurts, the aquatics lady is gonna bonk me in the head with the lane line and there are 6 people in my lane. outta here."
So tour the pictures and look at the options below and let me know what you think.



Phew, glad this warning sticker is here. It should just say "Diving could cause massive trauma to your brain, spinal shock followed by either temporary or permanent hemiplegia or quadriplegia depending on what level of your spinal column is affected and whether there is a full break in the vertebrae with anterior dislodgement into your spinal cord."
"You dive, you are screwed."
That ought to keep the neighbors out.


Options as I see them:

1st) Endless pool or some other motorized attachment. Sends a current that you swim into and hope that your buddies dont turn it off so you fly into the wall. Pro: cool and seems like it would mimic open water swims. Con: $$ And if i get an endless pool I may as well enclose the pool so i could use it year round... more $$.

2nd) Some bungee cord dealie I saw on the Body Zen newsletter. Harness around your waist, suction cups to the wall and you swim tethered to the wall and hope the suction doesnt come loose. Pro: Cost, ease of use and likely could get two for side by side use. Con: Does it work? I tried the aqua jogger hitch and since i am not too large i am afraid i would swim out of the belt

3rd) Means pulling up some dirt. Extend a portion of the pool to make a lap lane. My sister has a double lap pool in Houston ( yea i know, they have more months to swim than we do here.) and it is sweet. It works just fine for parties and my nephew can swim laps and kick around just fine.

This pool looks long, but for me it is about 4-5 full strokes and i am at the wall. Flip turns are fine but i dont really need to be practicing those. I think it is about 12 M long.

Injured runners, there is a deep end. That is cool ...let me know, Aquajogging is boring solo. Not on my training log right now, thankfully but would have some aquajogging parties in support of those of you that need them!

So...what to do?

6 comments:

Steve Stenzel said...

My thought is Endless Pool. I don't know much about the bungee things, but that doesn't sound as "natural" as an Endless Pool

(although, what's natural about water wooshing around you while you struggle to stay put...)

;)

StevenCX said...

4) Invite everyone over for a pool party!

Eclectchick said...

Bungie deal sounds lame. I question the ability to really work the pull effectively.

I still vote for the thingie which turns your pool into an Endless Pool. You can use the money you saved from NOT digging out more meters for the lap pool idea for some kind of winter enclosure/hood/something.

Awesome that you already have the deep water for aquajogging. When we looked into getting an EP, I definitely wanted that little addition.

I'm so envious! STILL want an EP . . .

muyres said...

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25916175/

Cy said...

I'm not sure how much those drop in Endless pool things are, but that would be my suggestion. I've used the bungy thing before (self made with bike tube for your ankles and strechy band (from fitness Dept at Target) and tied it to the nearest sturdy attachment. Works for a while, cheap, but BORING...

I like the Pool party suggestion-Invite all your tri friends and then we can do a full analysis ;-)

Cy said...

Just saw this thread on Slowtwitch:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Endless_Pool_training%2C_anyone_P1907409/