I swim with the Smelts, a masters swim team in Chicago. There are 5 lanes and up until last night I swam in lane 5. I love swimming with the Smelts because everyone is cool, they say hi, the workouts are solid (I'm sore after them) and I push myself to be faster. Also, I like it because if you have to leave early, or miss a couple of weeks no one looks are you funny. Up until last night I swam in lane 5. Lane 5 being the slowest lane. To give you an idea of what that means to swim in lane 5 and be bumped I have explained the lane system and what each one represents below:
Btw, the following descriptions are MY OPINION:
Lane 1: AKA "Big Ten" - I refer to it as big ten because everyone in that lane is really fast and many of them swam at Big 10 schools. At practices there is at least one Ohio State, Michigan or Indiana cap. That's not intimidating at all. I was always wondering what happened to all the swimmers who didn't make it to the Olympic trials and now I know, they end up in lane one at the smelts! This lane is always smiling and looking relaxed during workouts. Perhaps this because these workouts are a joke to them? or because they spent so many years being intense during practice and now it's just about relaxing and getting in a workout.
Lane 2: AKA "Division 3 throwdown" Yes, the name says it all. These are the swimmers that either swam in college, were top high school swimmers who could have swam in college but chose to party instead, or have been swimming on the team for 7-10 years and have earned their speed. They know their lane order, they know the intervals to do for each set without even discussing it. They just shut up and get the workout done.
Lane 3: AKA "SMELTS for LIFE": This is the lane is full of the hard core smelts. Hard core meaning they attend meets, lots of practices, have been a member of the team for a long time, wear the team gear, organize socials, etc. This lane is interesting. You can tell that people are a little competitive with each other, their lane order changes each day based on who's there with an 'In it to win it' attitude and who is there to just workout. This lane is the reason the smelts exist. The Smelts are a fully volunteer based organization and the people in this lane make sure dues are paid, people are registered for meets, relay teams are organized, etc.
Lane 4: AKA "Work it, Own it" These people are pretty consistent. They show up, they work hard in practice. Most of em started swimming as an adult and have been getting faster over the years. They go to meets but don't take the thing to seriously. They are similar to lane 3 but dialed down a few notches and their split is 10 seconds slower.
Lane 5: AKA "I'm new, injured or I need an easier workout" - This lane is full of the people from all over the board. There's usually one person who hasn't been to practice in a few weeks, one person from lane 3 who is nursing an injury, a new person and then lastly, the slow people that aren't fast enough for any other lane. I had been told when I started that if I was consistent about coming to practice I wouldn't be in lane 5 for long. The coach was right!
Moving from lane 5 to lane 4 was hard. I spent a lot of time telling myself "Just focus on staying right behind this guy, don't fall back, don't fall back". Here was the workout:
Warm Up:
400 Swim
300 Pull
200 IM
Main Set:
5 X 50 - Easy, Medium, Fast, Medium, Easy
5 X 200 - Easy, Medium, Fast, Medium, Easy, on the 3:10
5 X 150 - Easy, Medium, Fast, Medium, Easy. with 20 seconds rest
2 X 100 IM, Fast, 20 seconds rest
200 Cool Down
I knew when I read the coach announced that we were doing pyramids (the Easy, Medium, Fast, Medium, Easy) that this would be a tough workout for me. And it was. When my lane was on the easy, I was going at my medium. When everyone else was swimming medium I was swimming fast. When the lane was on the fast, I was on 'swim so you don't get run over'. Like I mentioned above, as a result it meant that my turnover increased, I kicked hard all the time and there were even some times where I was trying so hard that I couldn't manage to breath on both sides.
My dad always tells me: If you want to swim faster in a race, you have to swim faster at practice. Well Dad, I'm swimming faster at practice now! I know that over time it will get easier. There are always growing pains with this sort of stuff. I'm sure in two weeks I will be fine in this lane!
so BOOYYAAAAAH!!!!
Congrats!
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