Tiny Pool

Last summer/fall/winter, Twin Rivers built an indoor pool. For a couple of reasons, this did not get me too excited. The main reason I wasn't wetting my pants in anticipation is I could not swim at all so the pool was a physician of little value to me. Another reason I was disinterested concerned pool itself. I was told by the director, it was to be 60 feet by 20 feet. That is a really small body of water, and I wondered how I could possibly get a training effect in something that small.

Nevertheless, as I recently began to swim again, I felt I ought to give the tiny thing a try, at least once. My sometimes training partner, John, was all against it the last time we talked. But since he does physical therapy on Monday, I decided to see if I could get in and swim test the new facilities. Miss Stela, whom I called after my summer school class let out, told me I had to get a reservation. I got one from 1:30 to 2:30.

The way it works is you drive up and then call her and she sends someone over to open the door for you. Once the door was opened, I was surprised to see first that the pool has the lane lines on the bottom. All two of them. Then I was shocked at how long the pool looked. Just gazing it appeared as long as a short course pool. My next surprise was at how cool the water was. Without the sun to heat it up, it must have been over twenty degrees cooler than the outdoor pool.

Notice the lane lines and the roof over head.
Now I'm a believer, an excited one.

Another surprise came when I attempted to set my Garmin watch to a custom distance of 20 yards only to find that it would only go as short as 22.5. That meant my numbers and averages would be off. Not to worry. I could deal with that later. First, I wanted to swim. That's when I received yet one more surprise. The pool not only looked like a short course pool, but it felt like it when I swam it. After a few laps, I even counted my strokes, and I got the same number I do when I swim at DSU when the bulkhead is set for 25 yards. But, I thought, maybe it is because I am not in shape, and if I were really in a short course pool, my numbers would be higher.

To make a short story long, I stopped when my watch said I had swum 1342 yards. At home, I tried to convert that to what it really was, but I could not shake the idea that I was swimming a full 25 yards per length instead of 20. So I sent the director a text asking her how long the pool was. Her reply: "75 feet." 

I knew it. 

Now I can set my watch and get the numbers correct. Twenty-five yards is sufficient for real training. And now I can have more access to water even this winter, I think. I short, I am one step closer to getting back into shape. I am in no hurry, however. I am, and no doubt will remain, gun shy for a long time. One step, one swim at a time. Thank you, Jesus.