Ironman Mark

Up to 18 months ago, I loved swimming.  It was the best bit of triathlon.  I went to the local pool first thing in the morning, queuing to get in before it opened. Keen.  Dead keen.

Then the pool said I could not use paddles in the pool.  This was  the start.

Then they took away a lane.  Before, the swim club had three in the mornings and the public had three lanes.  Slow, Medium and Fast.  Then we only had two: slow and every one else.

There were battles: I did a kick set in the slow lane and a breaststroker accused me of deliberately getting myself kicked.  There is one person who winds me up big time.  It became annoying.  Frustrating.

Eight people in the lane means you can’t do anything.  Very fast people wanted to overtake.  Slow people were in the way.  I could not choose what I wanted to do.  Training became pot-luck.  Training became a chore.  Training became a bit of random swimming.

A week ago, they took the remaining two lanes away.  No notice.  No warning.  Just gone.

I could no longer train in the local pool.  I was allowed to be in the pool at 7:30am but that’s too late as I’d never get into work in time.  There’s no way I could swim in the evening as the lanes only became available after 9pm.  And then not every day of the week.  When I did go, I was so awake that I did not get to sleep until 11:30 or so.

So I got on my high horse.  I spoke to the swim club.  I spoke to the council.  I spoke to the trust and I spoke to management.  Google is a fantastic tool for finding home phone numbers.  Hopefully this will get the decision reversed but perhaps not.

Management also manages another pool.  So they let me swim there as part of my membership.  So I tried it on Friday.  It’s a 11.5 mile drive there.  But I liked it.  Management was friendly and the pool was quiet.  Two maybe three people in the lane.

So this morning, I queued up before the doors opened.  I did a session that I used to love doing.  It was great.  Only one or two people in the lane.  1 hour 35 mins after starting, I got out and still had a big smile.  A very big smile.

My fitness is down.  In January 2009 I did the same session and timed three “all-out” 200m efforts during the set: 2:57, 2:56 and 3:01.  Today it was 3:02, 3:07 and 3:17.  But it will get quicker with practice!