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pool temp
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What's the ave. temp. for most lap pools? The pool I'm using (at a major state university with no swim team) is kept imo very warm.

today, for example: the small lap pool was at 86 deg.; the large lap pool was 82 deg.; and the deep water pool was at 84 deg.

i asked one of the guards about water temp, and she said she didn't know,just that they checked the temp everyday.

I suspect the temp is kept high to pacify the elderlies who have a daily "LIFE" program -- kinda like water aerobics for older people, I think.

*****
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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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That does sound very warm. I'm not sure what the optimal temperature is for a training pool, but I do notice that better swimmers seem to prefer it cooler than I personally like.

If the water is comfortable the moment I get in then it is generally too warm for a good workout. Then again, maybe training in warmer water makes the workout "harder" and therefore exerts a greater training effect.

Interesting topic. We need some swim specialists to chime in here.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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these are high temperatures! I wouldn't like to swim hard sets in these pools...
our warm pool here is 80F which is warm to swim in (but I go there because I always do lots of drills. I
think the other one is 77-78
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Re: pool temp [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]
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I have been swimming competitively for 30 years. Like most competitive swimmers, I can tell the temp within 1/2 degree. 84 is way too hot and most swimmers would overheat. 78.5 to 79 tends to be the optimal temp and most world class competition pools are set there
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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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Most of the pools I've swum out of kept the temp WAY too high (~84!) - either for the kiddies, or the aqua-robics classes. People who come to actually swim, get overheated in a hurry.

I have discovered however, that most long course pools (50m) keep the water cooler ~78deg. I think this is because people who want to swim laps gravitate towards the longer pools, whereas kids & seniors don't care - they likely prefer smaller pools with a slide, 3 diving boards plus a hot tub & a sauna.

University pools are also good for training temps. (Same reason)


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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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I feel your pain. The club where I swam was kept at 86-87 to pacify the kids and the elderly. On the cool days it was at 84. I was training for IM racing and it would be brutal doing long stuff. I said to hell with it and got an Endless pool that I keep between 79-80. That temp is perfect for me no matter what workout I do.
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Re: pool temp [tridogdude] [ In reply to ]
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I used to swim in a pool, that was sometimes over 90. OUCH!!! I used to have to get out and stand in the breeze every couple of hundred yards to cool down. That was brutal.

When the Olympic team trained at the Rose Bowl Pools here in 2002, they kept the pool COLD. You had to swim fairly fast for the first 150-200 just to get comfortable. Then it was great.

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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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The Y I swim at keeps it at ~84.5, for exactly the reason you mention.(This is an ongoing battle, since we have 40 people paying and extra $300/year to swim there at 5 am, and we want it cooler) Most of the people I talk to at competitions who also swim at Y's say theirs are around the same. The pool we have meets at, which hosts several high school and college teams has been around 86-87 recently.

And that's much too warm.

Swim magazine recently had an interesting article about pool temps. To summarize, the temperature for a pool used for athletic/competitive swimming should be between 80-82 degrees. Any warmer than that can cause problems for swimmers, as they can have difficulty shedding body heat and get overheated.

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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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I swim at two different locations. The one pool is on a military base and is used by a swim club. It is awesome and always seems to be under 80 degrees, the other is at the health club where they do the aqua fit classes and it is always over 85 and is like swimming in soup on some days. The temperatures seem to be set according to the wishes/needs of the most frequent users.
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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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I left my gym that I was at for 3 years b/c they decided to pacify the elderly floaters and raise the temp to 86-88. The gym I am currently at keeps it between 80 and 82 which is fine.

It has been a very long time, but I thought that the college (UIL) rules mandated 78-82 as the acceptable range for swim meets. When my gym raised their pool temps from 82 to 88 I downloaded a UIL pdf on pool conditions to try and use it to convince them, it didn't work for me but you may give it a try.
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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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Ymca Pool 80-84

University Pool 76-78

Which do i like best . Getting in the YMCA after 200 the University. If I swim early A.M. I always go to the warm one ; ) From noon on the 76-78
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Re: pool temp [j-son] [ In reply to ]
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Proper competition temperature is 78F plus or minus one degree.

I swim outdoors year round. In winter, they say they heat to 84F, which actually ends up feeling fairly right when the air temperature is in the 50s, and the top layer of water cools off some.

In summer, they turn the pool heaters off, and by August, it's pushing 90F water temperatures because it never really cools off in the summer here. (at times the low temps will be 78-80) Pool management's too cheap to put in a cooling system, so you just grumble and figure you're acclimating for race day.
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Re: pool temp [FLA Jill] [ In reply to ]
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Kind of the antithesis of the thread but I ended up doing a swim workout last year that was a little bit difficult due to the temperature of the water. The pool has two entrances and I normally come in from the back off the locker room and foudn the pool empty for a change. When I got in the water I thought it felt cold - more like one of those quench tanks that some gyms offer for people to jump into right after getting out of the hot tub - but having endured colder water when I was in the military, I continued with my swim. Right after I finished, one the gym employees came by and asked if I had been swimming? Puzzled I answered yes and mentioned that I thought the water had seemed a bit cold afterwhich he informed me that the pool was actually closed because the heater had broken the night before (the water was about 70 degrees at the time). Although I had not seen any signs on the back door when I entered the pool area, I did notice that there was a large piece of paper taped to the front door of the pool with the hand written message "Pool Closed"!



Michael

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Barton Springs in Austin is 68 degrees [ In reply to ]
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Anyone from Austin, TX? One of my favorite place to swim when I was living in Austin was Barton Springs Pool. It is a natural Spring that is great for doing laps in, long laps. Each length is an 1/8 of a mile. Just like a track 4 laps to the mile. The only draw back is that it is 68 degrees year round. When I first started to swim there I used a wetsuit but I later began to swim there without one. Geting in the water was rough but once I was swimming I was fine.

JW

Retired from Running since 2004...
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Re: pool temp [FLA Jill] [ In reply to ]
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Some pools have large fire hose sized pump sprayers that shoot the water up in the air to cool it off in the summer. These are great on hot days. I don't know if they would work in humid locations.

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Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.
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Re: Barton Springs in Austin is 68 degrees [NYTri] [ In reply to ]
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The first 50-75 yards at 68 is a bitch though. I used to swim for a team that practiced at East Grand Rapids high school. That place would only heat the pool to 68, maybe 70 if we were lucky during the summer. And then there was the week where they were having problems with the pool heater, and the temperature was barely over 60.

Which in the long run has left me with a pretty high tolerance for cold water in general.
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