What is it with health clubs building 20 yard pools and advertising them as Olympic sized? Isn’t Oly size defined as 50 meters?
At least you can do 5 laps and get 100y in. The one club near my house is 21y and another is 23y. I do not swim at them anymore, I joined a swim and tennis club and workout with the 13-18yo now 
Plus I have to be a member since my daughter is on the swim team.
Find a local swim club to swim at, it is much better. Although it typically comes at a higher price.
more expensive…
But better water.
Swam elsewhere last night and was amazed by the clarity.
It completely screwed up my flip-turns as i didn’t realize how close I was getting to the wall and almost smacked my head a couple of times.
And regulation lane width. Wow. what a difference.
In some areas finding a decent place to swim can be tough.
Once when travelling I had called ahead and found what I thought was going to be a good pool. The website had pictures and the person on the phone was real nice. Everything was good until I put a foot in. Thermometer said 95 degrees. Apparently the pool was mostly used for water aerobics and exercising by the more senior aged. I lasted about 30 minutes.
Pools also seem to be very particular about visitors. Pools in my area require a full club membership with no option of a day pass or reduced fee for using the pool only.
Rob
Yea, and how about practicing flip turns in an advertised “Olympic size” pool…that’s 3 feet deep on either end.
San Francisco has to be one of the worst places to find a good pool to swim at. You either have to join a health club that charges between $130-$155/month, sign up for YMCA or 24hr Fitness and hope you don’t get some nasty infection or disease from the dirty water, or use a Public Pool that is over crowded and has limited lap swimming availability.
Last year I tried the public pool thing and it was a disaster. This year I signed up for a health club and the pool is only 21.88 yds! Try doing math on that while getting your intervals in. The water is not all that great either. I am going to be looking into swimming at another popular spot here in the city, but am worried it might be too crowded because a lot of local triathletes swim there.
do they say olympic size or olympic style. I beleive they use the latter around here. definition…rectangluar pool with lanes
So why are the San Fran city pools so messed up? I have swum at two different ones during the many races I have done in the city, and been thoroughly dissapointed both times. They are weird distances, and what is up with the asian style of taking two lanes, pulling out the lane line and swimming in a circle in the GIANT lane? makes it impossible to do intervals. I got yelled at last year before aclactraz at the pool in the west end for swimming counterclockwise? Aparently there is a huge group of English and Aussies in the neighborhood?
I don’t get it, in a city that is both very active and has lots of swimmers (go down to aquatic park on the weekend, and that water is freezing), why are the public pools so weird?
Any locals have info?
I wish I knew the answer, but public pools are impossible to get a decent swim in. You are right on in what you described what your experience was from swimming in them. Now try dealing with that for a full season 3 times a week. No thanks!!! It’s no wonder I was so damn slow in the water last year, haha.
Olympic size is 50m
“Olympic style” is marketing hype for “is rectangular, and has lane ropes”
I swim at 24hr. fitness here in the Bay Area (Mtn. View), since I get off work too late for any real pool. The pool is 16-2/3 yards, so 3 laps will get you roughly a 100 (yards), but the pushoff/stroke ratio is off, so you have to make your own intervals for that pool.
Ironically, I have the same problem with the Menlo Park pool. It’s 33-1/3 meters long (why?), so forget doing 50s.
Ha, I was just talking with a friend of mine about this. Back in Fresno, when a local gym was being built, they had a sign up advertising a
“Junior Olympic size pool”
WTF, it’s either Olympic or it’s not. Yep, ended up being 20 yards, 3 1/2 ft deep at the ends and 4 1/2 at the deepest. Great for water aerobics, not so fun for lap swimming.
Chris
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yeah but now fresno is BIG TIME BABY! not sure when you were here last but since clovis north high school opened last year, it’s been ALL good. not one but TWO brand-spanking new 50 meter pools AND that welcome masters swimmers! in fact, United States Masters Swimming (USMS) nationals are being held at north next month
if that wasn’t enough, clovis unified is redoing the olympic pool at clovis west also so it’ll be like new again in the fall. you gotta love a district that has 3 olympic pools!
Yep, it’s been a while. Dang, that’s a lot of OLYMPIC sized pools in Clovis now-a-days. Great swimming opportunities. Though, when you coming over to Monterey and swim in my pool…
I think alot of places say that they are olympic size, not style, simply because the people dont know any better. My fiance works for a PR firm representing a new apartment complex that advertised having an olympic size pool which is actually about 12 yards long. I told her to get them to change it and they did care. I think people that aren’t swimmers have a hard time realizing that swimmers will go well out of there way to find a good pool and when they dont find one they can get really mad. We may be a small group, but we are a vocal group.
My fitness club, the Aquatic and Fitness Center, has a 100m pool. Unfortunately, it’s not at the location that is only five minutes from my house. In fact, the local Aquatic and Fitness Center doesn’t even have a pool!!! Why a company with Aquatic in its name would choose a location that cannot accommodate a pool is beyond me, but they did.
When I lived in SF I swam at Club One. I think a few locations were 25m, and there was almost no-one ever in there. Well - not in the lanes, anyway.
I live in a very small town and the pool at my gym is 25 feet. Yes, that’s right, 25 feet. It takes me 8 strokes to get across. it’s reall not worth even getting in. On the other hand the public pool is long, albeit a strange length, I believe it’s 40 yards across. I can’t wait for it to open!
My fitness club, the Aquatic and Fitness Center, has a 100m pool. Unfortunately, it’s not at the location that is only five minutes from my house. In fact, the local Aquatic and Fitness Center doesn’t even have a pool!!! Why a company with Aquatic in its name would choose a location that cannot accommodate a pool is beyond me, but they did.
100m? Really? where and what time is that in?
My fitness club, the Aquatic and Fitness Center, has a 100m pool. Unfortunately, it’s not at the location that is only five minutes from my house. In fact, the local Aquatic and Fitness Center doesn’t even have a pool!!! Why a company with Aquatic in its name would choose a location that cannot accommodate a pool is beyond me, but they did.
100m? Really? where and what time is that in?
Can’t help you there but Kits pool in Vancouver is 150y / 137.5m.
It’s open every summer from the May long weekend until sometime after Labour Day.
My fitness club, the Aquatic and Fitness Center, has a 100m pool. Unfortunately, it’s not at the location that is only five minutes from my house. In fact, the local Aquatic and Fitness Center doesn’t even have a pool!!! Why a company with Aquatic in its name would choose a location that cannot accommodate a pool is beyond me, but they did.
100m? Really? where and what time is that in?
Aquatic & Fitness Center, Philadelphia location
//Edward