I cant seem to find any real information on the whens and wheres. I have found two of the lap pools, one north near the Publix/Fire station. I guess there are three more.
The woman at the Sales center was not helpful at all and said I need their app and it “shows all of the dances and activities”. I did bump into about 40 or so on bikes, but they are not swimmers (just ask em).
The Ocala Y has a nice pool but it is about 30 minutes from the Villages…
So, what say you?
There is an awesome pool in Clermont at the National Training Center. 45 min +/- away though I think
We were just there, really nice area!! Not sure about lap pools, and it really didn’t strike me as a good place to get real bike training in - many intersections, golf carts, slower riders, etc. But I really enjoyed running there.
I have had no issues on the bike (once you get out of golf cart land). Tons of roads, the MTN biking at Santos is awesome as well. The pools look super nice (the two I have seen), but one was full of old women on floaties, the other was empty (not sure why, almost as freaky)
Ocala Y has a Masters Swim Program. I swim at a different Masters Swim in Ocala but I am thinking of changing to the Y since that is where all the local Triathletes/friends swim. The Masters coach at current pool doesn’t know what any triathlon swim distances are. I hear the Masters Coach at the Y competes in Triathlons. Better pool hours at the Y too.
Kid at the y said not more than eight folks show up for AM masters. I am going to be in The Villages… So…much closer (and ‘free’).
We’re you at HITS?
Sometimes I swim at the Y during the day and notice the water is cloudy but its got an AWESOME facility. It’s also only has about 6 lanes, if I remember correctly, for lap swimming and only a 25 yard option. But the hours for open lap swimming are nice. Masters is Mon, Wed, and Fri. 5am-7am so you have to get up pretty early to get there. But, I hear it’s included in the price of membership so that is pretty nice. Over-all I think we are joining the Y family plan tomorrow.
I was not at HITS this year. Raced Olympic last year and got bad sinus infection. They closed the lake for high bacteria levels shortly after. This year, the same thing. HITS was this last weekend then Monday the County closed the lake due to high bacteria levels. Bad timing I guess. Racing Haines City next weekend.
There was no swim this year…may join the y too…hitting a villages pool sometime tomorrow
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No swim Saturday for the full and half. They swam Sunday for Sprint and Olympic. Maybe see you at the pool someday.
There are a bunch of lap pools at The Villages. You can usually find open lanes although the water aerobics crew typically takes over most of the pools during their classes. You might get asked for your pass when you walk in. I’m staying with my Dad there Thursday and Friday on way down to IMFL 70.3 and will try to sneak in a swim.
I do the Y as well in Ocala. Used to work in the Villages but know nothing about the swimming there. I never go in the AM to the Y, but in the AM if you go on Mon,Tues, or Wed. do you have to do the Masters class? Or can you go and swim on your own?
Did HITS on Sunday, with the swim, I did not notice anything about the water, but some people did complain about it.
There are a few dedicated lap pools there. When I visited my folks in mid-February, we swam at the one near the veterinary hospital (maybe that’s the one near the Roosevelt “community center”?).
It’s great that the pools are outdoors. And they were all clean, and not crowded when we went in the early-ish mornings. Being from the Mid-Atlantic region, I cannot tell you how happy we were to swim outside in the middle of winter. The downside: the pools feel like they are heated to mid to upper 80° temps. The longest interval we could manage was 500. The water was just so warm…
I remember they had the national masters swimming championships a couple of years ago, so there must be a nice pool there. Maybe check with US Masters Swimming? Also, I have an app called SwimRadar which finds pools in any area and has links, phone numbers and other info on each. I used it a couple of weeks ago to find a GREAT pool in Brownsville, TX. Good luck.