I've Still Never Drowned Anyone.

Kind of an odd, frustrating day at the pool this morning. It was a shame, too, because I had good stuff in the water. 

I get there, and a guy is swimming, and thinking nothing of it, I start to jump into the lane with him. But while I'm still stretching, that guy gets out and another guy jumps in. Dude gives me a hard look and says, "I'm not a good swimmer, so I prefer not to share a lane."

Friends, this is not a thing at your local YMCA. We all have to share. That's just simple reality.

But the guy gives me this truly pathetic look, so -- unusually -- I decide to let it go, move over a lane, and ask the woman in that lane if she minds sharing. She looks at the old man like he's lost his damned mind, but no, she doesn't mind sharing. 

I jump in. Whatever. I really don't care. But alas, this is where it gets a little weird.

Warm Up/Main Set (3x)

200 @ 3:05 / 3:00 / 2:50
2 x 100 @ 1:35 / 1:30 / 1:25
100 kick

10 x 50 @ :50, breathing every third

4 x 100 pull @ 1:30 aerobic pace

Total: 2500 yards

I didn't exactly have this in mind when I started. I was planning just to do 200, 2 x 100, 100 kick twice through as a warm, then the 50s, and then maybe close out with some uptempo work depending on how I felt. But I actually felt good -- for once! -- in that middle set and decided to push the pace. Wound up going ~2:36, ~1:16, ~1:16, which is great for what was ostensibly a warm-up set. 

So I dropped the interval and went all-in. 

Wound up ~2:30, ~1:14, ~1:13 at the faster interval. Or something like that. I actually felt like myself in the water, and it was kind of a rare, unlooked for treat. I've felt tired in the water for weeks, so seriously, this was like a rare miracle.

I finish the set, and everyone else in the pool is arguing. Nobody wants to share a lane, and friends, this did not seem like my problem, so I got ready to start my next set. But the woman in my lane is up out of the water, hugging her knees to her chest, and staring at me. Like, she would not touch the water with me in it. Instead, she was giving me the evil eye.

"Are you almost done?" she asks. 

I wasn't totally sure how to answer. I had a thousand left. Maybe fifteen minutes of swimming plus a break between sets plus a warm-down. That's not, like, a lot of swimming. It's two easy sets, especially with my main set in the rear view. But still. 

"No," I said. "I've got maybe fifteen minutes left."

Evil eye intensifies. In fact, she seems really upset.

Mystified, I say, "I'm not going hit you, I promise. I'll stay on my side. I'm absolutely not going to get in your way."

"I don't mind sharing a lane, but I feel like I'm drowning when you swim past."

"Well, you're perfectly safe. I promise, I will not run into you."

Again, she says, "I don't mind sharing. I mind drowning."

I didn't know what to make of this. She'd been in longer than me, so there's no argument that I'm hogging the pool. In fact, several folks had been in longer than me. Plus, she keeps insisting that she doesn't mind sharing, but crucially, she just doesn't want to share with me. Obviously, she's asking me to get the hell out of her damned way, but she knows that she can't actually ask that, meanwhile, she's clearly furious at me.

She's maybe forty years old and pretty. Had a good freestyle, a decent backstroke, and a decent breaststroke. I'd have said she had a little swim team experience until she started talking. I definitely didn't want to make her get out.

I'm honestly not sure what the right answer was. Forty-three years of competitive swimming experience, and in all that time, I've never drowned anyone. Not even close. But I had good stuff in the water, and every once in a while when I've got good stuff, people will freak the fuck out about it. They get upset for reasons that I can't explain. Maybe they've never seen a real swimmer. Who knows?

In the event, I said something like, "Well, there's plenty of room," and then pushed off for my next set. 

She gave me the evil eye for maybe another minute and then got visibly upset and stormed off the pool deck. I was honestly waiting for one of the lifeguards to come tell me that I was swimming too aggressively or some shit, but if she complained, no one mentioned it. It seemed like she wanted to complain but couldn't figure out what to complain about.

Anyway. It's now a little over five hours later, and I still feel really bad about the way this went down. For the life of me, though, I also have no idea what else I could've done differently. No one goes to the weight room and says, "Excuse me, but you're benching too much, and it hurts my ears when you rack the weights."  I'm not sure how this is different, but I also don't know what I could have done to be more accomodating. 

I now feel certain that this woman has badmouthed me relentlessly since this morning, and like I said, I don't love it. Especially because I actually swam well today, and I'd like to be happy about it.

Your thoughts, friends?