A New Pool

I do not have to work at gymnastics this week as we always give the kids this week off so that they can adjust back to their first week of school. You are probably wondering what does this really have to do with triathlons? Well, nothing really, except for the fact that I use the pool at Fairland to swim at after I'm done coaching. There was no way I was driving to Fairland this week (it takes me an hour in traffic) if I didn't have to. I certainly wasn't going to skip all my pool workouts for the week though, so I had a plan B... Wilson! Then I was on twitter yesterday morning and discovered Wilson is closed this week! I guess I'm glad I found out before I went up there because I would have been really mad if I rode the metro for a half hour for nothing. And come to think of it, Fairland is closed until 9/11 for maintenance, so I guess I will be swimming somewhere else for awhile.

So anyhow, my plan B was out as well... great.... but have no fear....I do not give up that easily! I went onto the DC department of parks and recreation website to look up other DC aquatic Facilities. I actually never knew DC had so many free pools. Just a few short years back, swimming, and lack of a place to swim was one of the reasons I never registered for a triathlon. Duh, hello blondie, there is a ton of them in DC. I wish I opened my eyes back then, but never the less I found a bunch of good pools today. If you haven't checked out there website or don't know where to swim in the district you should check it out.

Onto plan C ...William H. Rumsey Aquatic Center located right next to Eastern Market. Now, one would think this would be the obvious place that I would swim since I live three blocks from Eastern Market, but believe it or not, I have never swam there. They have someone crazy hours, but the pool is decent with eight 25 yard lanes. On Monday's they close at 5pm and open again at 6:30. I really didn't want to go home and sit on my ass and do nothing till 6:30 in fear that I may not go, so I simply left work early. Not super early, just 15 minutes early and ran like a bat out of hell to the pool. I had a little less than a 2 mile run from my work to the pool and wanted to try to get there as fast as I could so I could get a good workout in before they closed at 5. I was breathing hard when I arrived, but made it there in just 15 minutes. The pool was nice and not very crowded at all. When I began swimming I think that there was a total of three people in the water including myself. I had a great workout and swam 1600 yards straight with 2 x 200 yards. I pretty much liked everything about the pool and have no clue why I have never came to this pool before???

Things I loved about William Rumsey:

1. I honestly really could care less what either the locker room or showers look like,  but it had decent ones. And since it's so close to my house, it's just as easy to take a shower at home.

 
2. The lanes may only be 25 yards, but the pool isn't crowded the time of day I would be going at. Having my own lane = me happy :)

3. It's right next to Eastern Market

 
4. Which means it takes me 5 minutes to walk home to my beautiful block! 

So in conclusion, WR pool is now my pool of choice :) and.... maybe I can even get my M to come with me :)

So do you have a favorite pool? If it's closed do you find another pool to swim at? 


Happy Tues All