The guard told us at this morning's master's practice that they may close the pool due to the virus (or maybe the distancing). It wasn't as crowded as usual either :(

So a good news week for you and your relationship with the water!

I've had similar experiences with the PB & lava pants.

& in my exper. that speed DOES transfer to open water swimming with a wetsuit!

fins?

snorkle?

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

No fins for me. I do have fins, but I'm not using them. Should I?

I AM using the snorkle. Honestly, though I'm skeptical it's helping me at all. Not that I have some awesome pull form (probably don't since paddles help SO much) but I worry that with the snorkel I'm not practicing the breath-integration with the stroke as much. I have no issues with this on my strong side, but if I breathe to my weak side, it's really obvious that the snorkel does not seem to make this any easier once I lose the snorkel.

I'd say the PB gives me -2 sec/100, the Lava pants -3sec/100, but the Finis medium paddles give me a whopping -7 to -10 sec/100. With Lava pants + Finis paddles, I'm blasting off at -13 sec/100, which is nuts.

Weirdly, the last time I seriously tried PB + paddles was about 5 years ago, and back then, I got zero speed boost from the paddles, and I actually got -7 sec/100 SLOWER with the PB, even with flip turns. I even practiced it hoping it would get better, but it didn't. My only theory is that my arm power/endurance has gotten a lot stronger over the years, so now I can 'unlock' the paddle potential, whereas before I was pulling to weakly to take advantage of the paddle. Kinda like if a raw beginner uses a giant paddle - they're barely going to go faster, and may possibly go slower.

I stopped going to the gym but still swimming for the moment.. so my swim mileage per week has doubled ! ha.

looks like chlorine kills the virus,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15847934/

Free residue chlorine over 0.5 mg/L for chlorine or 2.19 mg/L for chlorine dioxide in wastewater ensures complete inactivation of SARS-CoV

Best practice for pool chlorination is 1-3 ppm. A measure of mg/L of water is also a PPM amount by mass. So it's safe to get in the water, though the rest of the rec center may not be..

My pool is always empty (never share a lane), but now it is extra empty. Yesterday it was me in the deep end and some lonely soul in the shallow end and the lifeguard (olympic size pool set up short course).

That said, the gym itself was packed! It is a college rec center and there seemed to be quite the congregation. I normally slip in and out quite effortlessly, but this time there was no parking, weaving through loitering students, and general standing about just between the front door and the locker room. And my usual 'entire-bench-to-myself' was not a thing any more.

So, the pool was empty. The gym was not. But 90% 18 - 22 year olds and us few random old people (old here is >30).

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Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

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Have noticed the gym people are wiping down the machines a lot more. Unfortunately most fail to wipe the handles where you push/pull and the nob to adjust the weights but just wipe the seat and back. The people wipe the free weight bars but never wipe the kettle bells and dumbbells or plates they all touch. Things that make you think Hmmmmm?

Does anyone know if pools with "salt" systems are as safe?

I noticed the same thing. I went to grab wipes to wipe down treadmill and they were all out.

A lot fewer people and almost none of the older denizens(some strange, some not) who are usually at the pool.

Kind of sad, hope they are all ok. I'm planning on trying to take advantage of the emptiness as often as I can for as long as I can though. I really think the longer workouts have helped me, but they are not feasible/productive when the place is overrun.

I went to the gym last night and saw the same thing. But I'm not seeing any change in pool attendance.

I don't know. I use them for some sets, but have had some experienced people tell me I should wear them a lot more to work ankle flexibility. They certainly make the swimming easier...and faster.

Twice in the last 2 weeks I have been the only person in the pool.

I don't swim with music, so on the bright side the life guard turned up the music for me so i could hear it swimming.

My local pool this morning was a tad less busy than usual. Wanna say about 70% of the regulars were there by 7:30am. I'll see if the afternoon sessions got less busy.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

I just decided right now to abort my swim this morning. It’s likely my race gets cancelled (and I don’t like swimming), so don’t see why I should go to the gym and put myself in contact with at minimum dozens of other people through the locker room / showers etc if not necessary.

And no I’m not really worried about getting it myself, but everyone needs to start thinking this way to slow the spread of the virus.

Not a soul in the water after work yesterday. Had to cut it short to make it to dinner with my family on time, but 6 lanes, 30 minutes, all solo.

My pool was crowded this morning. Three people stuffed into an 8-lane pool. None of us circle swam, either. So difficult!

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

The Pool I swim in is also noticeably quieter! Good to know that the Chlorine kills the virus so swimming is relatively safe!

I'm pretty sure the salt systems create chlorine via dissociation of the salt in the water. Whether or not the chloramine levels are high enough to kill the virus, I don't know. I imagine they have to have similar disinfection properties as a regular chlorine pool to meet all health requirements.

I'm a couple of weeks from turning 61. No health issues. I'm going to be working from home starting next week until my Ohio State University boss tells me it is safe for us to return. I've stockpiled food for at least several weeks, so I can basically self quarantine myself from everyone except my wife if I stop going to the university pool and gym two times a week. I'll get in a swim and lift tomorrow, then I'll have to decide. I'm guessing there won't be many students in the rec center where the pool/gym is located when I'm working at home, but is it still worth the risk? I have stretch cords and can do body weight strength training at home. I'd gladly give up the pool for the local lake, but I'll have to wait two months for that.

Should I avoid the pool? I agree that there is a lot more risk of catching the virus in the weight room and in the locker room compared to in the pool.

If that's your only risk to catching it then I'd eliminate it for sure.

My wife should have the option to work from home soon, but she doesn't really want to do it. Maybe we will work out a deal. I won't go to the pool/gym if she works at home and she also avoids going out in public as much as possible. If she is still going to work and shops almost every night on her way home, I might as well go to the pool and lift a couple of times a week.

My only thoughts on the pool are how quickly the chlorine acts on bacteria/virus cells. The guy who lets a big green one go just in front of you in the circle ...are all the cells dead in the three seconds it takes you to plow thru his mess? Not only big green ones but most every swimmer has oral exposure to the water on every stroke/breathing cycle. I never knew that until I started ocean swimming how much water washed in and out of my mouth. That is where I learned to keep my mouth sealed or the salt water does wonky things to your mouth and makes you really thirsty.

Some things I just can't think of a good response too. Maybe it is 100% safe? Or 95%, or 50%, I just don't know. I have always known gyms were a cesspool of germs, so yesterday was my last day for the gym for a while. As far as germ/virus safety goes solo riding, hiking or running outdoors in unpopulated areas seems to be one of the safest activities. Or for all the home trainer folks, jump on board for a long ride to nowhere where life is virus free. (we hope)

My gym/pool opens at 5 am and I often have to arrive by 4:50 and wait outside in line to guarantee a split lane. This morning there were a total of four people swimming instead of the usual 12 (6 split lanes) plus a few folks waiting for a lane to open. Got to be the virus I imagine.

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There were ZERO people in the facility (two pools, hot tub & steam room) when I got there to swim today. So weird. I counted 5 or so when I left.