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Can you do a post about swimming pools with lap swimming? Finding an affordable pool (well, any pools really) with lap swimming in the city is a difficult endeavor.
Ok, we covered local gyms in the NY City area, it's only logical to discuss the options for getting your lap swimming in. Some of the gyms in the city have pools, but another option is to check out the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation website, which gives you a listing of pools throughout the city, and lets you know the lap swim hours.
Gothamist reader Jenny gave us this great information about the Red Hook pool.
"If you go to the pool in the middle of the afternoon on the weekend you'll likely have to wait in line to be let in, since they only let so many people in the pool at one time. I stood in line for about 20 minutes on Sunday and finally gave up - the line was very chaotic with people cutting and was in the bright sun which was making me feel woozy (a little girl fainted even). They are supposed to have adult lap times from 7am-8:30am and 7pm-8:30pm, but on Monday the pool stayed open for regular swimmers an extra half hour because of the heat and they ended up closing the pool at 7:30pm. They did the same thing yesterday night too, so I'm thinking that whenever the pool stays open a half an hour extra, they cancel adult lap hours. Also, yesterday they kicked everyone out of the pool for about 10 minutes because people weren't following the rules. I think this is common on high occupancy days."She was also kind enough to point out that after a great afternoon of cooling off in the Red Hook pool, you can head across the street to the baseball fields where you can get cheap and delicious homemade mexican, Ecuadoran, Honduran, etc. food. Sounds like a good day to us.
If you are looking to swim with a United States Masters Swimming group, there are several throughout the city.
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my old man and i just joined the chelsea parks and rec facility on 24th street, 70 bucks or so for the whole year and the pool is just as nice as any other i've seen at the swanky gyms, only thing is its not open sundays, otherwise there and seemingly available for your lapswimming pleasure!
A local city pool?
Well if you want to swim in a sea of urine, be my guest.
Flushing YMCA is pretty good too, but they make you wear swimming caps.
there is no way i'd ever jump into a public pool, all the filth in it...yuck
ha, isnt that all public pool? yay chlorine.
I swam laps regularly at the New York Health and Raquet Club on Whitehall street. I believe several of their locations have lap pools.
Forget this Christina girl -- sounds like *Jenny* is the one who should be reporting for gothamist!
And you people swim at the beach, which is filled with fish piss and octopus poop.
When I was little I used to urinate in the Jones Beach pool regularly. They said that a chemical in the water would turn it purple, pointing out the person who did it, but I knew they'd lie.
I would just let loose my stream of piss and swim away very fast if the area around me became too yellow.
Also I used to dive under a group of people and let off a fat spicy fart. That way it would float to the people gathered above and they'd get grossed out, not knowing who was at fault.
Manhattan Plaza Health Club has an awesome lap pool - the largest in the city. It is surrounded by tropical trees and the glass roof opens to the sky. It also has 2 jacuzzis right next to the pool and a very nice sundeck. Of course, you have to buy a membership but you can get monthly and 3 month memberships.
http://elsewares.com/blog/category/random-observations/
Chelsea Rec is the best of the cheapest pools in the city - it's clean with LOTS of chlorine. =) But oh how I wish the staff would educate people on the proper way to lap swim - I've been kicked in the face too many times by old men who insist on passing on the wrong damn side. Ouch!
Asphalt Green at 91st and York has, to my knowledge, the largest and nicest facility in the city: 8 lane, 50 meter indoor pool, adjustable bottom, movable bulkheads, saunas, steam rooms, etc. This summer they have a temporary outdoor 8 lane 25 yard pool, that is also quite nice. The indoor pool was supposed to be closed for renovations this summer, but the contractor apparently wasn't able to get bonded in time and both pools are available. The downsides are that it is expensive (comparable to gym memberships), hours for non-members are limited, hours for members are based on an annoying, complex schedule, and out of the way if you don't live on the upper east side. A future downside is that the access to the east side garbage transfer station everyone's been getting so worked up about goes right by the facility and will open at some point if protests and lawsuits are not successful.
I used to swim at the YWCA at Atlantic and 3rd Ave in Brooklyn. It was affordable but it's a small pool -- not many lanes and it's only 20 yards long. Hours are OK and it usually wasn't horribly crowded.
Jeebus, hilarious post. I can just imagine the spicefart bubble breaking the surface like a reverse depth charge...
True to her word, thank you Christina :)
If you are willing to go uptown, there is a big pool at Riverbank State Park at 145th and Riverside-I think it's Olympic size (I'm not sure, but it's *big*). The hours are erratic because they have swim meets there on the weekends and the locker room could be better kept-I thought it was nasty as hell. But they have adult hours and there is another outdoor pool which seems to attract the younger rowdier crowd and the families which leaves the indoor pool more open for lap swimming. So that's another option. It's pretty cheap too.
All of the New York Health & Racquet Club locations except one (their newest, at Cooper Sq.) have pools. They are relatively small, so your laps would be short, but it's made up for in convenience of location and hours (compared to the city pools, it seems). The 23rd and 6th location has the best pool in my opinion.
The problem with the NYHRC on 23rd and 6th is that there's often a long wait for the pool. It can be annoying sometimes.
As a former lifeguard at Asphalt Green, I can vouch that it is one of the nicest (Leahman College is close though). All of the YMCA's to my knowledge have pools - the Dodge Y in Brooklyn Heights has brand new pool and is nice and affordable.
Hmm...
"I stood in line for about 20 minutes. . ."
Perhaps you would have gotten better results if you waited on line.
This database of pools is useful, especially for occassional swims out of town: http://www.swimmersguide.com. Comments on specific pools are easy (and useful) to add.
Personally, I'm a fan of YMCA/YWCA/YMHA/JCCs. Affordable, reliable, clean, and civic-minded.
As a former lifeguard and swim teacher for the NYC Parks Department, I can say first hand that NYC public pools are admittedly very very dirty. But what do you expect? They're free to use for all. Not to mention the classes we teach and the lap swim are both free as well. The lap swim is basically a night and morning program (Night Owl and Early Bird, respectively) that allow lap swimmers to utilize the whole pool for their exercise purposes. Do NOT expect to go and find Olympic swimmers. I have encountered many patrons who expect that and are outraged when they find out that the people they are swimming by are not Masters swimmers. They are normal people from the neighborhood who just want a little exercise.
Also, when the regular pool hours get extended for an hour by the chancellor, lap swim merely starts a little bit later.
There are a handful of pools all over the 5 boroughs that have this program as well as the free swim classes. Call 718-699-4219 for more info.
And if you need workouts for those lap swimming times, check out Dynoswim at www.dynoswim.com