Treading Water

After finding out last Sunday that the pool I usually swim at was closing down for two weeks, I made my rounds to two of the other facilities in the area that have pools. I was able to obtain a free pass at each one, so I figure hit one the first week and the other one the second. I could also hit Dutch Springs on Fridays for my long swim and take advantage of the season pass I had already paid for. I was a bit frantic at first but so far it seems to be working out ok.

I went to the first place, 24-7 Fitness Center, on Wednesday morning. The place is a bit old and fairly “aged”. The pool is actually outside and is 25 meters(my usual pool is 25 yards) which was a bit different than I was used to. It is funny how that 2.7 yards difference kind of throws me off. Also I usually do my kick sets on my side or back and I watch the ceiling, so not having that I was crashing into the lane markers constantly. There were 6 lanes in the pool and there weren’t more than 2 other people swimming at once and most came and left during my hour there. They cover the pool with a bubble in the Winter time. The cost of the place was $62 a month which seemed a bit steep for such a run-down place. The front desk people also didn’t even offer to give me a tour which I thought was odd. The other detracting factor was that it was 10 miles from my house and over 5 miles from work, which puts it out of my acceptable range.

The other place I checked out was the Human Performance Center (HPC). This place I like to refer to as the “Taj Mahal” since it is part of the very large OAA complex. Inside it also fulfills this label as it is quite nice. They have a 4 lane 25 meter lap pool and two other activity pools. They also have an indoor track and huge strength training area. The locker rooms are phenomenal and lockers are made of wood which I have never seen before. My only fear about this pool is that is could possibly fill up quickly with only 4 lanes. The also provide a full fitness test with your membership and a training plan which would be good to get my off season strength training on track. This place runs $76/month which floored me at first, but when I added up my current pool membership cost and my works’ fitness center membership I am actually paying more than this a month. Another bonus, is that is only 3 miles from work and 7 miles from home which is the closest of all three facilities. Tomorrow will tell what the congestion of the pool will be like.

It would be quite strange to swim somewhere else after 4 years at my current pool. Change is never easy, but it seems like it may be a good time to consolidate things a bit. But having to wait to swim though would not be worth it. The nice thing is that HPC lets you cancel at any time with 30 days notice and my current pool can be joined anytime, so there isn’t a ton of pressure. It’s nice to have some options.

I did get over to Dutch Springs on Friday and managed to get a good ~2 mile/1:05 open-water swim in. The water was like a sheet of glass and it was one of the nicest swims I have had there all season. I could not have asked for a better day. I was pretty psyched to also get in a good 2 miles in, which is only 0.4 miles short of an Ironman-distance swim. I would have done that extra 0.4 if I didn’t have to get home for a picnic. Anyway, gives me a big pile of confidence for next season going into Lake Placid.