Team Practice

Had Team Practice this morning at St. Joseph's University pool. Which is on City Ave (7 minutes from my house). It is such a nice facility. The pool is very clean, and it is pretty big too.

We started out by swimming 300m, it took us a minute to figure out, OK if each lap is 25m and 4 laps is 100m. Then it would be 12 laps continuous. I felt out of breath by the end. Drills went pretty good. We mostly worked on streamlining, so that we are propelled through the water rather than pulling ourselves through. I opted out of the run after practice, since it is soooo cold. wet hair + cold weather = no run.

I had the opportunity to swim in a bunch of different places since I started training at the beginning of December.

www.swimmersguide.com is a great tool to find a pool near you and if they are public or not.

I started out trying to find the closest pool. LA Fitness on City Ave is right next to where I work, so I figured I'd try it out for a week with a free pass. Otherwise it's $15 guest fee. It was okay, kind of crowded at times, and not the most clean. I decided against a membership since I'm happy with my gym Sweat on Main St.

Next, I tried out some pools that would be no additional cost to me (makes sense, right?). Team in Training has worked out a deal with Upper Main Line YMCA to allow us access to their pools while training. UMLY is in Paoli, not the most convenient place, but not horribly far either. Let me tell you how much I love this Y! First of all, they have an 18 and over women's locker room, which is decked out with exercise equipment inside the locker room! I made use of it for a run after my swim while watching Oprah. Also everyone was super nice, I think I talked to about 5 people while I was there.

I finally got around to trying my gym's pool (yes, I should've come here first). It's in Center City, and Center City is such a schlep. I got the opportunity this past week after working in Center City for the day. Sweat is on Broad and Arch, and it is very nice inside. The locker rooms are nice and big, and the pool is very clean, and there were only a couple of other people swimming at the same time as me. It felt like a hotel pool about 25 yards. I went for a run afterwards on the indoor track they have. Felt a bit odd, since no one else was on it, and felt like I was running in circles since it was such a short track. Only lasted 5 minutes then finished out my run on the treadmill.