Heavy Water ???

[Mike from NS]

I'm not sure where to best ask this question and thought this may be the best conference for a strange question.

Saturday was the first day fit for swimming in the community outdoor pool. Sunny and hot - just ask anyone who went to the Paul McCartney concert in Halifax. It rained most of June!!

The water was lovely and not too warm ... maybe 82 or 83F at noon time. Yesterday afternoon at 4pm my wife and I were back to the pool. The water was cooler at 81F and a cool wind was blowing. However it seemed difficult to get any speed - so to speak. It was like when ice skating with high humidity. It takes more effort to skate and the ice is said to be "heavy". So has anyone felt the water for swimming to be "heavy" at times? I mentioned to my wife how I felt achieving any speed was difficult and she too felt this and said the water felt "heavy". Any comments? Thanks.

[Rhoda]

Could be the wind was creating a current. Or perhaps your bodies weren't as fluid and relaxed as when your muscles were warmer. The water molecules would be a little closer together when cold, but 3 or 4 degrees wouldn't make a huge difference in that.
On weekends I try to do a long session in a 50 meter chlorine pool. Compared to the salt water pools I normally swim in, the water feels "thin", and not in a good way. I want it to feel a little thicker when I'm making my catch.

[Mike from NS]

Originally Posted by Rhoda

... Or perhaps your bodies weren't as fluid and relaxed as when your muscles were warmer. The water molecules would be a little closer together when cold, but 3 or 4 degrees wouldn't make a huge difference in that.

Thanks for your reply Rhoda.

I agree a 3 or 4 degree difference shouldn't make a difference and I don't think the wind there was would have had that much of an effect. I think, as you suggest, possibly cold muscles or maybe a bit of tiredness may have brought on the feeling of "heavy" water. It just seemed like such a greater effort to gain motion than at other times. I wondered if others had noticed such a phenomenon- and the cause.

Soon the beach & salt waters will be warm enough for swimming.

In the mean time outdoor swimming is in this 25 meter 6 lane chlorinated pool which is on the shore of Bedford Basin. The link below, from a realtor's page, shows the pool with the Basin in the background looking toward Halifax.

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I were the only ones in attendance for the "adult swim" period. Our community's best kept secret!!

http://www.sandyhines.com/lionplay4.jpg

[freshegg]

I definitely experience this "phenomenon". In fact, practically every time I swim, the water feels different, depending on so many factors : the water temperature, the number of other people in the lane, the number of other people in the entire pool, the percentage of those other people who are children oblivious to anyone else around them, the time of day I'm swimming, the angle of the sunlight shining down on the lanes, which Speedos I'm wearing..... you name it. Some days, I swear, someone has poured jello into the water and let it partially set. So, yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. You are not imagining it.

I think not only is the water temperature a big factor, but also the amount or concentration of chemicals in the water. Some days the water feels cool and clean and clear, and I can zip through my swim; other days it feels too warm, and I can almost taste the chemicals in my mouth, and then I feel like I'm slogging through slime. I am always amazed by how differently I might swim from one day to the next, and it's certainly not my stroke that's changing so dramatically.

I regularly swim in four very different pools - a 25-metre, 7-lane indoor pool with a graduated floor; a 25-metre, 5-lane indoor pool with a non-graduated floor (constant depth of about 4 feet); a 33-metre, 6-lane indoor pool with a graduated floor; and a 33-yard (from before New Zealand went metric), 5-lane outdoor pool with a graduated floor. I swim completely differently in each pool, and like I just said, it ain't my stroke that's changing! So it's got to be the environment in which I swim that is the cause.

[ayesr]

I swim in an open pool. When it rains, it rains into the pool.

I had this experience - my body felt heavy in the water - requiring more effort, feeling of difficulty in stroking, sinking feeling.

I conclude that the "quality" of the pool water may have been affected by the rain. Consider the dust, exhaust residue, and so many other pollutants that may have commingled in the pool water coming off the rain water.

This may have caused the "heavy water" in the pool.

End.

[Mike from NS]

Thanks for the replies freshegg and ayesr! That's a good and exact description of what I felt. Partially set jello!! If not for our distance, I'd bet you had been there Sunday. Glad to know it wasn't just my wife and I that experience this.

And ayesr may be close to the cause. I left out information that it had rained Sunday morning. Also the main Canadian National rail line into Halifax is about 100 feet behind the location of the photograph of the pool. So there are lots of pollutants available near by - not to mention the nearby highway.

I'll be more observant in the future of the weather conditions near swim times and what the water feel like. They also have birthday parties at the pool so I'm also not ruling out the jello factor !!