I used to do competitive swimming but it was training that allowed you to switch off and can't beat it. Alas public swimming pool's are a chaos of noise and actions and whilst some have swim lanes, your kinda relieving gridlock and just causes more stress than I can expel.
What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
21–30 of 125 posts
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#22Just finished swimming a race from Alcatraz to shore, it's just the best high. I do tons of endurance sports, but swimming is the most reliable in yielding that euphoric feeling. I think it's due to it being essentially forced mindfulness meditation. Though you could swim with music, I don't and that means it's just my thoughts for 30-60 min (watch the thoughts, can't do anything about them right now). I'm forced to…
That just gave me an idea of circular swimming pool.
They exist and they are very annoying compared to regular old 50m lanes. You end up having to constantly overcompensate to one side (obviously) but also you suddenly have to either burn in a constant bias to your technique (bad) or be constantly aware of the boundaries, which ruins the normal flow of pool swimming. They are fun for families and kids who only ever do one or a half round, but if you like swimming just stick to traditional pools.
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#23Just finished swimming a race from Alcatraz to shore, it's just the best high. I do tons of endurance sports, but swimming is the most reliable in yielding that euphoric feeling. I think it's due to it being essentially forced mindfulness meditation. Though you could swim with music, I don't and that means it's just my thoughts for 30-60 min (watch the thoughts, can't do anything about them right now). I'm forced to…
That just gave me an idea of circular swimming pool.
A similar idea is this:
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
That just gave me an idea of circular swimming pool.
They exist and they are very annoying compared to regular old 50m lanes. You end up having to constantly overcompensate to one side (obviously) but also you suddenly have to either burn in a constant bias to your technique (bad) or be constantly aware of the boundaries, which ruins the normal flow of pool swimming. They are fun for families and kids who only ever do one or a half round, but if you like swimming just…
I once saw a documentary about a fish farm where they had tanks where fish were forced to swim in circles. Probably not the most fish friendly environment.
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
That just gave me an idea of circular swimming pool.
They exist and they are very annoying compared to regular old 50m lanes. You end up having to constantly overcompensate to one side (obviously) but also you suddenly have to either burn in a constant bias to your technique (bad) or be constantly aware of the boundaries, which ruins the normal flow of pool swimming. They are fun for families and kids who only ever do one or a half round, but if you like swimming just…
How about a pool in a rotating orbital space station? Just keep swimming forwards and slightly uphill :) Just don't lose the fake G or you could be the first person to drown in space.
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
That just gave me an idea of circular swimming pool.
They exist and they are very annoying compared to regular old 50m lanes. You end up having to constantly overcompensate to one side (obviously) but also you suddenly have to either burn in a constant bias to your technique (bad) or be constantly aware of the boundaries, which ruins the normal flow of pool swimming. They are fun for families and kids who only ever do one or a half round, but if you like swimming just…
So, clearly the solution should be a figure-eight swimming pool? Where 1/3 of the time you're going straight, 1/3 overcorrecting left, 1/3 right
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
They exist and they are very annoying compared to regular old 50m lanes. You end up having to constantly overcompensate to one side (obviously) but also you suddenly have to either burn in a constant bias to your technique (bad) or be constantly aware of the boundaries, which ruins the normal flow of pool swimming. They are fun for families and kids who only ever do one or a half round, but if you like swimming just…
So, clearly the solution should be a figure-eight swimming pool? Where 1/3 of the time you're going straight, 1/3 overcorrecting left, 1/3 right
No, the solution is to move the water and have the swimming equivalent of a treadmill. NB: this already actually exists, only remember seeing it in a video at some point though.
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#28Just finished swimming a race from Alcatraz to shore, it's just the best high. I do tons of endurance sports, but swimming is the most reliable in yielding that euphoric feeling. I think it's due to it being essentially forced mindfulness meditation. Though you could swim with music, I don't and that means it's just my thoughts for 30-60 min (watch the thoughts, can't do anything about them right now). I'm forced to…
That just gave me an idea of circular swimming pool.
There are also swimming "treadmills". I experienced a water jet a long time ago and it was ok, but I think these are a bit more sophisticated. These could be cool, never been in one though.
Edit: Looked into them, they're pretty cool. You can option them with a mirror on the bottom to do form work, they take up far less space than a real pool and the fastest can sustain a pace of 51s/100yard which is very very quick.
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
That just gave me an idea of circular swimming pool.
They exist and they are very annoying compared to regular old 50m lanes. You end up having to constantly overcompensate to one side (obviously) but also you suddenly have to either burn in a constant bias to your technique (bad) or be constantly aware of the boundaries, which ruins the normal flow of pool swimming. They are fun for families and kids who only ever do one or a half round, but if you like swimming just…
Interesting - do you know if the negative effects of circular swimming pool affect fish hatcheries? (fish are forced to swim against current)
If I had to guess, I'd say not as much b/c of the size of the fish.
Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness
#30>Ever the philosopher of the pool, Igor smiled and said, “You are all confused! Speed is not the goal; it is the result of perfect beautiful technique.” >What really mattered to Igor was excellence — the efficient stroke. Once you mastered that, he argued, speed would follow naturally. Speed was simply the welcome side effect of swimming well. >I’ve been thinking lately that there’s a lesson here that goes beyond the…
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.