Tell me about open swim?

[vanillahip]

I want to swim. I am so incredibly awkward and have social anxiety like woah.

So would you please be a dear and walk me through open/ lap swim? Wtf do I do? Can more than 1 person use a lane? Will I look silly if I don't have X or Y piece of equipment? (Goggles would be a must, do I need a cap? Or.... Hell if I know!)

A local school has a pretty good schedule, inexpensive, I want to go up to check it out. I'm nervous. (so stupid lol) thanks for talking me through it! ::totally sheepish::

[katinthehat]

goggles yes.

I'm going to say yes to a cap as well although you probably will see people without them.

If the lane is empty, jump in. If there's someone in it, just ask if they mind sharing and say, which side do you want? Then you use the black line on the bottom of the lane to divide it.

Sometimes, you'll see people circle swim, which is exactly what it sounds like, up one side of the lane, down the other, and it's when you need to fit more than two people in a lane. I've been swimming for 2.5 years at my gym now and have only encountered this once.

Some people wear flip flops to and from the deck to the locker room. There's no official protocol (that I know of) on that. I usually try to drip dry for a moment before walking back to the locker room so that I'm not leaving a huge puddle where I stand.

Don't worry about looking stupid. Seriously. I don't think there are enough people who are truly good at swimming to notice anything about your stroke. Most of the time, I'm just trying not to drown.

[vanillahip]

Kat FTW!! Thank you so much, that is hugely helpful!

[al320]

I felt the same way before i started swimming. What really helped me was taking a class, it helped me swim better but also,just feel comfortable at the pool.

[zoidberg]

This is so helpful, I'm glad you asked!

[mainewifey]

I like to try to watch the other lanes for a moment and get a feel for what each swimmer is doing and pick my lane based on that. For instance, if there's someone who is killing it doing speed sets and I just want to swim some easy laps, I'm not going to pick that lane.

Also since I only swim freestyle I try not to pick lanes that are being used by people doing butterfly or medleys because I always feel like I'm in the way.

Sometimes there's no choice and you just go with whatever you can.

[vanillahip]

Thanks again ladies!! I pulled out my suits from high school (aye, it's been that long!) and -duh- had to buy a new one! (12 year old elastic is so gross)

So my new suit, and goggles and cap lol, show up Wed and I'm hoping to be back in the pool- armed with your awesome info- on Thurs! Thank you!!